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Romain Girard

Romain Girard advises multinational corporations and institutions on complex antitrust and foreign direct investment (FDI) regulatory matters. The Legal 500 UK recognizes Romain in the EU and Competition category, describing him as “helpful, knowledgeable and personable” and “his legal knowledge is spot on – in particular, his awareness of legal developments in key jurisdictions across the world is very useful."

Romain has extensive experience advising clients on all aspects of EU, UK and international antitrust and FDI matters and representing them before the European Commission, as well as UK competition authorities and courts. His practice covers multiple industries including financial institutions and private equity, telecommunications media and technology, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, aerospace, metals and mining, automotive, defense, and life sciences.

Romain’s practice also covers international trade and EU/UK sanctions, with extensive experience navigating the complexities of these highly dynamic regimes both defensively (i.e. advising on third party audits and lawsuit), and offensively (advising on voluntary disclosures and complaints).

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In November 2024, the UK’s High Court (the “Court”) issued its judgment on the first appeal of a Final Order (“Order”) imposed by the UK government (acting through the Secretary of State) under the UK’s National Security and Investment Act 2021 (the “NSIA”).

Under UK public law, decisions such as the Order can only be challenged on a judicial review basis – i.e., on the process and not on the merits. The Court not only confirms this position, but also clearly indicates limits to the scope of UK courts’ powers to opine on the substance of national security risk and reveals a wide margin of discretion for the UK government.Continue Reading Five takeaways from the first court challenge to a UK NSIA Final Order