Competition Law - Risks & Opportunities Masterclass - What Every Business Lawyer Needs to Know

Introduction

Competition Law is not only a concern for big companies - smaller firms, and even charities, have been among the recent targets of Competition and Markets Authority and the European Commission investigations, with the prospect of fines of up to 10 percent of turnover where infringements are discovered. Not all of these investigations have concerned price-fixing cartels. Other forms of co-operation between competitors, including exchanges of market data via trade associations, may constitute unlawful collusion, while vertical agreements which inadvertently restrict competition can also be caught.

It is now vital for every in-house lawyer, and every external lawyer who advises business clients, to have a working knowledge of Competition Law, and to at least be able to spot potential Competition Law risks and opportunities wherever they arise, while at the same time taking a realistic, practical, and proportionate approach.

What You Will Learn

• Prohibition on anti-competitive agreements
• The risks of cartels, bid-rigging and other obvious infringements
• Other forms of prohibited collusion: a need for caution
• Particular pitfalls for trade associations
• Evaluating vertical agreements for compliance
• Special issues for charities and the third sector

• The prohibition on abuses of dominant position
• How to decide whether your client is, or may be, dominant
• The special responsibility of dominant companies
• Why common sales practices may put a dominant firm at risk

• What to do if your client is involved in a cartel or other unlawful conduct
• The CMA's leniency procedure
• Protections and rewards for whistle-blowers

• Dawn raids: what to do when the CMA comes knocking

• Putting in place an effective compliance regime

• Using Competition Law to protect your client's business
• Resisting enforcement of a contract
• Making a complaint to the CMA
• Actions for injunctions and damages
• Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 changes role following merger of OFT and CC into the Competition and Markets Authority
• The Mastercard case and the future of collective actions in the UK

Recording of live sessions: Soon after the Learn Live session has taken place you will be able to go back and access the recording - should you wish to revisit the material discussed.