Tom Smith
Tom Smith is the London managing partner at Geradin Partners, having previously been Legal Director at the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).
Tom led the legal team on the Digital Markets Taskforce, set up by the UK Government to advise it on the new regulatory regime for ‘digital gatekeepers’ such as Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft.
At Geradin Partners, he represents a wide variety of broadcasters, news publishers, app developers, gaming companies, e-commerce sellers and other companies on digital regulation in the UK, the EU and other jurisdictions. He has been involved in most of the CMA and European Commission’s investigations in the tech and media sectors. Tom was the only private practice lawyer to be invited to give testimony to the Public Bill Committee of the UK Parliament during the passage of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act, and has also testified to the House of Lords digital and communications select committee.
Tom was previously Director of Mergers at the CMA, responsible for the delivery of the CMA’s phase 1 mergers portfolio and liaising with the European Commission. He guided many of the CMA’s most high-profile phase 2 merger cases. At Geradin Partners, Tom handles clients’ multi-jurisdictional deals that require clearance in different jurisdictions worldwide. He advised Veolia on the UK merger control aspects of its €13 billion acquisition of Suez, which was cleared with remedies at Phase 2, and he advised Mustafa Suleyman CBE and the Inflection.AI staff on their acqui-hire by Microsoft.
Tom advises companies that are involved in market studies and market investigations, or under investigation for competition law and consumer law infringements, in a variety of sectors. He has significant experience in the banking sector, having led the team that implemented the UK’s Open Banking regulations, which came out of the CMA’s retail banking market investigation.
He is a regular speaker at competition law conferences and appears frequently in the print and broadcast media, including the BBC Today programme, the Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, and Bloomberg TV. Earlier in his career, Tom spent time on secondment to the major broadcaster, ITV plc.
Outside of work, Tom is the Chair of Citizens Advice Southwark, a charity providing free confidential advice on issues such as debt, housing, benefits and immigration.
- Digital Markets Taskforce: advising the UK Government on the establishment of the Digital Markets Unit and leading the CMA’s influential digital advertising market study.
- The UK Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act, the EU Digital Markets Act, the UK Online Safety Act, and other digital regulations.
- Eurospares v Porsche, private litigation in the Competition Appeal Tribunal regarding Porsche’s selective distribution system, acting for the claimant.
- Leading the CMA’s legal team on the retail banking market investigation, which created Open Banking.
- Merger investigations including Veolia/Suez (waste management and water treatment), Schlumberger/ChampionX (oilfield services), Microsoft/Inflection.AI (artificial intelligence), Sainsbury’s/Asda (groceries), Illumina/PacBio (genome sequencing), JD Sports/Footasylum (sports fashion), BT/EE (telecoms).
- Acting for Simba Sleep in the consumer law investigation by the CMA in the furniture sector.
- Leading the CMA’s legal team in the abuse of dominance investigation into excessive pricing for an anti-epilepsy drug by Pfizer.
- Article on the regulation of cloud computing services (with Oliver Montgomery) in Competition Policy International’s TechReg chronicle (2024).
- Speaker at The Economist’s Antitrust Summit (2025 and 2026).
- Panellist on the treatment of digital ecosystems in competition law at GCR Law Leaders conference, Miami (2024).
- Co-chair of UK Digital Markets Competition Regulation Forum, organised by ThoughtLeaders4 (2023, 2024, 2025, 2026).
- Panellist at GCR’s Competition Law and Financial Services conference (2023).
- Panellist on policy-making and enforcement in an AI world at the Platform Leaders future of digital platforms conference (2023).
- Article on Amazon’s flywheel business model (with Damien Geradin) (2023).
- Article on the judicial review appeal standard under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill (with David Gallagher) in the Competition Law Journal (2023).
- Panellist at the Eighteenth Annual Symposium on Competition Amongst Retailers and Suppliers, Oxford University (2023).
- Panellist at GCR’s telecoms, media and technology conference (2022 and 2023).
- Article on the Meta/Giphy merger case in the Competition Law Journal (2022).
- Article on the entry of Big Tech into financial services markets (with Damien Geradin) in the European Competition Journal (2021).
- Speech at Open Banking Expo (2021).
- Panellist at Concurrences webinar on UK and EU merger control (2020).
- Article on the national and local assessments in Sainsbury’s/Asda and the CMA’s retail mergers policy (with Jenny Haydock) in the Journal of Competition Law and Economics (2020).
- Speeches on digital and tech policy at the British Institute of International and Comparative Law (2019 and 2020).
- Speech on algorithms and cartels at UNCTAD conference in Beijing (2018).
- Panellist at International Finance Law European M&A conference (2018).
- Keynote speech at Commercial Dispute Resolution Competition Litigation Symposium (2018).
- Regularly quoted in publications such as the Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, Daily Telegraph, Reuters, The Grocer, Tech Crunch and Politico.
- Regular appearances on television and radio, including the BBC Today programme, BBC World Service, Bloomberg TV and CNBC.
Tom Smith is the London managing partner at Geradin Partners, having previously been Legal Director at the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).
Tom led the legal team on the Digital Markets Taskforce, set up by the UK Government to advise it on the new regulatory regime for ‘digital gatekeepers’ such as Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft.
At Geradin Partners, he represents a wide variety of broadcasters, news publishers, app developers, gaming companies, e-commerce sellers and other companies on digital regulation in the UK, the EU and other jurisdictions. He has been involved in most of the CMA and European Commission’s investigations in the tech and media sectors. Tom was the only private practice lawyer to be invited to give testimony to the Public Bill Committee of the UK Parliament during the passage of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act, and has also testified to the House of Lords digital and communications select committee.
Tom was previously Director of Mergers at the CMA, responsible for the delivery of the CMA’s phase 1 mergers portfolio and liaising with the European Commission. He guided many of the CMA’s most high-profile phase 2 merger cases. At Geradin Partners, Tom handles clients’ multi-jurisdictional deals that require clearance in different jurisdictions worldwide. He advised Veolia on the UK merger control aspects of its €13 billion acquisition of Suez, which was cleared with remedies at Phase 2, and he advised Mustafa Suleyman CBE and the Inflection.AI staff on their acqui-hire by Microsoft.
Tom advises companies that are involved in market studies and market investigations, or under investigation for competition law and consumer law infringements, in a variety of sectors. He has significant experience in the banking sector, having led the team that implemented the UK’s Open Banking regulations, which came out of the CMA’s retail banking market investigation.
He is a regular speaker at competition law conferences and appears frequently in the print and broadcast media, including the BBC Today programme, the Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, and Bloomberg TV. Earlier in his career, Tom spent time on secondment to the major broadcaster, ITV plc.
Outside of work, Tom is the Chair of Citizens Advice Southwark, a charity providing free confidential advice on issues such as debt, housing, benefits and immigration.
- Digital Markets Taskforce: advising the UK Government on the establishment of the Digital Markets Unit and leading the CMA’s influential digital advertising market study.
- The UK Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act, the EU Digital Markets Act, the UK Online Safety Act, and other digital regulations.
- Eurospares v Porsche, private litigation in the Competition Appeal Tribunal regarding Porsche’s selective distribution system, acting for the claimant.
- Leading the CMA’s legal team on the retail banking market investigation, which created Open Banking.
- Merger investigations including Veolia/Suez (waste management and water treatment), Schlumberger/ChampionX (oilfield services), Microsoft/Inflection.AI (artificial intelligence), Sainsbury’s/Asda (groceries), Illumina/PacBio (genome sequencing), JD Sports/Footasylum (sports fashion), BT/EE (telecoms).
- Acting for Simba Sleep in the consumer law investigation by the CMA in the furniture sector.
- Leading the CMA’s legal team in the abuse of dominance investigation into excessive pricing for an anti-epilepsy drug by Pfizer.
- Article on the regulation of cloud computing services (with Oliver Montgomery) in Competition Policy International’s TechReg chronicle (2024).
- Speaker at The Economist’s Antitrust Summit (2025 and 2026).
- Panellist on the treatment of digital ecosystems in competition law at GCR Law Leaders conference, Miami (2024).
- Co-chair of UK Digital Markets Competition Regulation Forum, organised by ThoughtLeaders4 (2023, 2024, 2025, 2026).
- Panellist at GCR’s Competition Law and Financial Services conference (2023).
- Panellist on policy-making and enforcement in an AI world at the Platform Leaders future of digital platforms conference (2023).
- Article on Amazon’s flywheel business model (with Damien Geradin) (2023).
- Article on the judicial review appeal standard under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill (with David Gallagher) in the Competition Law Journal (2023).
- Panellist at the Eighteenth Annual Symposium on Competition Amongst Retailers and Suppliers, Oxford University (2023).
- Panellist at GCR’s telecoms, media and technology conference (2022 and 2023).
- Article on the Meta/Giphy merger case in the Competition Law Journal (2022).
- Article on the entry of Big Tech into financial services markets (with Damien Geradin) in the European Competition Journal (2021).
- Speech at Open Banking Expo (2021).
- Panellist at Concurrences webinar on UK and EU merger control (2020).
- Article on the national and local assessments in Sainsbury’s/Asda and the CMA’s retail mergers policy (with Jenny Haydock) in the Journal of Competition Law and Economics (2020).
- Speeches on digital and tech policy at the British Institute of International and Comparative Law (2019 and 2020).
- Speech on algorithms and cartels at UNCTAD conference in Beijing (2018).
- Panellist at International Finance Law European M&A conference (2018).
- Keynote speech at Commercial Dispute Resolution Competition Litigation Symposium (2018).
- Regularly quoted in publications such as the Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, Daily Telegraph, Reuters, The Grocer, Tech Crunch and Politico.
- Regular appearances on television and radio, including the BBC Today programme, BBC World Service, Bloomberg TV and CNBC.