Trevor Soames
Trevor Soames is an internationally recognized antitrust and regulatory expert with nearly 40 years’ top level-experience and one of a handful of leading Brussels players: “one of the finest practitioners in the field worldwide” (Who’s Who Legal), “Soames himself ‘is a samurai’ in his dealings with competition authorities” (CDR). Who’s Who Legal has regularly ranked Trevor as a Thought Leader – Competition. Chambers Europe reports that “he’s really decisive,” says one client, noting: “when we need high-level attention and someone who can talk to really senior managers in the business, he is the perfect choice.” Trevor has first chaired many leading cases over the years in areas all aspects of EU and UK antitrust/competition law. These have included mergers, joint ventures, cartels, monopolization (abuse of dominance), state aid and associated litigation including civil damages claims and appeals.
Merger control: Trevor’s experience stretches back into the late 1980s before the EU Merger Regulation came into effect including cases where the European Commission sought to apply Articles 101 and 102 (ex Articles 85 and 86) to mergers. He has been involved in many EUMR Phase I and Phase II cases as well as national litigation which explored the interface between UK merger control law and the residual application of Article 102. Some recent cases in which he has been involved include Salesforce’s $27.7 billion acquisition of Slack, eBay’s $9.2 billion sale of its classified advertising business to Adevinta and subsequent related transactions, Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision, Broadcom’s merger with VMWare, the eventually abandoned merger between Air Canada and Air Transat.
Cartels: Many decades of experience representing clients in cartel cases as diverse as Cast Iron and Cast Steel Rolls, RMC, Woodpulp, Cement, PVC II, Greek Ferries, Cross Channel Ferries, Airfreight, Cartonboard, Methacrylates, Fittings, Marine Hoses, Bathroom Fittings, Forex (Sterling Lads), Yen Interest Rates Derivatives (YIRD), SSA Bonds and FOREX.
Intellectual property and antitrust: Involved in many leading cases in relation to standard essential patents for clients such as Qualcomm, Nokia, Sony Mobile, LGE and Samsung Electronics: “…there is no-one better in the tech space” (Who’s Who Legal, Competition 2016).
Abuse of dominance/monopolization: Leading dozens of such cases since the mid-1980s including the recent European Commission investigation into Microsoft (Teams) and Corning as well as amongst others, Monsanto, Microsoft/Internet Explorer, Google Android, Samsung SEP, Motorola, Qualcomm, Qualcomm (Predation), Qualcomm (Exclusivity), Amazon Buy Box/Prime, Facebook Marketplace and other confidential ongoing confidential investigations. Trevor represented the European Commission in four appeals before the General Court against the dismissal of Article 102 complaints regarding the De Beers Supplier of Choice selective distribution system.
Transport: For many years he has been a leading lawyer in the transport sector, especially in shipping and air transport having been involved in many such cases, often developing the key precedents.
Aviation related cases include abuse of dominance cases such British Midland/Aer Lingus, Olympic Ground Handling, Iberia Ground Handling, Brussels Zaventem Airport, joint ventures and mergers such as Singapore Airlines/Virgin Atlantic, British Airways/Air Caledonian, British Airways/Dan-Air, British Midland/Lufthansa/SAS, Lufthansa/SAS, United Airlines/Lufthansa/SAS, United Airlines/Lufthansa/Air Canada/Continental (Atlantic A++), United Airlines/Continental, Air Canada/Air Transat. In addition, many state aid cases such as Ryanair/Aer Lingus, Air France/CDC and Olympic Airlines. Trevor has repeatedly been identified by Euromoney as one of the top 20 aviation lawyers in the world and ranked #1 in Belgium in GCR’s International Who’s Who of Aviation Lawyers, praised as “the most prominent competition lawyer in the air transport industry”. Who’s Who Legal has regularly ranked Trevor very highly for his regulatory work in the Aviation sector.
In the field of shipping, Trevor represented the world’s liner shipping industry through European Liner Affairs Association in the European Commission’s review of the liner shipping block exemption under Regulation 4056/86 and liner consortia block exemption and has handled many mergers such as those between P&O/Nedlloyd and Sea-Land/Maersk, joint ventures such as the VSA, Sea-Land/Maersk, Sea Containers/Stena, P&O/Stena and various investigations including for Sea-Land such as TAA, TACA and for Stena such as Holyhead I (v B&I), Holyhead II (v Sea Containers), Sea Containers (fast ferry technology).
Drawing on his experience at the English Bar as both prosecutor and defender in criminal cases, he is well known for his robust advocacy: Trevor Soames is “a superb advocate and orator” with over 30 years of experience across a range of merger, cartel, abuse of dominance and state aid matters.” (Who’s Who Legal). Current competition related cases before the EU Courts in Luxembourg include Air Canada v Commission regarding the 2017 Airfreight cartel decision before the CJEU as well as default interest recovery proceedings before the General Court. Recent non-competition related cases include those for a number of major bondholders whose investment of nearly €1billion was wiped out when Banco Popular was resolved under Regulation (EU) No 806/2014 (Algebris (UK) Ltd and Anchorage Capital Group LLC v European Commission, Algebris (UK) Ltd and Anchorage Capital Group LLC v Single Resolution Board.
Trevor has authored/co-authored dozens of articles and contributions to books over the years and spoken at/chaired many competition/antirust conferences around the world.
Trevor Soames is an internationally recognized antitrust and regulatory expert with nearly 40 years’ top level-experience and one of a handful of leading Brussels players: “one of the finest practitioners in the field worldwide” (Who’s Who Legal), “Soames himself ‘is a samurai’ in his dealings with competition authorities” (CDR). Who’s Who Legal has regularly ranked Trevor as a Thought Leader – Competition. Chambers Europe reports that “he’s really decisive,” says one client, noting: “when we need high-level attention and someone who can talk to really senior managers in the business, he is the perfect choice.” Trevor has first chaired many leading cases over the years in areas all aspects of EU and UK antitrust/competition law. These have included mergers, joint ventures, cartels, monopolization (abuse of dominance), state aid and associated litigation including civil damages claims and appeals.
Merger control: Trevor’s experience stretches back into the late 1980s before the EU Merger Regulation came into effect including cases where the European Commission sought to apply Articles 101 and 102 (ex Articles 85 and 86) to mergers. He has been involved in many EUMR Phase I and Phase II cases as well as national litigation which explored the interface between UK merger control law and the residual application of Article 102. Some recent cases in which he has been involved include Salesforce’s $27.7 billion acquisition of Slack, eBay’s $9.2 billion sale of its classified advertising business to Adevinta and subsequent related transactions, Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision, Broadcom’s merger with VMWare, the eventually abandoned merger between Air Canada and Air Transat.
Cartels: Many decades of experience representing clients in cartel cases as diverse as Cast Iron and Cast Steel Rolls, RMC, Woodpulp, Cement, PVC II, Greek Ferries, Cross Channel Ferries, Airfreight, Cartonboard, Methacrylates, Fittings, Marine Hoses, Bathroom Fittings, Forex (Sterling Lads), Yen Interest Rates Derivatives (YIRD), SSA Bonds and FOREX.
Intellectual property and antitrust: Involved in many leading cases in relation to standard essential patents for clients such as Qualcomm, Nokia, Sony Mobile, LGE and Samsung Electronics: “…there is no-one better in the tech space” (Who’s Who Legal, Competition 2016).
Abuse of dominance/monopolization: Leading dozens of such cases since the mid-1980s including the recent European Commission investigation into Microsoft (Teams) and Corning as well as amongst others, Monsanto, Microsoft/Internet Explorer, Google Android, Samsung SEP, Motorola, Qualcomm, Qualcomm (Predation), Qualcomm (Exclusivity), Amazon Buy Box/Prime, Facebook Marketplace and other confidential ongoing confidential investigations. Trevor represented the European Commission in four appeals before the General Court against the dismissal of Article 102 complaints regarding the De Beers Supplier of Choice selective distribution system.
Transport: For many years he has been a leading lawyer in the transport sector, especially in shipping and air transport having been involved in many such cases, often developing the key precedents.
Aviation related cases include abuse of dominance cases such British Midland/Aer Lingus, Olympic Ground Handling, Iberia Ground Handling, Brussels Zaventem Airport, joint ventures and mergers such as Singapore Airlines/Virgin Atlantic, British Airways/Air Caledonian, British Airways/Dan-Air, British Midland/Lufthansa/SAS, Lufthansa/SAS, United Airlines/Lufthansa/SAS, United Airlines/Lufthansa/Air Canada/Continental (Atlantic A++), United Airlines/Continental, Air Canada/Air Transat. In addition, many state aid cases such as Ryanair/Aer Lingus, Air France/CDC and Olympic Airlines. Trevor has repeatedly been identified by Euromoney as one of the top 20 aviation lawyers in the world and ranked #1 in Belgium in GCR’s International Who’s Who of Aviation Lawyers, praised as “the most prominent competition lawyer in the air transport industry”. Who’s Who Legal has regularly ranked Trevor very highly for his regulatory work in the Aviation sector.
In the field of shipping, Trevor represented the world’s liner shipping industry through European Liner Affairs Association in the European Commission’s review of the liner shipping block exemption under Regulation 4056/86 and liner consortia block exemption and has handled many mergers such as those between P&O/Nedlloyd and Sea-Land/Maersk, joint ventures such as the VSA, Sea-Land/Maersk, Sea Containers/Stena, P&O/Stena and various investigations including for Sea-Land such as TAA, TACA and for Stena such as Holyhead I (v B&I), Holyhead II (v Sea Containers), Sea Containers (fast ferry technology).
Drawing on his experience at the English Bar as both prosecutor and defender in criminal cases, he is well known for his robust advocacy: Trevor Soames is “a superb advocate and orator” with over 30 years of experience across a range of merger, cartel, abuse of dominance and state aid matters.” (Who’s Who Legal). Current competition related cases before the EU Courts in Luxembourg include Air Canada v Commission regarding the 2017 Airfreight cartel decision before the CJEU as well as default interest recovery proceedings before the General Court. Recent non-competition related cases include those for a number of major bondholders whose investment of nearly €1billion was wiped out when Banco Popular was resolved under Regulation (EU) No 806/2014 (Algebris (UK) Ltd and Anchorage Capital Group LLC v European Commission, Algebris (UK) Ltd and Anchorage Capital Group LLC v Single Resolution Board.
Trevor has authored/co-authored dozens of articles and contributions to books over the years and spoken at/chaired many competition/antirust conferences around the world.