Becket McGrath
Partner
BIO
Before joining Euclid in June 2020, Becket was a partner at US firm Cooley. He was one of the founding partners of that firm’s London office in 2015 and established its Brussels office in 2019.
Becket McGrath advises clients on all aspects of EU and UK competition law, with an emphasis on defending companies against investigations, distribution issues and merger control. Although he advises clients in a broad range of sectors, he has a particular interest in the media, technology and life sciences sectors. He is a leading expert on distribution issues raised by e-commerce, including in the context of selective distribution, and has advised a number of major online retailers and marketplaces on a wide range of strategic competition issues.
Becket has worked in both London and Brussels during his career. He has experience of enforcing UK and EU competition law at a senior level in the UK’s Office of Fair Trading (now the Competition and Markets Authority) and retains good links with enforcement agencies and regulators in the UK and across the EU. Becket is a frequent commentator on legal developments. He is a UK non-governmental advisor to the International Competition Network and is listed in the latest Who’s Who Legal/Global Competition Review directory of leading competition lawyers.
Experience
- Advised visualization software company Looker on the CMA’s investigation of its $2.6 billion acquisition by Google
- Advised Rockwell Automation on the European Commission’s merger control review of its ‘Sensia’ oilfield automation joint venture with Schlumberger
- Advised third parties on CMA merger control investigations in a number of recent ‘nascent competition’ cases, including Illumina/Pacific Biosciences, Roche/Spark and Sabre/Farelogix
- Advised Zenith Hygiene Group plc on the CMA merger control review of its acquisition by Bain Capital
- Advised veterinary diagnostics specialist Abaxis on the UK merger control aspects of its $2 billion acquisition by Zoetis
- Advised a major online retailer on the European Commission’s review of the Vertical Agreements Block Exemption Regulation and Guidelines
- Advised a number of emerging and established brands, as well as media and software companies, on their European distribution arrangements
- Advised BroadSoft, Inc. on the European merger control aspects of its $1.9 billion acquisition by Cisco
- Acted for StubHub on the CMA’s secondary ticketing consumer protection investigation
- Advised Orchard Therapeutics on the UK merger control aspects of its acquisition of GSK’s rare diseases gene therapy business
- Advised Uber on the UK merger control aspects of its acquisition of Jump bikes
- Advised a third party to the CMA’s Competition Act investigation into price-fixing for the online sales of posters
- Advised Rovi Corp. on the non-US merger control aspects of its acquisition of Tivo Inc
- Advised an online retailer on an OFT Competition Act investigation into its sales platform terms
- Advised a third party on the European Commission’s Google Shopping and Android investigations
- Advised a third party on the European Commission and OFT “Ebooks” investigations
- Advised a global CAD software company on a European Commission Article 102 investigation
Education
Post-Graduate Diploma in European Law of Copyright, King’s College London
LLM (German Civil and Comparative Law), Hamburg University
MA (History and Law), University of Cambridge
Admissions
England & Wales
Belgium (Advocaat, registered on the Brussels Bar A List)
Ireland (non-practising)
Languages
English, German, French
Publications and Speaking Engagements
- Author, ‘So this is Brexit? – The impact of Brexit on UK competition law’ – Competition Law Insight, April and May 2020 – Links to Part I and Part II.
- Author, Handbook of Competition Enforcement Agencies (UK Chapter, 2019) – Global Competition Review
- Panel Chair, Selective Distribution after Coty, Vertical Restraints & Distribution Conference, 27 June 2018
- Author, “Hamburg appeals court upholds marketplace ban,” Digital Business Lawyer, August 2018
- Author, “Chapter on European Union: E-Commerce,“ – GCR: The European, Middle Eastern and African Antitrust Review 2018
- Speaker, Online distribution, GCR Live Dusseldorf, 3 November 2016
- Panel Chair, “E-commerce and digital markets”, Law Society Competition Section Annual Conference, 19 May 2016
- Speaker, “Competition Law Developments in Technology, Media and Telecommunications,” 5th AIJA Annual Competition Conference 2016, Valencia, 4 March 2016
- Speaker, “Price parity clauses and their effect on competition”, CIIAI Conference on Technology and Competition Law, Beijing, December 2015
- Speaker, “Vertical Restraints in the Online World,” Irish Society of European Law (ISEL), September 2014
- Speaker, “Online distribution platforms and the relationships between content owners and digital distributors,” GCR Live, Telecoms, Media and Technology, July 2014
- Author, “Who Pays for Delay? – Competition Appeal Tribunal Favours EU Law Alignment over Early Resolution of Appeal in Long-Running Pharmaceutical Reverse Payments Case”, Global Competition Litigation Review, Issue 3, August 2018
Contact Details
m: +44 7813878256
Email Becket