Becket McGrath

Partner

Becket advises clients on all aspects of EU and UK competition law, with an emphasis on defending companies against investigations, distribution issues and merger control. He is a leading expert on distribution issues raised by e-commerce, including in the context of selective distribution, and has advised leading brands, online retailers, and marketplaces on a wide range of strategic competition issues. Becket also defends companies under investigation by the CMA for consumer law breaches.

Although he advises clients in a broad range of sectors, Becket has a particular interest in the media, technology and life sciences sectors. This interest extends to the growing importance of public interest and foreign investment reviews for these sectors.

Becket studied at the University of Cambridge and has an LL.M. in German civil law from the University of Hamburg.  He speaks fluent German and is a member of the Studienvereinigung Kartellrecht.  Becket has worked in both London and Brussels during his career and is qualified as both an English solicitor and Belgian advocaat.

Becket 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 was previously featured in GCR’s ‘40 under 40’ feature and is listed as a ‘Global Elite Thought Leader’ in the latest Who’s Who Legal directory of leading competition lawyers.

Recent experience includes advising:

  • an Austrian building products company on the UK merger control aspects of a European acquisition
  • Imprivata, a global medical technology company, on the competition and public interest aspects of its proposed of Isosec and subsequent CMA review
  • StubHub on the CMA’s secondary ticketing consumer protection investigation
  • a major consumer goods company on the legislative process leading up to the new EU Digital Markets Act
  • an online brand on a CMA consumer protection investigation
  • a number of investors on notifications under the National Security and Investment Act, primarily in the life sciences and technology sectors
  • a major UK news publisher on a number of strategic competition issues
  • a sports body on the competition law aspects of its media rights strategy
  • a global company on a large green hydrogen technology licensing transaction
  • a specialist academic publisher on the multijurisdictional merger control aspects of a potential acquisition
  • a collective licensing body on the competition law aspects of an important commercial arrangement with a software company
  • a number of emerging and established brands, as well as media and software companies, on their European distribution arrangements

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

Recent Publications and Speaking Engagements

  • Author, “The CMA’s Decision in Microsoft/Activision – A Lost Life or Game Over?”, Competition Law Insight (forthcoming)
  • Speaker and Panel chair, Vertical Agreements UK and EU, 3rd Annual International Antitrust Summer Conference 2023, The Law Society, June 2023
  • Author, “Re-Levelling the playing field – the treatment of online retail under the new EU and UK competition law regimes for vertical agreements”, Thomson Reuters, E.C.L.R., Issue 6, June 2023
  • Author, “Long-awaited UK Bill to Regulate Technology Platforms Introduced to Parliament“, Euclid Law Blog, May 2023
  • Author, “A new dawn?  The United Kingdom’s new competition law regime for vertical agreements”, Competition Law Journal, April 2023
  • Author, “UK Competition Appeal Tribunal Judgment Derails CMA Mobile Browsers and Cloud Gaming Market Investigation“, Kluwer Competition Law Blog, April 2023
  • Speaker, “The UK Verticals Regime – A New Dawn”, Competition Law Association, London, 4 October 2022
  • Speaker, “An Introduction to the UK National Security and Investment Act”, Swiss Association for Compliance and Competition Law, 1 November 2022
  • Speaker, “An Introduction to the UK National Security and Investment Act”, Studienvereinigung Kartellrecht, London, 18 May 2022
  • Author, ‘The National Security and Investment Bill’ – Competition Law Insight, April 2021
  • Author, ‘So this is Brexit? – The impact of Brexit on UK competition law’ – Competition Law Insight, April and May 2020 – Links to Part Iand Part II.
  • Author, Handbook of Competition Enforcement Agencies (UK Chapter, 2019) – Global Competition Review
  • Panel Chair, the new EU and UK regimes for vertical agreements, (Law Society Competition Section Annual Conference, 22 June 2022)
  • Application of the EU verticals regime to ecommerce agreements (College of Law Summer School, 23 June 2022)

Contact Details

+44 20 3816 3012

Email: becket.mcgrath@euclid-law.eu

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