Scotsman: Competition Act a winner but needs to be streamlined

For more details or to book a place please see the attached link

The Event will take place at 5pm in Shepherd and Wedderburn LLP’s Edinburgh offices, 1 Exchange Crescent, Conference Square on 23 March 2010.

Our main speakers for the event will be:

Professor Johan van de Gronden: Chair of European Law at the University of Nijmegen, who has written extensively on the impact of EU free movement and competition law on the healthcare sector.

Declan Purcell: Member of the Irish Competition Authority and Director of its Advocacy Division. The ICA has been very active in the field of healthcare, particularly as regards competition in the supply of services by health professionals.

Catherine Davies: Legal Director of the Co-operation and Competition Panel for NHS-funded Services. the Panel’s role includes advising on the wider development of co-operation, patient choice and competition within the NHS in England & Wales.

Further details and a formal invite will follow shortly.

We have secured participation from Katie Stewart, Head of the National Casework Division of the Crown Office, and Stephen Blake, Director of Cartels and Criminal Enforcement at the OFT, for what promises to be a fascinating round table discussion. Dundas & Wilson CS LLP will kindly be providing us with a venue for this event.

If you are interested in participating in the event please email Brigitte Buice at brigitte.buice@shepwedd.co.uk who can provide more information. Please note that, due to the more intimate nature of our ‘lite’ events, places are limited for this event.

The sole payment method is by cheque to the “Scottish Competition Law Forum” and should be sent to

Brigitte Buice (Ref: GHD/BIB)
Scottish Competition Law Forum
c/o Shepherd and Wedderburn LLP
1 Exchange Crescent
Conference Square
Edinburgh EH3 8UL

To pre-register please email brigitte.buice@shepwedd.co.uk and further details will be sent to you nearer the time.

Link to flyer: http://scotcomp.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/invitationv2.pdf

This year we will start at 2 pm at Maclay Murray and Spens’ Offices at 151 St Vincent Street in Glasgow with two exciting sessions on the topic of Sport, focusing in particular on the interaction between Competition Law and Sport.

The first session, titled “Making money from Sports: Media rights, Set top boxes and Championships”, will focus on legal aspects of the commercialisation of sport. The second session, “Six plus Five – Homegrown Talent vs The Free Market” will focus on the impact of free movement and competition principles on sport.

Speakers on these two topics will include:

· David Taylor – UEFA Vice President
· Gianluca Monte – Sports Unit of the European Commission
· Ian Forrester – White & Case LLP
· Simon Cliff – General Counsel Manchester City
· Abbe Brown – University of Edinburgh
· Alastair Bell – Partner, McDermott Will & Emery UK LLP

Former FTC Commissioner, William Kovacic will provide an insight into Transatlantic perspectives on this subject to conclude this part of the event.

After an afternoon full of interesting talks and lively discussion we will move to Blythwood Square Hotel for our Annual Dinner. Our after dinner speaker this year will be football commentator and former general manager of Celtic FC, Jock Brown.

Sponsorship opportunities for this event are still available, so if you are interested in supporting us please contact jonathan.ford@shepwedd.co.uk

The cost of the event to include Dinner per person is still to be confirmed. We will inform you about this and the method of payment as soon as possible.

To pre-register please email Brigitte.buice@shepwedd.co.uk and further details will be sent to you nearer the time.

Please find attached the flyer for this event:

http://scotcomp.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/invitation.pdf

Until recently, the risk for those involved in cartels in the EU of being sued for damages was more theoretical than real. But in the last couple of years, we have seen more damages actions than ever before. The Competition Appeal Tribunal has become an attractive forum for these types of actions, and at the same time the European Commission is looking for ways of facilitating them. Nevertheless, there are still considerable hurdles in the way of claimants seeking redress. This SCLF event will focus on some of the burning issues in this fast-evolving area of competition law.

Our three speakers are:

Sir Gerald Barling, President of the Competition Appeal Tribunal. Sir Gerald joined the CAT in 2008, having been one of the leading lights of the competition/European Bar. Sir Gerald has been involved in numerous ground breaking cases including the Sunday trading cases and the constitutionally significant Factortame actions.

Robin Noble, Oxera Economic Consulting. Robin has been involved in a number of major damages cases, including in the UK, the Netherlands and South Africa. Oxera is currently engaged in a project for the Commission to develop practical methodologies that can be used and understood by courts throughout the EU to calculate damages.

Aidan Robertson QC, Brick Court Chambers. Aidan has appeared in numerous important cases, including acting for claimants in the first cartel damages action in the CAT and the first challenge to a merger decision in the CAT.

Programme:

Time: 17:00 – 20:00

Venue: Maclay Murray and Spens LLP
Quartermile One
15 Lauriston Place
Edinburgh EH3 9EP

RSVP:
To register please email Brigitte Buice at:
brigitte.buice@shepwedd.co.uk

Flyer:
Click here to download the flyer for this event:

http://scotcomp.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/autumn-invitation.pdf

We will be following up the debate sparked at the SCLF Spring event on Competition and the Crunch, looking in more depth at some of the issues and updating on developments in the last three months. Notes of the spring event are online at www.scotcomp.org

The promised “SCLF lite” will be on 21 May from 17.00 to 19.00, kindly hosted by Consumer Focus Scotland in their office in Royal Exchange House, 100 Queen Street, Glasgow, G1 3DN.

We plan to focus the discussion with some opening comments from expert colleagues on the following themes:

· failing firms
· co-operation agreements
· state-aid
· procurement

In what will be an informal discussion we can of course follow up other aspects too – you can highlight your interests in advance or just bring your comments on the day.

If you are interested in participating please email Brigitte.buice@shepwedd.co.uk by 19 May.