October 26, 2004 LAWFUEL – Law, legal, attorney, antitrust law news Brussels and London – Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP is pleased to announce the expansion of the firm’s international antitrust and competition law practice with the addition of two partners, David Wood and James Ashe-Taylor, and one associate, Vassili Moussis. Ashe-Taylor, formerly the head of the European antitrust group with Crowell & Moring, joins the firm’s London office and will split his time between London and Brussels. Wood, previously a partner with Howrey Simon Arnold & White LLP and a former Head of Unit at the European Commission’s DG Competition, joins the firm in Brussels. Vassili Moussis, an associate formerly with Slaughter & May, also joined the Brussels office recently.
“We are pleased to welcome two such highly regarded competition law practitioners to the firm,” said Ken Doran, Managing Partner of Gibson Dunn. “James and David complement our existing competition law capability and our regulatory expertise in the communications sector. We are reinforcing our capability and critical mass to handle any antitrust-related matter of any size in Europe and to handle competition matters on a national basis in the UK, Germany, France and elsewhere in the EU.”
“Having provided competition law advice to over 40 of the firm’s clients in our first year of operation, we have responded to their wishes by broadening and deepening our competition team in Europe in order to be able to provide the resources necessary for large-scale, pan-European matters. We now have that,” said Brussels partner Peter Alexiadis. “James and David are both key strategic assets to our international competition law capability. That capability can be measured in terms of the breadth of their competition law experience, a unique perspective on the workings of DG Competition and in terms of their respective sectoral expertise.”
“Most importantly, they both have strong backgrounds in cartel work and will give us more depth in cross-border cartel representations,” said Gary Spratling, Co-Chair of the firm’s Antitrust Practice and internationally recognized international expert on cartel enforcement who, along with Peter Sullivan, Dan Swanson and Jarrett Arp, partners of Gibson Dunn’s US antitrust practice, and Michael Walther of the firm’s Munich office, have been spending a significant amount of time working with the Brussels office in its first year of operation.
About James Ashe-Taylor
Ashe-Taylor practices competition law at European Community law level, and in the United Kingdom. He focuses especially on cartels, merger control, state aid and the antitrust aspects of joint ventures, distribution and agency agreements. He has significant experience in European cartel investigations with a private U.S. litigation dimension. He has particular sectoral expertise in the financial services, aviation and communications sectors.
Ashe-Taylor graduated in 1986 from Magdalen College, Oxford University. He worked at Morgan Stanley in both New York and London before being admitted as a Barrister. Until his move to Gibson Dunn, he had served most recently as the partner in charge of the European antitrust practice at Crowell & Moring since 1999.
Ashe-Taylor has served as faculty member of the Practising Law Institute for seven years and as Chair of the Strategic Alliances Program in New York for the past four years. He is fluent in French and German.
“The platform provided by Gibson Dunn and the excellence throughout its antitrust practice provided an opportunity which was difficult to pass up,” said Ashe-Taylor.
About David Wood
Wood’s practice encompasses the full range of antitrust issues, including merger control, multi-jurisdictional filings, abuses of dominance, restrictive agreements and private enforcement. He has particular experience with cases involving abusive pricing and refusals to supply by dominant undertakings, as well as the establishment of joint dominance and network-related issues. He also has strong sectoral expertise in the financial services and media/high-tech sectors.
Wood is one of the relatively few lawyers in private practice to have held a senior position in Competition Directorate General. Before joining Howrey Simon in 2002, he spent 10 years at the European Commission, serving as the head of the Financial Services Unit and the Media Unit during his tenure.
He is a Solicitor of the Supreme Court in England and Wales and a member of the EU Law Committee of the Law Society of England and Wales. Wood earned his law degree with honors in 1985 from University of Buckingham. He is fluent in French.
“Gibson Dunn is a fantastic firm, and I am very excited at being part of an integrated transatlantic antitrust team that is expanding in Europe,” said Wood.
About Gibson Dunn’s Antitrust and Trade Regulation Practice
Gibson Dunn’s Antitrust and Trade Regulation Practice Group provides services to clients in virtually every significant area of antitrust and competition law, including
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cartel investigations, criminal antitrust litigation and follow-on civil treble-damage litigation (including class actions);
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federal and state government civil investigations and litigation;
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private antitrust litigation;
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government review of mergers and acquisitions; and
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trade regulation matters that involve unfair competition and consumer protection issues.
Since its opening a year ago, the firm’s Brussels office has focused primarily on merger control (at both EU and national level), actions under Article 82 EC (both for defendants and complainants) and vertical restraints and has advised both firms and governments extensively on the application of competition rules and regulation in the communications sector. Most recently, Brussels partner Peter Alexiadis and senior associate Miranda Cole represented MCI in its successful appeal from the decision of the Commission which blocked MCI WorldCom’s merger with Sprint.
Gibson Dunn was named the U.S. Antitrust Law Firm of the Year for 2003 by Chambers and Partners. Other recent high-profile accomplishments include:
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Obtaining a preliminary injunction on antitrust grounds for Atlantic Coast Airlines blocking a consent solicitation and exchange offer from a rival carrier that would have prevented Independence Air from launching a major new airline from Dulles.
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Defended Intel in a European Commission investigation involving intellectual property rights and against FTC charges of monopolization, which resulted in a favorable settlement for Intel on the eve of trial.
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Obtained summary judgment for Ticketmaster in connection with an action brought by Tickets.com under Sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Act.
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Obtained jury verdicts for Hewlett-Packard in trials in California and North Carolina alleging monopolization and other charges involving ink cartridges.
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Obtained summary judgment for American Airlines in a Section 1 conspiracy case alleging major airlines acted in concert to reduce and eliminate commissions paid to travel agents.
About the Firm
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP is a leading international law firm. Consistently ranking among the world’s top law firms in industry surveys and major publications, Gibson Dunn is distinctively positioned in today’s global marketplace with more than 800 lawyers and 13 offices, including Los Angeles, New York, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Palo Alto, London, Paris, Munich, Brussels, Orange County, Century City, Dallas and Denver.
