The Legal 500 > United Kingdom - Solicitors > Scotland > EU and competition

Brodies LLP handles merger control, regulatory compliance and investigations, state aid, public procurement and contentious issues across the full spectrum of EU and national competition law. Being one of the only Scottish firms with a Brussels office, the team has been advising on Brexit queries over the past few years. Practice head Charles Livingstone sits in Glasgow and regularly collaborates with the firm's oil and gas practice to assist major clients with competition matters in the sector. In Edinburgh, experienced litigator and firm chair Christine O’Neill - the pre-eminent public law specialist in Scotland' - maintains close connections with the Scottish Government.

The competition department at Dentons is best known for work on contentious matters including dawn raids, anti-bribery work and modern slavery issues. Michael Dean leads the group from Glasgow and is regularly involved in significant merger control, leniency applications, compliance programmes, vertical supply chain issues and retailing matters. Contentious specialist Catriona Munro has a particularly strong track record in the cartel space, regulatory issues, State aid and private damages claims,  both on the plaintiff and defendant side. Jennifer Marshall left the Edinburgh office to join Highlands and Islands Airport as in-house counsel.

At Shepherd and Wedderburn, the EU and competition practice covers all aspects of competition law - transaction and behavioural, procurement and state aid, as well as litigation - and is complemented by specialist public law and commercial litigation experience. Practice head Gordon Downie is particularly experienced in a range of regulated sectors, while Glasgow-based John Grady is a specialist in dealing with energy and utilities regulators.

With anenviable client roster spanning the financial services, oil and gas, food and drink and public sectors, Burness Paull LLP's competition team advises on M&A transactions, state aid issues and complex commercial agreements. Graeme Palmer , who was recently promoted to the partnership, heads the firm's procurement and state aid sub-group from Glasgow. In Edinburgh, the main name to note is practice head David Goodbrand who specialises in commercial contracts, merger law and compliance and training for clients including Highland Spring, Royal London, ACCA and the Scottish Football Association.

DWF's EU and competition team has continued to grow under the leadership of Glasgow-based Colin Miller, with a strong presence in the food and drink, education, energy and transport sectors. The practice's main client continues to be the Scottish Government, which has turned to thefirm to advise on significant procurement and state aid issues arising from major transport and telecom projects.

Harper Macleod LLP advises public and private sector clients on the full range of competition law issues, including public procurement and state aid. The team also regularly handles merger control, anti-competitive agreements and abuse of dominance claims. James McMorrow leads the group from Glasgow, working with practitioners spread across Glasgow and Edinburgh, as well as partner Jill Fryer in Inverness.

The MacRoberts LLP is best known for its work on compliance and investigation matters. David Flint's team advises on competition law aspects of corporate transactions, including mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures and the acquisition of companies holding publicly-awarded contracts.