Bird & Bird LLP

Competition law

Partner

Dr Saskia King is a partner in Bird & Bird's Competition Law team in London with over 20 years' experience at the cutting edge of UK and EU competition law and policy, having worked at regulators, competition authorities, in academia and private practice, with a particular focus on regulated sectors such as payment systems as well as sport, retail, consumer, financial, technology and communications markets more widely.

She has particular expertise as a competition enforcement specialist having joined Bird & Bird from the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) where she was a senior lawyer leading the PSR's first competition cartel investigation in the payments space. She also worked for several years at the Competition and Markets Authority, where she was the legal adviser on a broad range of complex and high-profile antitrust investigations and mergers (both at Phase 1 and 2). She also represented the UK's interests internationally at the OECD Competition Committee. This experience has given her valuable insight into antitrust enforcement, policy and regulatory practices, which means she is extremely well-placed to advise clients on every aspect of competition investigations from inception to closure, including complaints, cartel leniency applications, dawn raids, requests for information, evidence gathering, interviews, settlement as well as merger filings, sector enquiries, market studies and competition compliance more generally.

Saskia brings in-depth experience and understanding on the application of competition rules to regulated sectors such as payment systems, as well as more widely to sport, retail, consumer, financial, communications and technology markets, having also worked previously as a competition lawyer at an international law firm. Additionally, she taught UK and EU competition law at the London School of Economics and Political Science, where she completed her doctorate in EU competition law. She has written widely on competition law, particularly on the most egregious restrictions of competition and her published work is often cited in academic texts and papers. She is also the co-author of a chapter in Bellamy & Child.

Saskia is particularly interested in the fast pace of developments in digital markets and advising clients on how to navigate the challenges these developments will bring. She has also gained considerable experience advising on complex competition law issues affecting sport and retail and consumer sectors.