Thomas Sharpe KC > Chambers of Lord Grabiner KC > London, England > Barrister Profile

Thomas Sharpe KC

020 7583 2000 tsharpe@oeclaw.co.uk

Position

Barrister specialising in UK and EC competition law, commercial judicial review, utility regulation and areas where law and economics meet. Former adviser to Ofwat and Ofgem, and now Water Industry Commission for Scotland.  Litigation experience in High Court and European Courts includes ENS, the leading case on the rule of reason and ex p Fedesa, the leading case on proportionality; defended Mastercard in the European Courts and in some follow-on actions; secured damages for Albion Water in the CAT; significant fine reductions in builder cartels appeals in CAT; acted for Safeway in two monopoly and one merger inquiry and in Safeway v Twigger on ex turpi causa; about 100 MMC, Competition Commission and CMA inquiries eg mobile phone call termination litigation; challenges to airport charges, supermarkets sundry energy competition issues; funerals; gas and electricity transmission appeals; various RHI cases and water arbitrations. Appeared in Miller I for interveners. Conducted Commission of Inquiry in St Kitts and Nevis 2009.

Career

Entered practice 1987, Silk, 1994; Bencher Lincoln’s Inn 2004: admitted to Hong Kong and St Kitts and Nevis Bars; fellow in law, Wolfson and Nuffield Colleges, Oxford to 1987; executive director, Institute for Fiscal Studies (part-time) 1981-87; of counsel, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, Los Angeles and London 1984-87; various academic appointments in the UK and the US (visiting professor in anti-trust, University of California); contributor ‘Halsbury’s Laws’, articles and monographs in competition, EC law and utility regulations in LQR etc. Advisory boards of Competition Law Journal and Concurrences. Chairman of the Board of the Centre for Competition Policy, University of East Anglia.

Languages

Working knowledge of French and German.

Memberships

Combar; Bar European Group.

Education

Trinity Hall, Cambridge.

Leisure

Trustee Emeritus, Help Musicians UK – formerly Musicians Benevolent Fund; Council member of London Philharmonic Orchestra. Trustee, Awards for Young Musicians.