The ‘highly knowledgeable and pragmatic’ team at Dentons regularly acts on contentious and non-contentious mandates for clients spread across a wide array of sectors that includes the energy, retail, manufacturing, transport and financial services arenas, as well as advising a host of UK government and public bodies. The firm is routinely involved in merger control and foreign direct investment mandates, dawn raid compliance issues, subsidy control measures, and public procurement instructions, possessing the ability to leverages the firm's cross-border network. Michael Dean heads up the practice and is a key figure in the team for contentious work, often handling claims of anti-competitive conduct in the Competition Appeal Tribunal. Promoted to partner in May 2023, Melanie Martin is a ’stand-out’ practitioner ‘with in-depth knowledge and expertise’, especially regarding EU legislation, while Carolyn Burns, who was promoted to partner in May 2024, assists energy and infrastructure clients in both the public and private sector with compliance and regulatory concerns. Viktoria Tsvetanova has been a strong supporting presence on a number of matters, and Catriona Munro has transitioned to a consultant role within the firm.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
‘The team is highly knowledgeable and applies its expertise in a pragmatic and timely manner.'
‘Melanie Martin is a stand-out partner with in depth knowledge and expertise. She is very user friendly and proactive each time we deal with her.’
‘Michael Dean deserves praise for the research which he does on our industry and for providing advice which is perfectly tailored to us. His calm and logical approach helps us to get to the crux of complex issues.'
‘The team have incredible knowledge of an extremely complex area of law. They have provided support on a variety of issues and each time have excelled and delivered great results. They are without doubt the leaders in Competition in Scotland.’
‘The link up cross border is seamless such that from one point of contact relevant advice across numerous jurisdictions can be provided.’
‘Michael Dean is easy to work with, fun , and knowledgeable.’
‘Carolyn Burns is our go to external adviser on competition related issues. She provides clear, pragmatic and commercial advice and we feel very confident in that advice.’
‘Michael Dean and Melanie Martin are extremely easy to work with and ready to think "out of the box" whilst giving a clear steer on strengths and weaknesses in any argument. They express themselves clearly in ways which distil complex principles into business advice and they are well trusted within our business.’
Key clients
- Daimler AG
- Stagecoach Group
- The Edrington Group Limited
- UK Government (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office; Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy; Department for Education)
- Scottish National Investment Bank
- Civil Aviation Authority
- Sainsbury's
- Nynas AB
- National House-Building Council
- Tricon Energy
Work highlights
- Advising the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) in relation to interventions in the energy market to support customers with the costs of energy, formation of the future system operator and reform of industry code governance.
- Advising the Acorn Project, which is a significant project for the decarbonisation of the Scottish economy and was selected for Track 2 of the UK Government's competition in July 2023.
- Advising in relation to the CAA's price control decision for Heathrow Airport including the successful defence of that decision in an appeal to the Competition and Markets Authority by Heathrow Airport Limited and three airlines.
Lawyers
Hall of fame
The lawyers at the very top of the profession, widely known and respected by peers and clients for their longstanding involvement in market-leading work.
Next generation partners
Junior partners with significant recognition from clients and peers in the market and key roles on multiple matters.
Carolyn Burns
Melanie Martin
Practice head
Michael Dean
Other key lawyers
Melanie Martin; Carolyn Burns; Viktoria Tsvetanova; Catriona Munro