Competition + Regulation

Australia has experienced significant changes to it's principal competition law, the Competition and Consumer Act (CCA) with the Harper reforms along with increased powers of regulators, impacting corporate transactions, and dramatically altering the dynamics of regulated industries such as financial industries, telecommunications and utilities. 

With seven partners, five special counsel and a large team of lawyers, Gilbert + Tobin’s market-leading competition practice is one of the largest in Australia. We consistently win complex and cutting-edge work because of our track record or achieving results for clients on high-stakes transactions and complex litigation. With a sophisticated understanding of the interplay between law, economics and our clients’ commercial strategies, we provide practical and strategic advice so that our clients can achieve their commercial objectives whilst complying with competition laws. We are the go-to-firm for international companies with interest here.

We provide commercially-focused legal solutions to help achieve business objectives. Our team advises a diverse client base that includes large listed companies, privately held companies and government. We advise board members and senior management on strategic business and policy issues as well as providing competition law, consumer law and regulatory advice to legal teams on transactions, dealings with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), and other regulators, compliance and day-to-day issues.

Our competition + regulation services include advising on:

• Mergers and acquisitions, including ACCC clearances.
• Competition law issues arising from joint ventures and strategic alliances.
• ACCC investigations, enforcement proceedings and litigation, including representing cartel leniency applicants in Australia and Asia Pacific and representing parties in civil damages proceedings.
• Criminal investigations under the CCA, now that criminal sanctions apply for cartel conduct.
• Access regimes, economic regulation and pricing decisions including representing regulators and regulated businesses.
• Regulatory design and implementation for government entities in the Asia Pacific region, including telecommunications, financial services, energy and water.
• Legislative reform, including preparing submissions to government and regulatory reviews such as the Harper Review. 
• Misleading and deceptive conduct, consumer protection and unconscionability issues.
• Compliance systems and providing training.

We have particular areas of expertise in the following sectors of commerce and industry;

• Financial Services 
• Energy + Resources 
• Rail + Ports
• Infrastructure
• Health + Life Sciences
• Telecommunications
• Water projects + Regulation
• Consumer + Retail
• Hospitality + Leisure

Get the lowdown on developments in competition law in Australia and around the world with The Competitive Edge podcast.