City lawyers rush to join competition policy forum

LEGISLATION: firms will have their say on antitrust law reform

City law firms have rushed to join a new competition law forum (CLF) designed to act as an interface between legislators and practitioners, which is likely to shape future legislation.

The British Institute of International and Comparative Law founded the CLF last week with the aim of holding discussions and publishing papers on the content, application and methodology of national, European and global competition policy.

Membership - which will cost 3,500 a year - is open to lawyers, economists, senior business managers, trade unionists, public servants and consumer bodies.

City firms Slaughter and May, Linklaters, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Herbert Smith, Bird & Bird, Ashurst Morris Crisp, SJ Berwin and Hammonds have already signed up.

The CLF will meet four times a year - three times in London and once in Brussels - and regulators will also be able to join as honorary consultative members.

Membership will be limited to one practitioner per law firm to prevent the reputation of the body being sullied by attachments to vested interests.

Philip Lowe, director-general of competition at the European Commission, and Sir Christopher Bellamy, president of the Competition Commission Appeal Tribunal, both spoke at the launch, held at the Competition Commission.

Sir Christopher said: 'The forum will pull together the wealth of talent among competition practitioners in London, Brussels and elsewhere and will doubtless become a major new force in the development of policy in the future.'

Mr Lowe said: 'The commission looks forward to working with the forum and benefiting from the new thinking the forum will develop.'

Jeremy Fleming