James Thomas, MSc

His recent disputes experience includes the successful defence of BT against the £1.3 billion excessive and unfair pricing claim in Le Patourel v. BT, the UK’s first competition collective action to proceed to trial. Mr. Thomas was closely involved in preparing the testifying expert for trial, developing the expert reports and joint expert statement, and advising legal counsel in the courtroom. He also led the claimant-side empirical work relating to one of the principal defendants across two waves of trucks cartel litigation before the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT), the second of which brought together claims from more than 80 businesses and public bodies. His disputes experience further includes advising DAZN in arbitration proceedings concerning its football broadcasting rights agreement with the Belgian Pro League. He is currently involved in several cases before the CAT, including in digital markets, with claims running into the billions of pounds. 

In market investigations, Mr. Thomas recently advised the UK’s leading pet care business, Pets at Home, during the CMA’s market investigation into veterinary services. He took a leading role on issues relating to economic profitability, supporting the client’s executive team in preparing for hearings and responding to the CMA’s emerging findings. Across this and other investigations, he has worked with CFOs, finance teams, and senior executives to translate accounting information into economically meaningful data and evidence that inform competition authorities’ assessments and potential remedies. His approach combines economic judgement with a pragmatic understanding of the clients’ businesses, helping them navigate demanding regulatory processes in a straightforward and proportionate way. 

His wider experience includes the CMA’s reviews of Funerals and Children’s Social Care and competition and regulatory matters relating to Ofcom’s reviews of telecommunications markets. He has also advised clients in investigations by competition authorities outside the UK, including for a major European glass manufacturer in an excessive and unfair pricing investigation before the Turkish Competition Authority, which concluded without a finding of infringement.

Mr. Thomas also works closely with clients and their legal advisers to navigate UK and European merger control processes, developing clear and persuasive economic evidence for competition authorities within demanding regulatory timetables. His experience includes Mercer’s acquisition of Cardano, a long-term savings specialist in the UK and the Netherlands with over $60 billion in assets under management; Adobe’s proposed $20 billion acquisition of Figma; and Vivacom’s acquisitions of two Bulgarian telecommunications providers, which received unconditional clearance following an in-depth Phase 2 review.

Mr. Thomas also has experience advising on state aid and subsidy control matters, including government support for major infrastructure and investment projects.

Across these areas of practice, Mr. Thomas has developed particular experience in telecommunications and digital markets. His wider sector experience covers media and sport, regulated and network industries, consumer-facing businesses, and financial and professional services. Having advised clients across different sectors and from different sides of competition matters, he brings a broad perspective and the ability to quickly get to grips with clients’ businesses, focusing the economic work on the issues most likely to matter to legal teams, courts, and competition authorities.