Name: Laura Elizabeth John Chambers: Monckton Chambers Location: London University: University of Oxford, Brasenose College Undergraduate degree: Law
Ups and downs A fan of the variety offered by the practice area – “I think that’s crucial in keeping your interest and motivation in any job” – Laura was privileged to have played a role in the first competition case to be heard by the Supreme Court. Another highlight was a case that went to the Court of Appeal on a procedural point that had been “knocking about for at least 10 years, known as the ‘French blocking statute’ question”. She details what occurred: “One of the defendants was resisting disclosure on the basis that it was a French company and French law said that it would commit a criminal offence if it gave disclosure in foreign proceedings. The point went to the Court of Appeal for the first time in our case, and the court confirmed that disclosure is a matter for the English courts and at the discretion of the judge. The judge had exercised his discretion in our favour, which the Court of Appeal upheld, so it was a hands-down win for us and great to get clarity on the point.” As most barristers will tell you, one downside is that your time is no longer entirely your own. “You take on professional and ethical obligations to your clients that you never entirely escape; if someone has an emergency and needs to phone you at 10:00pm, you have to take that call,” reflects Laura. “Life outside work can be impacted – which is not to say that you can’t have a life, but regularity and predictability are not there in the same way as if you were employed. You regularly have to cancel dinners, drinks and weekends away because matters have to be dealt with in a specific timeframe. It does get easier the more senior you are, but for the first couple of years you have to put your nose to the grindstone and just get on with it.” Justice for all Laura flags up two recent initiatives which are designed to broaden the scope of who can bring a competition-related action: “The
first is a fast-track procedure that aims to move cases through the Competition Appeal Tribunal more quickly and with a costs cap in place. It could be a crucial development, as one of the big problems with competition law claims is cost - getting a case to trial will normally cost millions, if not tens of millions, of pounds, so only the big players can afford to do it. The fast-track procedure should make it more straightforward for smaller players to take action against anti- competitive behaviour.” The second is a new procedure to allow for collective actions, similar to those found in the United States: “One feature of competition cases is that the bad behaviour normally occurs at the top of the supply chain –someone overcharges for a small component of a product, with the inflated price being passed down through the supply chain and eventually to the customer at the bottom, who will not know they’ve been overcharged. The original overcharger may make millions in illegal profit, but each individual consumer may only have been overcharged pennies and they are unlikely to bring a claim to recover that amount. Collective action is addressing the problem that it is uneconomic for consumers to bring an action, by allowing them to share legal costs and risks.” In Laura’s view, the best way to learn more about competition law is to speak to those who are already doing it: “For an area this niche, I don’t think you are automatically expected to have studied it – most of us come from a generalist background and then learn on the job. Rather, do a mini-pupillage or come along to drinks evenings at chambers that do this sort of work and talk to the junior barristers.” And that applies more generally too: “It is fundamental that you understand the actual job before you apply; the fact that you enjoy studying law and find it interesting is not enough. Practising at the Bar is not like being an academic at all, so you do need to get a feel for the day-to-day job.”
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