GCR’s 2010 Antitrust Litigation conference brings together leading competition and litigation experts from the UK, other EU member states and the US who will provide practical guidance for potential claimants and defendants.

Topics will include

• Jurisdiction and Forum Shopping: Germany Vs the UK
• Settlements: Relevant issues when settling international claims
• Access to Commission File
• The Oxera Report
• Damages: A case study
• Dealing with the individual - criminal sanctions, implications for civil litigation
• The Competition Appeal Tribunal - is it a suitable forum for international damages claims?  

CHAIRMAN AND SPEAKERS from the European Commission, the judiciary, law firms and industry include:

• John Pheasant, Partner, Hogan Lovells International LLP
• Mr. Justice Barling, President, Competition Appeal Tribunal
• Nicholas Green QC, Brick Court Chambers
• Mark Hoskins QC, Brick Court Chambers
• Elizabeth Morony, Partner, Clifford Chance LLP
• Nicholas Heaton, Partner, Hogan Lovells International LLP
• Ingo Brinker, Partner, Gleiss Lutz
• Georg Berrisch, Partner, Covington & Burling LLP
• Jon Lawrence, Partner, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP
• Alan Wiseman, Partner, Howrey LLP
• Jeroen Kortmann, Partner, Stibbe. Professor, University of Amsterdam
• Christopher Vajda QC, Monckton Chambers
• Eddy de Smijter, Private Enforcement Unit, DG Competition, European Commission
• Gunnar Niels, Director, Oxera
• Bruno Augustin, Assistant Director, Ernst Young
• Richard Pike, Partner, Baker & McKenzie LLP
• Michael O’Kane, Partner, Peters and Peters
• Mark Simpson QC, Fountain Court

09.00 Chairman’s Introduction

09.15 Jurisdiction and Forum Shopping:Germany v the UK

• Choice of jurisdiction, Cooper Tire, and the CAT’s jurisdiction, Enron

• Permission in the CAT, Emerson, and in the High Court, National Grid

• Options pending annulment proceedings

• Limitation periods

• Disclosure

• Assessment of damages

• Passing on, including burden of proof

• Costs rules, including availability of alternative costs arrangements, funding

• Track record of cases

Mark Hoskins QC, Brick Court Chambers

Elizabeth Morony, Partner, Clifford Chance LLP

Nick Heaton, Partner, Hogan Lovells LLP

Ingo Brinker, Partner, Gleiss Lutz

Georg Berrisch, Partner, Covington & Burling LLP

11.15 Coffee

11.35 Settlements: Relevant issues when settling international claims

• Multi-jurisdiction litigation

• Contribution claims

Jon Lawrence, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP

Alan Wiseman, Partner, Howrey LLP

Jeroen Kortmann, Partner, Stibbe

Professor, University of Amsterdam

12.15 Access to Commission file

• Can disclosure in national proceedings of confidential versions of the Commission’s decision, leniency material and other documents on the Commission’s file, material from annulment proceedings, etc be resisted

• The Commission’s approach to access to its file by potential claimants

• The decision of the Ombudsman (June 2010)

• The anticipated judgment of the General Court

Christopher Vajda QC, Monckton Chambers

Comment: Eddy de Smijter, DG Competition, European Commission

13.00 Lunch

14.15 Quantifying damages: Towards guidance to courts

• The Oxera report

• Economic methods that fit within the legal rules

• Simple versus complex models

• Examples of cartel damages cases

Gunnar Niels, Director, Oxera

14.45 Damages: A case study

• Scope of the infringement

• Causation

• Quantification

• Proof of passing on

Panellists:

Richard Pike, Partner, Baker & McKenzie

Bruno Augustin, Assistant Director, Ernst & Young

Gunnar Niels, Director, Oxera

15.45 Tea

16.00 Dealing with the individual

• Criminal sanctions: implications for civil litigation

• The liability of the individual

• Does D & O cover respond to civil liability of a director for infringing activity?

• The Safeways appeal

Michael O’Kane, Partner, Peters & Peters

Mark Simpson QC, Fountain Court

16.45 The Competition Appeal Tribunal: Is it a suitable forum for international damages claims?

Gerald Barling QC, President, CAT

Nicholas Green QC, Brick Court Chambers

Chairman, The Bar Council

17.25 Q & A

17.30 Summing up and closing