Biography: Competition

Michael was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and Christ Church, Oxford. He joined Slaughter and May in 1992 and became a partner in the competition group in 2001. Following a period of six years as one of the resident partners in our Brussels office, he returned to London in September 2007.

Michael has been involved in a large number of notifications under the EU Merger Regulation in a diverse range of fields including fast-moving consumer goods, defence, business insurance, financial services, mining and natural resources, oil and gas, life sciences, IT and building materials. He has represented Unilever, BAE Systems, BHP Billiton, Thermo Fisher and Centrica, amongst others, in EU Merger Regulation processes.

He also has significant experience in relation to UK merger cases, including a number of high-profile references to the Competition Commission. Sectors in which Michael has represented clients in UK merger cases include publishing, retailing, IT, fast-moving consumer goods and building materials. Clients represented include Thermo Fisher, Travis Perkins, Greencore, Luxottica and Unilever.

Michael is head of the firm's competition litigation group. His contentious experience includes advising Unilever in relation to impulse ice cream freezer cabinet exclusivity, and in relation to a consumer detergents cartel investigation.

He has a good command of French and continues to improve his Spanish.

Michael is ranked as a leading individual in the areas of contentious and non-contentious competition/European law by Chambers UK 2012, Chambers Europe 2011 and Chambers Global 2011.