Profile: David Wood

Competition

Biography: Competition

David Wood is a partner based in the Brussels office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. He is an English qualified solicitor and has been based full-time in Brussels for 17 years.

Mr Wood's practice encompasses the full range of European antitrust issues, including cartels, merger control (often involving the coordination of cases before several different competition authorities), abuse of dominance, restrictive agreements, sector inquiries and private enforcement.

He has particular experience with cases involving abusive pricing and refusals to supply by dominant undertakings, as well as the establishment of joint dominance and network-related issues. He has strong sectoral expertise in the financial services and media/high-tech sectors.

Mr Wood began his legal career in 1986 working in the London and Brussels offices of a major international law firm, where he practised litigation and commercial law, particularly where antitrust issues were involved.

From 1992, he spent 10 years at the antitrust enforcement division of the European Commission (DG Competition) including positions as head of the Financial Services Unit and acting head of the Media Unit. As one of the few lawyers in private practice to have held a senior position in DG Competition, he brings to his clients not only deep experience of European antitrust enforcement, but also valuable insights into how to manage risk and avoid problems.

Since leaving the Commission, he has successfully advised and represented a wide range of companies, principally in the financial services and media sectors but also in the pharmaceutical, chemical, software, consumer electronics and transport sectors. Examples include the representation of: a successful leniency applicant in a major cartel investigation; First Data Corporation (as well as its former subsidiary Western Union) in a wide range of merger transactions at EU and member state level; MSC Mediterranean Shipping Corporation in relation an investigation by the Hellenic Competition Commission; Euroclear in relation to various stock exchange mergers and other competition issues, Commission investigations and regulatory matters; and a Hollywood major in relation to the EU investigation of arrangements relating to Blu-ray and HD-DVD.

He is a frequent writer and speaker on competition law issues and is a member of the editorial board of Competition Law Insight.