Biography: Public Procurement

Mark Jones joined Norton Rose in 1994 and is a partner in the London office where he specialises in competition (antitrust) law, utilities regulation and public procurement law.

Mark's procurement work involves advising public sector bodies and utilities on the application of the public procurement rules and their requirements for competitive tendering, including in the context of PFI projects; he also acts for private sector companies participating in such processes. His procurement work extends to contentious matters such as litigation to enforce the rules.

The procurement practice which Mark heads has been described in legal directories as 'particularly excellent'; 'offering straightforward, hands-on, solutions-oriented advice'; 'highly skilled'; 'able to put together a team that can absorb a lot of work in a short period of time' and 'prompt, great at teamwork and definitely value for money', while also recognised for giving 'consistently sound advice'.

On the competition (antitrust) side, Mark advises companies on compliance of commercial arrangements and practices; acting in cartel and monopoly investigations by the competition authorities; advising on competition law aspects arising in litigation disputes; seeking competition clearance in M&A transactions; and state aid (anti-subsidy) rules. He also advises in the context of investigations and reviews by the utility regulators.

Mark's experience includes a secondment to the Office of Fair Trading (the principal UK competition authority), where he worked in the team responsible for the introduction of the UK Competition Act.

Mark is a recognised specialist in the legal directories. Chambers includes him in the 'Best of the UK' category for public procurement. He has been recommended as 'a fantastic competition lawyer' and 'extremely helpful on regulatory issues'; for being 'proactive and pragmatic' and 'client orientated'; and for providing clients with 'sound advice and support' and 'great business-oriented advice'.

Mark is a member of the Procurement Lawyers' Association, the British Institute of International and Comparative Law's competition law forum, the International Chamber of Commerce UK Committee on Competition, the Confederation of British Industry's Competition Panel, and the City of London Solicitors' Society.

Mark has written and spoken on competition, procurement and regulatory matters in a variety of publications, and is a regular media commentator on these issues.