Clifford Chance

Lawyer of the Year: Thomas Vinje

As chair of Clifford Chance’s global antitrust practice, Thomas Vinje last year represented clients in several high-profile competition cases. He represented FairSearch, a coalition of organisations, as the main complainant in the European Commission’s Android investigation, and as a leading intervener in the Google search case. Vinje was instrumental in working with FairSearch to seek robust competition in the online shopping market, which resulted in Google being fined €2.4 billion by the European Commission for abusing its dominant position by promoting its own shopping service. Vinje also advised Oracle on an investigation into alleged abuse of dominance by Korea’s Fair Trade Commission, which ultimately dropped all allegations against the company.

Dealmaker of the Year: Greg Olsen

Clifford Chance partner Greg Olsen shepherded several high-profile merger clearances in 2017. Acting for Booker Group, he helped secure unconditional fast-track Phase II clearance for its £3.7 billion (€4.2 billion) merger with Tesco, despite significant opposition from competitors and widespread speculation that the UK’s CMA would require extensive remedies. He also guided Mastercard’s controversial £700 million acquisition of Vocalink, which the CMA cleared in Phase I – the first time the authority ever accepted Phase I non-structural remedies in such a complex matter. In addition to those deals, Olsen also convinced the European Commission to clear 10 other mergers in Phase I in 2017."