Clifford Chance

Clifford Chance recruits leading competition expert from The Office Of Fair Trading

Leading international law firm Clifford Chance announced today that Alastair Mordaunt is to join the Firm's highly rated Antitrust Practice as a Partner in the London office.

Alastair Mordaunt has held a number of senior positions at the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) including his current Director role, heading up a dedicated competition enforcement team and previously Director of Mergers, where he was responsible for leading on some of the most high profile cases of recent years. These have included the Lloyds/HBOS and Co-op/Somerfield mergers; and the on-going antitrust investigation into data exchange in the insurance sector. Prior to joining the OFT in 2007, Alastair spent a number of years in private practice advising on merger and antitrust matters before the UK, EU and US antitrust authorities.

Commenting on the appointment, Alex Nourry, head of the London Antitrust Practice, said: "Alastair's recruitment is a tremendous opportunity. His mix of private and public sector experience will be a real benefit for our clients, especially given the major reforms to the competition regime being contemplated in the UK and the ever expanding international cooperation between antitrust authorities. Moreover, he will provide additional resource and expertise to our busy competition and antitrust team to meet the significant demand for its services as the increasingly complex landscape drives competition issues up the boardroom agenda."

Alastair added: “While it has been a privilege working with my OFT colleagues and friends and I will sorely miss them, I am really excited about returning to private practice. Clifford Chance was the natural choice for me: a strong and ambitious Antitrust Practice with an unrivalled international network, plus values that I share - collegiality and a commercial approach to delivering the highest quality client service.”

The hire is the latest in a number of senior appointments by Clifford Chance's global Corporate practice including Steven Fox and Tim Lewis in London, Rob Masella in New York, Claudio Cerabolini in Milan and Mathieu Remy in Paris.

Alastair Mordaunt is also one of a number of leading public sector lawyers to join Clifford Chance in recent years, including Michel Petite, formerly Director-General of the Legal Service of the European Commission, Bill Blumenthal, formerly General Counsel to the US Federal Trade Commission and Carlos Conceicao, formerly Director of Regulatory Enforcement at the FSA. 

Clifford Chance's global Antitrust Practice comprises more than 150 lawyers and economists across Europe, the US and Asia, advising on a broad range of local and multi-jurisdictional matters, including merger control, cartels, antitrust investigations and litigation, State aid and public procurement matters. Major recent cases range from advising on the merger clearance for Oracle's acquisition of Sun Microsystems, Pfizer's acquisition of Wyeth and the T-mobile/Orange joint venture, to high profile cartel cases including the Marine Hose case and the UK litigation arising from the gas insulated switchgear cartel.

Clifford Chance's Corporate practice is ranked number one in Corporate/M&A both globally and in the UK in Chambers Global 2011 and is top of Mergermarket's European M&A rankings for Q1 2011.