Our speakers
The Honourable Mrs Justice Kelyn Bacon DBE
Dame Kelyn Bacon DBE was called to the Bar in 1998. She was a pupil and subsequently a tenant at Brick Court Chambers, where she remained throughout her career as a barrister. She specialised in competition and EU law and was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2014. She was elected as a governing bencher of the Inner Temple in 2015. In 2017 she was appointed as a Deputy High Court Judge, and in October 2020 she was appointed as a High Court Judge in the Chancery Division. She hears cases across the whole range of business and property courts work, as well as sitting in the competition appeal tribunal, upper tribunal tax and Chancery chamber and the patents court. From February 2022 to February 2025, she was the President of the Upper Tribunal Tax and Chancery Chamber, and since May 2025 she has been the President of the Competition Appeal Tribunal.
Dame Kelyn Bacon DBE with be opening the conference with the Welcome address and introduction.
Pedro Caro de Sousa, DPhil Oxon, Legal Service (Competition Team), European Commission
Pedro Caro de Sousa is an agent at the Legal Service of the European Commission. He advises the Commission and represents it before the courts, with a focus on competition law including private enforcement cases.
He was a Policy Expert at OECD’s Competition Division between 2015 and 2021, where he worked on the development of collective actions and private competition enforcement frameworks in a number of jurisdictions. Before that, he worked for Linklaters LLP from 2005 to 2008 and again from 2011 to 2014.
Pedro is a qualified lawyer in both Portugal and in England & Wales. He holds a degree in law from the Universidade Nova de Lisboa (New University of Lisbon) and a DPhil from the University of Oxford. He was an associate researcher at the European University Institute, a visiting fellow of the School of Law at NYU, a lecturer in law at the University of Reading, and a tutorial fellow at King’s College and at the University of Oxford.
Pedro is speaking on Collective proceedings: overview of the new landscape for mass tort claims in the UK and EU session.
Thomas Funke, Geradin Partners Germany
At Geradin Partners in Germany, Dr Thomas Funke helps corporate clients succeed in antitrust litigation and other business-critical competition law matters.
His experience of over 20 years includes cartel damages litigation before the European Court of Justice and the German Supreme Court. Representing retail groups, consumer goods manufacturers and claims funders, Thomas helped secure decisions in Akzo v Commission (T-345/12), CDC v Commission (T-437/08) as well as the CJEU Hydrogen Peroxide and BGH Coffee Roaster litigation. He leads one of the largest cartel damages actions against the European trucks cartel.
As lead counsel in German and EU antitrust investigations, Thomas defended key players from the automotive, energy, banking, travel and technology sectors. The European Commission retained him to defend its merger clearances of the EUR 60 bn E.ON/RWE asset swap against multiple third-party challenges in the European Court of Justice (C-464/23).
Thomas has been commended as a leading expert for the EU competition framework for the automotive sector.
Thomas is speaking on the A comparative approach: EU group litigation and collective redress in Directive 2020/1828 versus UK Consumer Rights Act 2015 session.
Nicholas Khan KC, Monckton Chambers, London
Nicholas Khan KC resumed private practice at the Bar in London in 2024 after a long career in the Legal Service of the European Commission. He represented the commission in many significant competition cases before the European courts and in interventions before the English courts. Cases include: Courage v. Crehan, the Seamless Tubes, Gas Insulated Switchgear, Power Cables and Air Freight cartels, MasterCard in the European courts and the Interchange Fee damages appeals to the UK Supreme Court, the Micula arbitration and State aid proceedings in the English courts, Intel, the three Google cases heard by the European courts to date and the Illumina/Grail merger cases.
He is currently engaged in several actions before the English courts for damages for breaches of the competition rules. He follows procedural matters particularly closely and is the author of the 6th Edition of Kerse and Khan, EU Anti-Trust Procedure. He was appointed a Queen’s Counsel in 2018.
Nicholas is speaking on the A comparative approach: EU group litigation and collective redress in Directive 2020/1828 versus UK Consumer Rights Act 2015 session.
Professor Andrea Biondi, Advocate General
Andrea Biondi studied at the Università degli Studi di Firenze (University of Florence, Italy), where he obtained a master’s degree in law in 1990, followed by a doctorate in comparative law in 1996.
He began his academic career at University College London in 1993, then moved to the University of Birmingham between 1994 and 1997. In 1997, he joined King’s College London, where he became professor of European Union law in 2006, a post he has held ever since. From 2001 to 2024, he was also Director of the Centre for European Law at King’s College London.
In 2021, he was appointed Vice-Chair of the Board of Appeal of the European Union Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER).
Mr Biondi was admitted to the Italian Bar in 2001 and worked for two law firms in London as an expert adviser between 2003 and 2024.
He is the author of numerous books and publications, in particular on EU law.
Mr Biondi was appointed as an Advocate General at the Court of Justice on 7 October 2024.
He will be chairing the A comparative approach: EU group litigation and collective redress in Directive 2020/1828 versus UK Consumer Rights Act 2015 session.
Dr Rachael Kent
Dr Rachael Kent is the first female class representative in UK legal history. Her landmark collective action, Kent v Apple, representing 36 million UK consumers, became the first UK competition trial against a major technology platform. The case was successfully won at trial, attaining £1.5 billion in damages for UK consumers.
Dr Kent is a leading researcher, author, consultant, and podcast host, and a Senior Lecturer in Digital Economy and Society in the Department of Digital Humanities at King’s College London. She is also Co-Director of the Centre for Technology and the Body at King’s Digital Futures Institute. Her work examines how digital technologies shape mental and physical health, behaviour, and everyday life. Her research and commentary feature widely across ITV News, BBC News, Forbes, Women & Home, The Independent, Mixmag, Health & Wellbeing, and Glamour Magazine.
Rachael will be speaking on the session Class representatives and opt-in versus opt-out claims.
Rhodri Thompson KC
Rhodri Thompson KC is a specialist silk with extensive experience of all aspects of competition law and economic regulation, and has been involved in a series of leading cases involving claims for breaches of competition law, including Trucks, Handsets, Water and Airwave. He has recently been appointed to the expert panel of the Independent Football Regulator, reflecting his extensive experience of sports and media regulation.
Rhodri acts both for and against Government Departments and the main economic regulators, including the CMA, Ofcom, the ORR, DfT and Ofgem, and appears regularly in the Competition Appeal Tribunal, Administrative Court and on appeals to the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court. He was a founder member of Matrix in 2000 and has been recognised as one of the leading competition law and EU law barristers both as a junior and since taking silk in 2002.
Rhodri will be speaking on Class representatives and opt-in versus opt-out claims.
Philip Moser KC, joint Head of Monckton Chambers
Philip Moser KC is joint Head of Monckton Chambers in London and is listed as a Leader in Competition Law in Chambers UK, Chambers Global and the Legal 500.
He is or was Lead Counsel in numerous damages claims and collective actions before the English Courts and the Competition Appeal Tribunal, including: Emerald Air Cargo litigation (at the time the biggest UK follow-on damages claim); FX ; Trucks; Dieselgate (for Porsche); Gutmann (‘Boundary Fares’); Interchange (for the SH Umbrella Claimants); Car Parts Cartel (for the Denso Defendants) and claims involving Big Tech firms, including Amazon (“Buy Box”), Apple (“iPhone Batteries”), Which? v Qualcomm and Kelkoo v Google.
Philip Moser KC is a past Chairman of the Bar European Group and of the Bar Council’s European Committee.
Philip will be speaking on How to establish a breach that sounds in damages.
Derek Holt, Partner & Managing Director, AlixPartners
Derek is an economist with 30 years' experience in competition and regulatory matters. He has acted as a testifying expert witness in matters before the High Court, Competition Appeal Tribunal, the Competition and Markets Authority, various sectoral regulators and arbitration panels, as well as before the Swedish Patent Court, the South African Competition Tribunal, the Hong Kong Competition Tribunal, the Australian Federal Court and the European Commission.
He has acted on a wide range of competition matters including abuse of dominance, quantification of anti-trust damages and the competitive effects of horizontal and vertical agreements.
He's a leading economic expert in the collective actions space, acting on behalf of defendants including for Amazon, Visa, a mobile operator, a power cables operator and a musical instrument OEM. He has further acted as the class representative expert in collective claims in markets including rail ticketing and app stores.
Derek will be speaking on the session Theory of harm, causation and quantification.
Michael Davis, Director, AlixPartners
Michael provides expert witness and dispute advisory services to clients involved in litigation and international arbitration. He is expert in building complex financial and valuation models for use in the assessment of loss or damages, particularly in the oil & gas, power and mining industries, and in class and collective actions.
Michael has been instructed as an expert witness in a case before the Supreme Court of New South Wales (NSW). His work in support of other matters has been used in cases heard by the High Court, the Competition Appeal Tribunal, in various international arbitration centres, the Federal Court of Australia and the Supreme Courts of NSW, Victoria and Queensland.
A graduate of the University of Exeter, Michael is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, an associate member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and a member of the Association of International Energy (formerly: Petroleum) Negotiators.
Michael will be speaking on the session Theory of harm, causation and quantification.
Stefan Hunt, Partner & Managing Director, AlixPartners
Stefan Hunt leads AlixPartners’ Behavioural Economics & Technology Evidence team and is a seasoned expert. Prior to joining the firm, Stefan was Chief Data and Technology Insight Officer at the CMA, where he created a world-leading data and technology function, and most recently, Head of Advanced Technology Services for Europe and a Partner at another expert firm. He also founded and led the behavioural economics and data science capabilities at the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
Stefan has a track record of applying his expertise in contentious and non-contentious environments, including litigation. His work spans markets from AI and other digital products to financial services, ticketing, news and publishing and more.
He holds a PhD in Economics from Harvard University, an MSc in Economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and a BA in Experimental Psychology and Mathematics from Cambridge University. He is an Honorary Professor at the University of Nottingham.
Stefan will be speaking on the session Theory of harm, causation and quantification.
Sarah Houghton, Head of Competition Group, Mishcon de Reya LLP
Sarah is a highly renowned litigator, specialising in competition litigation, with particular experience acting for claimants in complex, high profile cases involving competition law based claims or defences. Sarah has represented clients in leading competition damages claims in the English courts and in arbitrations.
Stand out cases include advising several leading retailers bringing claims against the European Trucks Cartelists, advising Justin Le Patourel in his £1.3b opt-out collective action against BT alleging an abuse of BT's dominant position in landline services markets, and advising Sainsbury's in its successful claim against MasterCard on interchange fees, resulting in the highest ever competition damages award in Europe.
Sarah ranked Tier 1 for Competition Litigation in Chambers & Partners and recognised as a recommended individual by Best Lawyers and Legal 500. Sarah is a member of the Law Society Competition Section, ABA Antitrust Law Section and Competition Law Association.
Sarah will be speaking on the session Case management "bake off": handling complex multiparty litigation.
Sonia Nolen KC
Sonia is a commercial practitioner specialising in product liability, catastrophic property damage incidents and insurance (particularly the insurance of third-party risks relating to defective products and property damage). She has significant experience in the collective redress sphere. As a junior she advised on and acted in numerous group actions arising out of among other things “toxic sofas”, breast implants and batteries for domestic appliances. Since taking silk in 2023, Sonia has acted for the Ford Motor Company in the so-called “Dieselgate II” litigation, which has spearheaded innovative new case management structures and solutions to facilitate common management of multiple group actions.
Sonia will be speaking on the session Case management "bake off": handling complex multiparty litigation.