Paul Stuart’s practice focuses on competition law and litigation.

Consistently recognized as a specialist in competition litigation, Paul’s practice covers collective proceedings before the Competition Appeal Tribunal, standalone and follow-on litigation in the English courts, and appearing as an advocate before the EU General Court and Court of Justice.

Paul also advises on all aspects of UK and EU competition law, including merger control, cartels, abuse of dominance, and digital markets regulation. He is also an active member of Cleary Gottlieb’s pro bono practice.

Paul joined the firm in 2010 as an associate, was resident in the Brussels office from 2010 to 2012, became counsel in 2020, and became a partner in 2024.

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Notable Experience

UK Competition Damages Litigation

  • LG Display in defense of follow-on damages claims arising out of the European Commission’s LCD decision.

  • Lundbeck in defense of follow-on damages claims before the Competition Appeal Tribunal arising out of the European Commission’s Citalopram decision.

  • Lerøy Seafood Group in defense of damages claims before the Competition Appeal Tribunal relating to farmed Atlantic salmon.

  • “K” Line in defense of follow-on damages claims by various automotive OEMs, and in collective proceedings before the Competition Appeal Tribunal, arising out of the European Commission’s Maritime Car Carriers decision.

  • Amazon in defense of collective proceedings before the Competition Appeal Tribunal relating to the retail sale of Apple products.

  • Valeo in defense of a damages claim by an automotive OEM relating to thermal systems.

  • Goldman Sachs in defense of a damages claim before the Competition Appeal Tribunal by more than 150 investors relating to foreign exchange markets.

  • NSK in defense of follow-on damages claims by Peugeot, Fiat Chrysler, and Jaguar Land Rover arising out of the European Commission’s Automotive Bearings decision.

  • Sony in defense of a damages claim by Microsoft Mobile relating to rechargeable lithium-ion batteries.

  • NVIDIA in a damages claim against Qualcomm relating to abusive pricing practices.

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EU Litigation

  • Google in its appeal against the European Commission’s 2018 Android decision before the EU General Court and Court of Justice.

  • NVIDIA in General Court proceedings between Qualcomm and the European Commission relating to predatory pricing.

  • Telefónica before the EU General Court and Court of Justice in challenging an EU public procurement award.

  • The European Central Bank before the EU General Court in cases brought by the United Kingdom concerning the ECB’s location policy for CCPs.

  • Western Digital before the EU General Court in connection with the European Commission’s merger review of its $4.3 billion acquisition of Hitachi’s hard drive business, which received European Commission clearance in November 2011.

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EU Merger Control

  • Google in the European Commission’s clearance of its $2.1 billion acquisition of Fitbit; and in the European Commission’s unconditional clearance of its $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility.

  • Lafarge in connection with its UK building materials joint venture with Anglo American’s Tarmac business.

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EU Competition

  • Google in the European Commission’s investigation into its Android business.

  • HarperCollins in the European Commission’s e-books investigation.

  • Citigroup in the European Commission’s CDS investigation.

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UK Competition

  • OpenText on the antitrust aspects of its $1.165 billion acquisition of GXS Group.

  • Ryanair on aspects of its acquisition of a minority share in Aer Lingus, including litigation before the Competition Appeal Tribunal and Court of Appeal.

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Publications

“UK National Security Regime: Annual Report 2024 and Observations on Recent Practice,” by Nicholas Levy, Jackie Holland, Tihir Sarkar, Nick Rumsby, Ian Shawyer, Michael J. Preston, Gabriele Antonazzo, Nallini Puri, Michael James, Paul Gilbert, Henry Mostyn, Dan Tierney, Paul Stuart, Ricardo Zimbrón, John Messent, and Aleksandra Katolik, Cleary Gottlieb Alert Memorandum, September 11, 2024

“UK Government Publishes Updated Guidance on the Application of the National Security and Investment Act,” by Nicholas Levy, Jackie Holland, Tihir Sarkar, Nick Rumsby, Ian Shawyer, Michael J. Preston, Gabriele Antonazzo, Nallini Puri, Michael James, Dan Tierney, Paul Gilbert, Henry Mostyn, Paul Stuart, and John Messent, Cleary Gottlieb Alert Memorandum, May 23, 2024 

“Supreme Court Rules Most Litigation Funding Agreements are Unlawful,” by Paul Stuart, James Brady‑Banzet, Lanto Sheridan, and Julia Kelsoe, Cleary Antitrust Watch blog, August 8, 2023.

“CMA Fines Leicester City FC for Anticompetitive Pricing Practices,” by Paul Gilbert, Paul Stuart, Anna Battersby, and Sabrina Stewart, Cleary Antitrust Watch blog, August 1, 2023

“CAT Declines Certification of Collective Proceedings Against Mastercard and Visa,” by Paul Gilbert, Paul Stuart, John Kwan and Fay Davies, Cleary Antitrust Watch blog, July 6, 2023

“General Court Partially Annuls European Commission Decision in Google Android” by Nicholas Levy, Henry Mostyn, Paul Stuart and Patrick Todd, Cleary Gottlieb Alert Memorandum, October 20, 2022

“No Reversing Allowed: Trucks Defendants in Follow-on Cases Required to Stand by Their Admissions to the Commission,” by Jonathan Kelly, Nicholas Levy, Paul Gilbert, Paul Stuart and Fay Davies, Cleary Gottlieb Alert Memorandum, December 2020

“European Commission Announces New Policy to Accept Member State Referrals for Merger Review Even if EC and National Thresholds Are Not Met,” by Nicholas Levy, Maurits Dolmans, Francisco Enrique González-Díaz, Romina Polley, Patrick Bock, Christopher J. Cook, Séverine Schrameck, Paul Gilbert, Paul Stuart, John Messent, and Dan Tierney, Cleary Gottlieb Alert Memorandum, October 2020

“UK Government Introduces New Powers to Intervene in Mergers on Public Interest Grounds,” by Nicholas Levy, Maurits Dolmans, Romano Subiotto, Tihir Sarkar, Michael J. Preston, Sam Bagot, Nallini Puri, Paul Gilbert, Richard Pepper, Paul Stuart and John Messent, Cleary Gottlieb Alert Memorandum, June 2020 

“Gun-jumping: the growing firepower of EU and UK merger authorities,” by Paul Stuart and Andrew Boyce, Financier Worldwide Special Report: Competition & Antitrust, August 2019 

“Apple v. EBizcuss.com: Agreeing A Forum For Your Antitrust Disputes,” by Aren Goldsmith, Rüdiger Harms and Paul Stuart, The Kluwer Arbitration Blog, December 25, 2018.

“Legal Professional Privilege Under EU Law: Current Issues,” by F. Enrique González-Díaz and Paul Stuart, Competition Law & Policy Debate, Vol. 3, No. 3, September 2017, pp. 56-65.

“The Implementation and Impact of the EU Antitrust Damages Directive in the UK,” by Romano Subiotto QC, Paul Stuart and John Kwan, Wirtschaft und Wettbewerb, July 2017.

“New Rules May Mean More Private Actions in Antitrust Cases,” by Sunil Gadhia, Paul Gilbert and Paul Stuart, The Lawyer, October 2015

“Access to Evidence in UK Merger Inquiries and Market Investigations: A Critical Commentary,” by Nicholas Levy, Paul Stuart and Ian Hastings, European Competition Journal, Vol. 10, No. 2, pp. 279-310, August 2014.

“Jurisdictional Issues in UK Cartel Damages Claims,” by Paul Stuart, Competition Law Journal, Volume 13, Issue 2, 2014.

“Abusive Discrimination,” by Alice Setari, Anne Layne-Farrar, and Paul Stuart, EC Competition Law Series, Volume V: Abuse of Dominance Under Article 102 TFEU, Claeys & Casteels, September 2013.

“Now the Commission Wants Compensation Too…The Commission as Private Damages Claimant and Its Implications,” by Ruchit Patel and Paul Stuart, CPI Antitrust Chronicle, Competition Policy International, June 2013.

“Effects of the Standstill Obligation in National Courts – all said after CELF? An English Perspective,” by Christopher Vajda QC and Paul Stuart, European State Aid Law Quarterly, Issue 3, 2010.

Events