Addleshaw Goddard has expanded its competition team with the hire of litigator Paul Chaplin from Hogan Lovells.

Paul will join the team in London as a partner, where he will focus on supporting clients involved in antitrust/competition disputes, as well as growing the firm's expertise both in the UK and internationally.  

AG's international competition team includes high value competition enforcement, merger control, and competition litigation: both follow on damages claim and standalone actions.  Its litigation team has advised on some of the biggest claims in recent years, including acting for NKT in defending follow on damages actions regarding high voltage cables, advising The Road Haulage Association as co-counsel with Backhouse Jones on the proposed collective proceedings brought against truck manufacturers to recover damages resulting from a 14-year cartel, and for Office Depot Europe on claims relating to the envelopes cartel, as well as acting on a variety of infringement cases.  Paul's appointment comes after the firm hired BP PLC's global competition head, Sarah Randall, to join the team in May 2021, and appointed Sam Haigh a partner in 2021, both of whom deal with competition and antitrust matters.  

Paul's practice focuses on antitrust and competition litigation, including claims for damages and injunctive relief before the English High Court, Competition Appeal Tribunal, and Court of Appeal arising out of anti-competitive conduct. His recent work includes large scale international group actions, multi-party lead case litigation, and the use of technology in large scale disputes, and includes some of the most significant UK competition litigation cases of the last 10 years. He is listed as a Rising Star in Competition in Legal 500's 2021 edition and a Future Leader in GCR/Who's Who Legal.

Mark Molyneux, Head of Disputes at AG, said: "Paul joins us from a leading litigation practice at Hogan Lovells and is already established as an eminent practitioner.  The competition disputes market is very buoyant, driven by litigation finance and very active claimant firms, and our team has been involved in a number of the leading cases.  We are delighted to have Paul on board to help us to drive growth and support clients who find themselves increasingly facing group action claims or bringing / defending competition infringement claims."  

Bruce Kilpatrick, head of AG's Competition team said: "The competition law landscape is changing rapidly following Brexit and the CMA has been particularly active – particularly in the tech and pharmaceuticals markets. Our clients are looking to us for cutting-edge advice on how to defend their interests and manage complex cross-border competition disputes (including the threat of director disqualification). This – coupled with new opportunities for competition law damages claims – requires us to work in close partnership with our competition litigation team.  It’s a really exciting time for Paul to be joining us and we are delighted to have him on board."