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Stephen Smith

Joint Managing Partner – Competition and Antitrust

With over 20 years’ experience, Stephen has a very broad practice with experience across a broad range of EU and UK competition law matters. His practice includes advising on the competition law aspects arising from distribution and other commercial agreements, to merger control (UK and multi-jurisdictional) as well as cartels and anti-trust investigations.

Another area of focus is advice in respect of the laws on abuse of dominance, both for companies who enjoy such positions of strength and for those who may be affected by an abuse of dominance.

Finally, Stephen has significant experience of competition litigation, from advising clients on judicial review of regulatory decisions, to advising in respect of follow-on and standalone competition litigation actions.

Some of Stephen’s recent experience includes:

  • Advising Bestway on its acquisition of the UK pharmacy wholesale and retail business of Lexon, one of the fastest Phase 1 clearance decisions before the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).
  • Advising Dutch listed home furnishings group Hunter Douglas in respect of the CMA’s Phase 1 and Phase 2 reviews of the completed acquisition of 247 Home Furnishings
  • Acting for Eurotunnel’s MyFerryLink business, in the first ever jurisdictional challenge under the merger provisions of the Enterprise Act to reach the Supreme Court in the UK.  The case encompassed two lengthy merger proceedings before the CMA, two appeals at the Competition Appeals Tribunal and one at the Court of Appeal before reaching the Supreme Court.
  • Advising on the owners of the Evening Standard and the Independent in the Competition Appeals Tribunal on their successful jurisdictional challenge against the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Support.
  • Advising national fibre network challenger CityFibre on various aspects of the regulatory fixed broadband network before Ofcom and on appeal at the Competition Appeals Tribunal
  • Acted for Denon & Marantz on a European Commission investigation into resale price maintenance.
  • Assisting an animal medicines manufacturer with the CMA’s market investigation into the veterinary sector
  • Advising a UK housebuilder on various aspects of the CMA’s investigation into alleged information exchange in the UK housebuilding sector.
  • Worked with numerous clients on the national security aspects of various deals under the UK National Security and Investments Act.

Stephen is recognised by his clients as adept at providing pragmatic, commercial advice and his experience spans diverse sectors including telecommunications and technology, life sciences, financial services, retail, manufacturing, and fmcg services generally.

Stephen is fluent in French and is a former Chair of the Law Society’s Competition Section.

Credentials

  • MA Modern and Medieval languages, University of Cambridge
  • Qualified 2001
  • Partner 2011
  • Joint Managing Partner 2022 – present
  • Advocaat bij de Balie te Brussel
  • Admitted in Republic of Ireland (non-practising)

What others say

"Stephen Smith, Francion Brooks and Victoria Yuan are all highly knowledgeable, experienced and provide superb advice." Legal 500 2025
"Stephen Smith provides thoughtful and clear advice, helping to break down complex matters and presenting them in a way that is practical and clear." Chambers and Partners 2025
"Stephen Smith leads the competition law aspect of our work and has done so for many years, both skilfully and valuably." Chambers and Partners 2025
"Stephen Smith's broad practice encompasses transactional matters and contentious competition law." Legal 500 2025
“He is an excellent and pragmatic lawyer. He has delivered strategic vision throughout the whole project.” Chambers & Partners Europe 2024
“He inspires full confidence in the matters we bring to him.” Chambers & Partners Europe 2024
“He's fantastically commercial and has a real grasp of the appetite for customers to get into the level of detail they need.” Chambers & Partners Europe 2024
"He's fantastically commercial, and has a real grasp of the appetite for customers to get into the level of detail they need." Chambers and Partners 2024
"He inspires full confidence in the matters we bring to him." Chambers and Partners 2024
"He is an excellent and pragmatic lawyer. He has delivered strategic vision throughout the whole project." Chambers and Partners 2024
“Steve Smith is very commercial, knowledgeable and practical. He brings a note of calm to all situations.” Legal 500 2024
“Stephen is easy to deal with and maintains a very good relationship with clients.” Who's Who Legal 2023
“Stephen Smith's practice focuses on assisting with complex merger clearance procedures and CMA investigations. In addition to strategic advice, he acts on state aid and distribution-related matters.” Chambers and Partners 2023
“A very commercially minded adviser who is able to take a step back and see the big picture, providing sound and pragmatic advice.” Chambers and Partners 2023
“Stephen provides a five-star service and really knows his stuff.” Chambers and Partners 2023
“He is a joy to work with and is proficient in business partnering.” Chambers and Partners 2023
“Stephen is very responsive and understands the whole picture. His advice is pragmatic and highlights where focus needs to be given from a risk perspective.” Chambers and Partners 2023
“Exceptional practice co-chair Stephen Smith is an experienced advocate who acts for companies in a range of settings, before a number of regulatory agencies.” Legal 500 2023
“Stephen Smith is simply excellent. He just gets it and gets on with it.” Legal 500 2023
“Steve Smith is an exceptional competition litigator. He has a wealth of experience which he brings to bear in litigation, quickly understanding both the legal issues and client needs. Steve is honest and pragmatic in his assessments, allowing clients to understand the risks as well as providing high quality analysis and drafting.” Legal 500 2023
“The team is led jointly by the ‘simply excellent’ Stephen Smith and technology and pharmaceutical sector expert Sophie Lawrance.” Legal 500 2023
“Steve Smith is a great asset to the Bristows team: approachable, knowledgeable and always willing to spend time to get to know his clients’ businesses.” Legal 500 2023
“Steve Smith is a great asset to the Bristows team: approachable, knowledgeable and always willing to spend time to get to know his clients.” Legal 500 2022
“Steve Smith consistently displays excellent judgement, attention to detail and strategic thinking. His commercial approach and responsiveness make him a trusted adviser to the business.” Legal 500 2022
“Steve Smith is solution-focused and decisive.” Legal 500 2022

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Competition Law

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