GCR 100 2020 crowns Hausfeld as the only ‘Elite’ firm in the EU Claimants Bar

On 14th January 2020, Global Competition Review released its rankings for the EU Claimants Bar, recognising that as European cities increasingly become hotspots for damages actions, a handful of dedicated firms provide valuable local and regional representation to claimants.

They crowned Hausfeld with its 6 European offices, as the only ‘Elite’ law firm. They write, and we quote:

“With its exclusive focus on plaintiff litigation, HAUSFELD is at the centre of some of the highest-profile and most significant cases going through the European courts. The US-based firm has offices in the main European hubs of London, Brussels, Berlin, Düsseldorf and Paris. This offers the firm’s clients the ability to forum shop to an unusual extent.

Co-headed by partners Anthony Maton and Scott Campbell in London, Laurent Geelhand in Brussels, Andrew Bullion in Stockholm and Alex Petrasincu in Berlin and Düsseldorf, Hausfeld frequently acts as a continent-wide private claims consultant for global companies. It can call upon eight partners, four counsel and 20 associates, including the experienced London-based partners Anna Morfey, Nicola Boyle and Lesley Hannah.

For the past decade, the firm has been advising claimants in the UK-based Air Cargo litigation, which settled in December 2018 after Hausfeld led six months of mediation negotiations. The firm is also heavily involved in follow-on damages claims arising from the Trucks cartel, representing Veolia, Suez and several others in UK-based damages actions, as well as several hundred claimants before the Dutch and German courts. It is acting for claimants in the UK’s first stand-alone collective action, brought in February 2019 to seek up to €93 million in damages from train operators for customers who allegedly overpaid for train tickets. The firm is also advising BMW in its UK-based claims against MOL and K-Line that follow on from the European Commission’s Roll-On, Roll-Off Vehicle Shipping cartel decision. It is representing several European complainants – including Idealo, the Open Internet Project and Qwant – in damages actions that follow on from the EU enforcer’s various Google probes.”