OVERVIEW

Charles focuses mainly on competition damages litigation, including collective actions. He trained and qualified at Hausfeld in 2017 after completing a six-month secondment in the area of banking litigation. In January 2025, he was promoted to Counsel.

Expertise

Charles has been a pivotal part of the legal teams dealing with price-fixing and bid-rigging cartels in the automotive industry on behalf of car manufacturing groups. He has also acted for claimants in some of the most well-known competition damages actions in recent years including the air cargo claims against British Airways in the High Court, and now in a claim brought in the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) on behalf of millions of rail passengers against the operators of the South Western and Southeastern rail franchises. He also acts for claimants in connection with the trucks cartel.

Charles also has commercial litigation experience, having worked on a number of matters on behalf of SMEs based in the UK, including notably a lead case for legal actions brought against banks that had allegedly artificially distressed small business customers, driving them into administration in the wake of the 2007-2008 financial crisis.

Clients

Since joining Hausfeld in September 2013, Charles has acted for claimants in a wide range of sectors and industries – SMEs as well as household names – in connection with the auto-parts, trucks and feed phosphates cartels. Of note, he currently acts for 7 car manufacturing groups all based in Europe.

Charles is bilingual in French and English, having lived and worked in the United Kingdom, United States and France.

EDUCATION

Legal Practice Course, College of Law
Graduate Diploma in Law, College of Law
BA (Hons) Politics and Modern History, University of Manchester

BAR ADMISSIONS

Solicitor, England & Wales, 2017

WHAT OTHERS SAY

Legal Business Awards 2019

Hausfeld was nominated as 'Competition Team of the Year' for its innovative work with Peugeot-Citroën (PSA Group) against two European and four Japanese manufacturers of automotive bearings, found guilty of price-fixing in 2014.

The Lawyer

In 2019, The Lawyer nominated the Trucks cartel case as one of their Top 20 Cases for 2019. In the UK, Hausfeld represents Wolseley UK Ltd & Ors, Suez Groupe SAS & Ors and Veolia Environnement S.A. & Ors. “The trucks litigation is one of the most significant follow-on damages cases being heard in the English courts”, said The Lawyer, “Lining up to defend the manufacturers from further damages are some of biggest names in litigation.”

In 2018, the aforementioned Peugeot-Citroën claim against the bearings cartel was pinpointed by The Lawyer as one of their Top 20 Cases to watch. The case ultimately settled before trial.

Experience

Antitrust/Competition

Charles played a key role as part of the legal team dealing with ground breaking claims as follows:

Trains - The very first collective claim filed by Hausfeld back in February 2019, with co-counsel Charles Lyndon. It was also the first collective claim brought before the CAT on a standalone basis. Crucially for the regime more generally, in July 2022 the Court of Appeal held in Trains that liability can be determined on an aggregate basis in collective proceedings, which was a very important ruling for collective proceedings in the UK. We helped progress the case over 5 years during which the claim benefited from our competition litigation expertise.
Acting on behalf of Christine Riefa Class Representative Limited, an SPV established by Professor Christine Riefa for the purpose of bringing a claim against Apple and Amazon on behalf of millions of UK consumers who purchased Apple products. The collective action seeks damages of at least £500m for UK consumers who paid higher prices for Apple products due to a secret deal between the global corporations, which saw Amazon restricting sales of Apple products by independent merchants on its marketplace.
Representing a UK Automotive client against two defendant cartelists guilty of forming a cartel in the market for deep sea transport of new cars, trucks and other large vehicles, on various routes.

Charles has been part of the legal teams working with car manufacturers on recovering damages as the result of the following cartels: