FT nominates Hausfeld in its prestigious Innovative Lawyers Awards 2026
Hausfeld’s work on the landmark case Kent v Apple has been shortlisted in the prestigious “Innovative Lawyers in Disputes” category at the 2026 FT Innovative Lawyers Awards for Europe, recognising its achievement in successfully pursuing a claim against one of the world’s leading tech giants.
Dr Rachael Kent brought the collective action on behalf of millions of UK iPhone and iPad users and was awarded approximately £1.5 billion in damages. The originality of the case is marked by a series of important “firsts”:
- First female class representative in the UK collective action regime.
- First standalone collective action brought without reliance on a pre‑existing competition authority infringement decision.
- First on the spot certification for the collective regime in May 2022
- First collective action to succeed at trial in the UK despite a vigorous defence by Apple and the largest award of damages in a competition claim in UK history.
As a standalone action, the claim required sophisticated competition law and economic analysis and Hausfeld provided end-to-end strategic leadership throughout the proceedings; demonstrating our ability to successfully prosecute a claim involving complex legal, economic and evidential issues. The team’s work included reviewing 1.6m documents, filing 18 expert reports and attending nine interlocutory hearings.
The judgment in Dr Kent’s case is a watershed moment for abuse of dominance claims and is already having a market-shaping impact on the competition law landscape and the future of collective proceedings in the UK.
This recognition highlights our focus on remaining the undisputed leader of group litigation; on continuing to bring groundbreaking competition claims and distinguishing ourselves from our competitors in the market. It also speaks to our commitment to holding powerful defendants to account, delivering innovative legal strategies and driving meaningful change through groundbreaking cases.
The winners will be announced on 24th September 2026 at the Natural History Museum in London.
Congratulations to the team for this outstanding achievement and best of luck to all the nominees on the night.
