Ariane Le Strat

I'm a senior associate in our Competition & EU law team in London, advising on UK and EU competition law with a particular focus on distribution and e-commerce.

I joined Bird & Bird in 2015 from the Competition and Markets Authority, where I worked as a case officer on a number of high profile cases including an alleged abuse of dominance investigation in the pharmaceutical sector.

I'm an active member of the firm's outstanding Retail & Consumer sector group and regularly work with my colleagues across our firm to advise our clients on cutting edge competition law issues. I provide practical and strategic advice to clients on all kinds of distribution and licensing arrangements as well as partnerships ensuring compliance with competition law. The growing importance of sustainability and its impact on competition and consumer policy is another area of particular interest for me.

Since joining the firm, I have attended dawn raids by both the CMA and the European Commission advising clients on privilege, compliance and seize and sift issues in real time. My background on the enforcement side comes very useful when advising clients subject to competition investigations. I particularly enjoy preparing clients for the eventually of dawn raids, and ensuring they have policies in place to avoid them in the first place.

I have extensive experience advising clients on UK merger control, including Phase I and Phase II CMA investigations and through the rarely used fast-track notification process. I also have expertise in contentious matters and acted for a claimant in a successful follow on cartel damages claim in the High Court.