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Global areas of practice
Competition and State Aid Law
General EU Law
Euratom Treaty Law
Aviation Law and Regulation
Antitrust / Competition Advisory
Languages
English (native)
French (advanced)
Spanish (basic)
Finnish (beginner)
Baker & McKenzie CVBA/SCRL
Louizalaan 149 Avenue Louise
Eleventh Floor
1050 Brussels
Belgium
Partner
Brussels, Belgium
+3226393680 gavin.bushell@bakermckenzie.com
Gavin advises clients on EU competition and state aid law, general EU law, Euratom Treaty law, and aviation law and regulation, as well as litigation before the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg. Recent merger cases in which Gavin has been involved include Rolls-
Royce/Daimler/Tognum/Bergen, Olympic/Aegean, Continental/United
Air Lines, Amcor/Alcan Packaging, Ryanair/Aer Lingus and Rio
Tinto/Alcan . Gavin has also been involved in a number of Article
101TFEU cases including the Star Alliance and SkyTeam investigations and the air cargo cartel investigation.
Some notable experience include:
international cartel and horizontal agreement investigations conducted by a number of competition authorities including the US,
EU and other major authorities (recent experience includes Star
Alliance, air cargo cartel, aluminium fluoride cartel, SkyTeam ), which included reviewing evidence and advising on strategy, conducting interviews with employees in various locations, drafting responses to
Statements of Objections and other documents, engaging and organising forensic IT experts, speaking at an oral hearing before the
European Commission, appearing before various national competition law authorities, liaising with economists on producing indepth economic and econometric analysis of efficiencies within the scope of Article 101(3) TFEU and market definition in a cartel case;
all aspects of merger transactions, including conducting jurisdictional and substantive analyses, preparing and drafting briefing papers and notifications, coordinating multi-jurisdictional merger filings and liaising with local counsel, reviewing and drafting corporate transaction documents, responding to information requests from the
European Commission, representing clients before the European
Commission, speaking at an oral hearing before the European
Commission, and the submission and implementation of divestments
(EU mergers include Rolls-Royce/Daimler/Bergen/Tognum,
Citibank/EMI Group, Continental/United, Aegean/Olympic, Samsung
Electronics/Samsung Digital Imaging, Amcor/Alcan Packaging,
Amadeus/Sabre/JV, Ryanair/Aer Lingus, Rio Tinto/Alcan,
Toshiba/Westinghouse, UIP, Lufthansa/Swiss , Alcan/Pechiney (II),
Alcan/Flexpac);
Baker & McKenzie CVBA/SCRL is a member of Baker & McKenzie International, a Swiss Verein.
various joint venture, specialization, distribution, tolling, licensing, sub-licensing and other commercial agreements for compliance with
EU competition law;
compliance with EU competition law generally (various experiences including co-presenting an EU/US competition law compliance programme in Houston and Chicago for a large US airline, conducting a three-day compliance training seminar in Dubai for a large international client, preparing an EU/US competition law compliance presentation with a focus on competitive information exchanges and benchmarking for commercial and legal personnel at a global conglomerate, and compiling a comparative study for a large multinational beverage company on the protection of legal professional privilege across different jurisdictions);
an Article 102 TFEU (abuse of dominance) investigation, in respect of a complex technology product by the European Commission, including attending a two-day dawn raid at the client's premises as well as reviewing seized documents and advising on strategy;
on the various options for seeking redress under EU and national competition laws against an alleged abuse of a dominant position by a competitor in restricting access to certain essential facilities to gain qualification in a market;
antitrust audits, for example, advising a client in a sale process to determine whether its employees had engaged in potential cartel behaviour for the purposes of assessing its potential liabilities with regard to the purchaser under the sale and purchase agreement;
State aid proceedings, including reviewing notifications and responses to Article 108(2) TFEU Notices, conducting substantive analyses under Article 107 TFEU and various Commission
Guidelines, responding to information requests from the Commission, attending meetings with Government representatives and advising on the sale process for various assets of a publicly owned company
(cases include ITP, the British Energy restructuring and the Nuclear
Decommissioning Authority );
litigation before the General Court of the European Court of Justice in
Luxembourg, including representing on the record clients in challenging European Commission decisions and drafting and lodging technically and legally complex applications and submissions in that regard (cases including Aeroporia Aigaiou Aeroporiki (Aegean) and Marfin Investment Group Symmetochon (Olympic) v
Commission, BP Aromatics v Commission and Sellafield v
Commission );
general EU law matters, particularly in respect of the nexus between
IP rights and competition law, the free movement of capital and the freedom of establishment in addition to basic principles of EU law and other provisions of the TFEU (experience includes advising the
Irish Department of Transport on the privatisation of Aer Lingus);
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the EU Community Blacklist, including successfully advising and representing an airline client before the European Commission at the air safety committee hearing and making detailed written submissions to the European Commission and the national aviation authorities, as well as representing the client before its national government and the EU Ambassador in that country;
various obligations arising out of the Euratom Treaty, particularly in respect of nuclear safeguards (having been security cleared by the
UK Government to work with classified documents relating to the UK nuclear industry).
Various internal responsibilities, such as stagiaire and junior associate recruitment, associate engagement and training initiatives, and social committee activities (e.g. Summer/Christmas Party organisation, etc). Brussels representative for the firmwide electronic weekly newsletter This Week (produced a number of articles and videos).
Attendance at international industry conferences (e.g., most recently, speaking at the Airline Partnerships & Alliances Summit in March
2011, the Competitor Cooperation Agreements Seminar in June
2011, the Airlines, Airport Infrastructure & Competition Law
Conference in April 2009, the IATA Legal Symposium in February
2009). Co-writing a number of articles on EU competition and nuclear law.
Member of various legal and industry associations (e.g. the
Competition Section of the Law Society, the ENEF Competition and
State aid law task force, the WNA, the European Aviation Club, IATA,
EALA, etc).
Education
University of London, King’s College, London, UK
The Centre of European Law, School of Law
Postgraduate Diploma in EC Competition Law, 2004 (Pass with
Distinction, 1st in class).
College of Law, London, UK
Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Practice, 2000 (Pass with
Commendation).
College of Law, York, UK
Postgraduate Diploma in Law, 1999 (Pass with Commendation).
University of St. Andrews, Scotland, UK
MA (Honours) in English Language and Literature, 2:1 (1993-1997).
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Admission
Brussels Bar ( liste communautaire ), since September 2002.
Law Society of England and Wales, since September 2002.
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