Linklaters has hired a senior lawyer from the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in London to boost its competition and consumer law offering. 

Jessica Radke will join the firm in May as a senior counsel after eight years at the CMA, where she was its first deputy general counsel and before that senior director of litigation. During her time at the regulator, Radke supported CA98 appeals, judicial reviews in mergers and market investigations, as well as prosecuting consumer cases and director disqualification.

Alison Wilson, Linklaters’ global divisional practice head, litigation, arbitration and investigations, commented: “Jessica’s unique expertise in running litigation matters for the CMA, particularly in such high-profile cases, significantly enhances our contentious competition offering. With her specialist knowledge, Jessica also strengthens our capabilities in the consumer law and class actions space, positioning us well to meet increasing demand with class action and product liability activity ramping up across the health and consumer sectors.”

At Linklaters Radke will work as part of a 140-lawyer competition practice, including a leading 50-lawyer UK team that is noted by legal rankings guide Chambers for its experience in major domestic merger control filings that attract intense scrutiny from the CMA. 

Chambers also notes the UK practice’s handling of high-profile follow-on damages claims and UK-based private enforcement actions, including defending clients in class action proceedings. Standout work for the practice includes acting for Sony in the highly publicised abuse of dominance competition class action brought in the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal. 

For her part, Radke became the CMA’s deputy general counsel in 2023. The regulator said at the time the new role reflected the increase in workload and responsibilities it had taken on, including more mergers work that had been handled by European Commission before Brexit. 

Her appointment also came as the CMA prepared for greater powers as part of the Digital Markets, Consumers and Competition Bill, which enabled it to decide when consumer law had been broken and impose significant financial penalties, short-circuiting the court process.

However, the regulator’s approach to merger clearance came under scrutiny last month when its chair, Marcus Bokkerink, was asked to step down by business secretary Jonathan Reynolds amid government calls for it to adopt more of a ‘pro-growth’ approach to regulation.

At Linklaters Radke will serve as senior counsel and sit within the firm’s litigation, arbitration and investigations practice and its antitrust and foreign investment group (AFIG). 

Her arrival continues a string of senior disputes hires for the firm across the UK and US, including Addleshaw Goddard’s competition head Bruce Kilpatrick, who joined the AFIG team in London at the start of last year. 

Meantime in January Linklaters hit New York litigation boutique Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler for a four-partner team that has acted for clients including Johnson & Johnson and Appian in major cases, part of a wider US growth push that has seen the firm add marquee finance and M&A teams in New York over the past year. 

Last October the firm also recruited veteran Paul Hastings partner Joseph Profaizer in Washington DC as global co-head of international arbitration, while senior arbitration counsel Adam Weiss made the same move just a few weeks later.