Linklaters has hired the head of Addleshaw Goddard’s (AG) competition team in London to bolster its antitrust and foreign investment practice. 

Bruce Kilpatrick brings more than 25 years’ experience advising clients on complex merger control, antitrust enforcement and foreign direct investment cases, as well as defending high stakes antitrust damages litigation and director disqualification proceedings before the Competition Appeal Tribunal. His return to Linklaters will follow more than 16 years at AG, where he had led the competition and regulatory team for more than a decade. 

“We are hugely excited by Bruce’s return to the practice,” said Nicole Kar, global head of Linklaters’ antitrust and foreign investment team. “The level of experience he brings over his years of practice complements our offering and will continue to position us as the number one choice for clients in this field.”

The practice is ranked Band 1 by Chambers UK, which noted the team in London “stands out for its experience in major domestic merger control filings that attract considerable objection from competitors and intense scrutiny from the CMA,” as well as its work on high profile follow-on damages claims. The 50-plus strong London team, which Kilpatrick joins as the 10th partner, works with colleagues in Brussels and other offices to advise on global mergers. Globally the team houses around 140 lawyers. 

Kar added: “Big-ticket and complex M&A is where our practice excels – as the antitrust and foreign investment landscape becomes increasingly complex to navigate with regulators expanding their powers and becoming more interventionist. It is therefore imperative to have the best minds solving these complex challenges and I am incredibly proud of the strength of the firm’s practice.”

Kilpatrick’s hire follows leading competition law specialist Simon Pritchard exiting Linklaters’ London antitrust team earlier this year to join Latham & Watkins. 

Pritchard’s is one of a string of antitrust hires by leading law firms in London this year, including White & Case’s hire of partner Dr Michael Engel from Kirkland & Ellis in April. In February, Caroline Hobson joined Cooley from CMS, where she co-led the firm’s competition and trade practice, and Douglas Lahnborg joined Dechert as one of a trio of senior antitrust lawyers to move over from Orrick in the UK and US.  

AG declined to comment on Kilpatrick’s departure, the date of which is yet to be confirmed. The firm has appointed London-based partner Rona Bar-Isaac as its new head of competition.