Conference Programme

Conference Presentations given:

Nadia Calviño - "Recent Deveopments in Merger Analysis and Policy"

Christian Ewald - "(Some) Recent Developments in German Merger Control"

Peter Freeman - "The Proper Limits of Competition Policy"

Bruno Lasserre - "Hot Topics in Antitrust Part II"

Philip Lowe - "Making Markets Work Better: The Role of Competition Authorities"

Philip Marsden - "Microsoft v. Commission"

Massimo Motta - "On EU Antitrust Fines and Cartel Deterrence"

Damien Neven - "Oligopolies"

Ali Nikpay - "Penalties and Private Actions in the UK"

Pierre Régibeau - "The Rise of Empirical Methods in Merger Analysis"

Steven Salop - "Protect Competitors? Pity the poor Monoplist? Antitrust Treatment of Refusals to Deal"

Maarten Pieter Schinkel - "Fines and Antitrust Damages"

Paul Seabright - "Abuse of dominance from Microsoft to Qualcomm: Challenges for Economic Analysis"

Giulio  Federico

Additional Information

Dr. Giulio Federico, Senior Consultant, has advised several clients on competition matters in sectors ranging from electricity and gas to telecoms, pay-TV, and security exchanges. Dr. Federico has worked on several merger cases, including Ryanair/Aer Lingus, Telkom/BCX, Essent/Nuon, GDF/Suez, Sonaecom/PT, Gas Natural/Endesa, EDP/GDP (CFI Appeal), Deutsche Borse/Euronext/LSE, and Oracle/PeopleSoft. He has also been involved in various Article 81 and 82 cases, including one of the latest Article 82 rebates case before the European Commission (Tomra). He has particular expertise in competition and regulation in the energy and telecommunications markets, and has provided extensive economic advice to both private companies and governments in these sectors on acquisitions, dominance and market design. He has presented before several competition authorities, including the Competition Commission in the UK, and the Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and South African competition authorities. He is a faculty member at the Barcelona Graduate School of Economics, and a Policy Research Fellow at IESE Business School.

E-Mail: gfederico@crai.com
Telephone: +34 93-228-7811
Fax: +34 93 228 7899

Ugur  Akgün

Additional Information
Dr. Akgün is an associate principal at CRA International in London. He holds a PhD in Economics from Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona and specializes on the application of economic theory in merger analysis and abuse of dominance cases. Prior to joining CRA, he worked the field of competition policy at RBB Economics for more than three years. He has worked on merger cases that involved horizontal, vertical, and conglomerate issues and on matters relating to predatory pricing, foreclosure, and excessive pricing. He has advised clients during investigations by the European Commission and the UK authorities and on issues before the UK's Competition Appeal Tribunal and commercial courts in Spain. He has published articles in scholarly journals such as the Journal of Industrial Economics and European Competition Law Review. He is a native Turkish speaker fluent in English and Spanish.

E-Mail: uakgun@crai.com
Telephone: +44-20-7664 3700
Direct Telephone: +44-20-7664-3709
Fax: +44-20-7664-3998

Thibaud  Vergé

Education
Ph.D. Economics, University of Toulouse
M.A. in Engineering, Ecole Polytechnique

Additional information
Dr. Thibaud Vergé is a Research Fellow at CREST (Center for Research in Economics and Statistics), in the Laboratory of Industrial Economics (LEI) group. His research interests are in the field of Industrial Organisation, focusing in particular on competition issues related to vertical relationships. Dr. Vergé has articles in peer-reviewed academic publications such as the Rand Journal of Economics and the European Economic Review.

Dr. Vergé holds an MA in Engineering from Ecole Polytechnique and a Doctorate in Economics from the University of Toulouse. Before moving to CREST, he was a lecturer in Economics at the University of Bristol and the University of Southampton. He currently teaches Economics at ENSAE and Ecole Polytechnique.

Dr. Vergé is a native French speaker.

Email: thibaud.verge@ensae.fr

Ragvir  Sabharwal

Additional Information
Ragvir Sabharwal is a Senior Associate at CRA International. He joined the company in August 2006 after completing his M.Sc. in Economics from the London School of Economics (LSE), where he specialized in Industrial Organization. He holds a B.A. in Economics from St. Stephen's College, University of Delhi.

During his time at CRA, Ragvir has worked on the economic analysis of competition issues raised by a variety of merger cases in Europe. His cases have spanned a wide range of markets including those for financial data products, specialty copper wires, and biscuits. His non-merger experience includes work on a global cartel investigation relating to the freight forwarding industry.

As a student at the LSE, he worked in the Suntory & Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines (STICERD) as a research assistant. He has also taught introductory econometrics to summer school students at the LSE.

E-Mail: rsabharwal@crai.com
Telephone: +44-20-7664-3700
Direct Telephone: +44-20-7959-1461
Fax: +44-20-7664-3998

Matt  Tavantzis

Additional Information
Matt Tavantzis is a Senior Associate in CRA's London office, within the European Competition Practice. Prior to joining CRA, he was an economist at the Office of Fair Trading, the UK's competition authority. He has worked on a number of merger cases - both UK and European - in a range of industries including, among others, telecommunications and broadcasting, food manufacturing, music and financial services. He has also provided economic analysis for competition assessment of goods markets.

E-Mail: mtavantzis@crai.com
Telephone: +44-20-7664-3700
Direct Telephone: +44-20-7664-3762
Fax: +44-20-7664-3998

Edward  Droste

Additional Information
Dr. Edward Droste is a principal with extensive experience in the economics of competition, regulation, competitive strategy, and government policy on market design. He has worked on engagements in a wide range of industries, including financial services, utilities, telecommunications and media, and healthcare. Before joining CRA, Edward Droste was a senior economist at the Netherlands Competition Authority (NMa). His responsibilities included providing economic and econometric analysis in the context of competition cases and market investigations, with special emphasis on the banking and insurance industry. Dr. Droste previously worked for energy company Essent as a regulatory economist, and at KPMG Economic Consulting where he advised clients and led engagements in their market and government practice.

E-Mail: edroste@crai.com
Direct Telephone: +31-20-521-9321
Cell Phone: +33-6-11028-110
Fax: +31-20-521-9333

Laurent  Flochel

Additional Information
Pr. Laurent Flochel, Principal, joined CRA in 2007. He was previously professor of economics at the University of Lyon. He has also been for 3 years scientific advisor at the Council of Economic Analysis of the French Prime minister. His areas of research include industrial organization, competition policy and network industries. He has published several papers in a variety of academic journals. He has also a consulting background both in merger control and antitrust. He has provided economic expertise during merger procedures before the French competition authorities (phases 1 and 2), during cases involving allegations of predatory pricing, vertical and horizontal restraints or agreement. He has also advised clients in compliance programs and in international arbitration.

E-Mail: lflochel@crai.com
Telephone: +33-4-72-91-30-88
Fax: +33-4-72-91-30-30

Lorenzo  Coppi

Additional Information
Lorenzo Coppi, Vice President, specializes in competition economics, regulation, applied industrial organisation, and game theory.

Having worked for a number of years both in CRA's London and Washington offices, Dr. Coppi has worked on a variety of EU, US and UK mergers as well as on cases involving various allegations of anticompetitive practices under EU, US and UK competition law.

Dr Coppi's analytic focus has been on merger analysis, market definition, assessment of market power, abusive pricing practices, tying/bundling and the market impact of cartels. His sector expertise includes various high technology industries, telecommunications, media, beverage and distilled spirits industries, chemicals, retailing and several consumer good industries.

Dr. Coppi holds a PhD from the London School of Economics and has published several articles in the field of competition economics.

E-Mail: lcoppi@crai.com
Telephone: +44-20-7664-3700
Direct Telephone: +44-20-7959-1429
Fax: +44-20-7664-3998

Adrien  Cervera-Jackson

Additional Information
Adrien Cervera-Jackson is a Senior Associate in CRA International's European Competition Practice. He has specific expertise and experience dealing with economic issues in the media and telecommunications industries. Since joining CRA, he has provided advice and economic analysis on competition issues raised in a variety of merger cases before the European, French and South African competition authorities. He has also worked on U.K. High Court cases involving allegations of anticompetitive agreements and abuse of dominance, as well as providing regulatory advice to clients in the broadcasting sector. His experience covers a range of industries, including broadcasting, telecommunications, healthcare, enterprise software, copper production and food manufacturing.

Prior to joining CRA, Mr. Cervera-Jackson was an economic advisor at Ofcom, the U.K. regulatory authority for communications industries. In this role, he was lead economist and project manager for a number of projects dealing with competition and regulatory issues in the television broadcasting, radio broadcasting, and telecoms sectors. He was also an integral part of the management of Ofcom's internal peer review process, tasked with ensuring that the regulator's economic analyses were robust and withstood scrutiny. Mr. Cervera-Jackson is fluent in both English and French.

E-Mail: acervera-jackson@crai.com
Telephone: +44-20-7664-3700
Direct Telephone: +44-20-7959-1444
Fax: +44-20-7664-3998

Elina  Koustoumpardi

Additional Information
Elina Koustoumpardi joined CRA (formerly Lexecon) in 2002. She has provided economic analysis and advice on competition issues raised by mergers and Art. 81 & 82 cases and valuation of damages in the context of commercial disputes before the South African, European, UK competition authorities as well as national competition authorities in Europe. Her experience involves cases in a range of sectors including, among others, healthcare, transport, music, retailing, banking and telecoms.

E-Mail: ekoustoumpardi@crai.com
Telephone: +44-20-7664-3700
Direct Telephone: +44-20-7959-1454
Fax: +44-20-7664-3998

Katharina  Sailer

Additional Information

Dr Katharina Sailer is a Senior Associate at CRA International. She joined CRA from L.E.K. Consulting where she worked on commercial due diligences for a range of industries, including plastics processing, retail, and software. Before, she worked at the Kiel Institute for World Economics where she conducted research on regulatory and competition policy questions in information and communication industries as well as on auction markets. She is an expert in competition economics, industrial organisation more generally, and applied econometrics.

Dr Sailer holds a PhD from the University of Munich and a Diploma from the University of Cologne, both in economics. She was a tutor for undergraduate classes at the University of Cologne. As a visiting student she participated in graduate classes at the London School of Economics and in undergraduate classes at the University of Paris I, Sorbonne. Dr Sailer presented her research at a large number of international conferences and has published on the topic of competition in network and e-commerce industries.

E-Mail: ksailer@crai.com
Telephone: +32-2-627-1400
Direct Telephone: +32 2627 1403
Fax: +32-2-627-1444

Jenny  Haydock

Additional Information
Jenny Haydock is a Senior Associate in the competition practice of CRA International's London office. Ms. Haydock joined the practice after attaining an M.Phil. in Economics at Nuffield College, University of Oxford, and she is currently in the final stages of a D.Phil. in Economics through the same institution. Since joining CRA, Ms. Haydock has worked on a variety of cases, including cartel investigations and both horizontal and non-horizontal mergers. Many of these cases have been before the European Commission, but Ms. Haydock has also worked on cases before authorities in the UK and South Africa, as well as several national European authorities. Although her experience covers a wide range of industries, Ms. Haydock has worked on several cases involving consumer goods.

E-Mail: jhaydock@crai.com
Telephone: +44-20-7664-3700
Direct Telephone: +44-20-7959-1452
Fax: +44-20-7664-3998

Kyla  Malcolm

Additional Information
Kyla Malcolm specializes in competition and regulatory issues especially related to financial services markets. She has advised clients in the context of investigations by the Office of Fair Trading, U.K. Competition Commission, Irish Competition Authority, European Commission, and South African Competition Commission as well as providing analysis for the Financial Services Authority and U.K. Government departments. She has advised senior members of both the public and private sector in issues of competition in pensions, banking, and payment systems - topics on which she has also spoken at a number of conferences.

In the regulatory arena, Ms. Malcolm has advised on many of the high-profile issues of recent years, including the Government's proposals for a National Pension Savings Scheme, the impact of general insurance regulation and depolarization, the Sandler Review, and European reviews into the investment fund industry and the potential for stakeholder products.

E-Mail: kmalcolm@crai.co.uk
Telephone: +44-20-7664-3700
Direct Telephone: +44-20-7664-3706
Fax: +44-20-7664-3998

Pascale  Déchamps

Additional Information
Pascale Déchamps is an Associate Principal with experience providing advice to clients on the antitrust risks raised by several transactions and conducts under different jurisdictions. At the European level, her experience spans contributing to the economic analysis of the Oracle/PeopleSoft, Saint-Gobain/BPB, Bridgestone/Bandag or Owens Corning/Vetrotex mergers, to the appeal of EDP to the Court of First Instance in the EDP/ENI/GDP merger, to the assessment of the State Aid received by Alstom, as well as the evaluation of allegations of anticompetitive behaviour by major companies at the European level. At the French level, she participated in the investigations of practices implemented by the Parisian Palaces and flagrance companies as well as the Panfish/Marine Harvest merger or the assessment of damages potentially imposed by a cartel between electric cable companies. She has experience with a variety of sectors, including car components, luxury goods, music and video recording and distributing, electricity and gas, mining, construction materials and petroleum.

E-Mail: pdechamps@crai.com
Telephone: +32-2-627-1400
Direct Telephone: +32 2627 1407
Fax: +32-2-627-1444

Thomas  Buettner

Additional Information
Thomas Buettner is a Principal at CRA International. He has been working for CRA (formerly Lexecon Ltd) since 2001 and has extensive experience in a range of different antitrust issues, including mergers, abuse of dominance cases, and cartel matters before the European Commission and national competition authorities. He has also worked on private litigation matters. Previous clients include (among others) Deutsche Telekom, E.On (Powergen), General Electric, Getty Images, Ineos and BP, Napier Brown Foods, Nokia and Unilever.

Dr Buettner is an expert in competition economics, industrial organization more generally, and applied econometrics. He is a German national and speaks German, English, and French.

E-Mail: tbuettner@crai.com
Telephone: +44-20-7664 3700
Direct Telephone: +44-20-7959-1442
Fax: +44-20-7664-3998

Pablo  Florian

Additional Information
Pablo Florian is a Principal in CRA's London office specializing in industrial economics and network economics in electronic banking. His experience includes competition and economic support to clients in an array of industries, including airlines, telecommunications, retail, newspaper, computer hardware, software, insurance, and cable television. He has provided support on a number of competition and litigation cases under UK and EC law. Prior to joining CRA, Mr. Florian held academic positions at Universidad de San Andrés.

E-Mail: pflorian@crai.com
Telephone: +44-20-7664-3700
Direct Telephone: +44-20-7664-3728
Fax: +44-20-7664-3998

Mike  Walker

Additional Information
Mike Walker is a leading expert on the economic aspects of competition policy. He is a Vice President in the European Competition Policy practice and is based in CRA's London office. Prior to working for CRA, he was the director of competition policy at London Economics, a senior regulatory economist with British Telecom, and an associate at Lexecon Ltd. He holds academic positions at Loughborough University and at Kings College, London. He is also the co-author of The Economics of EU Competition Law.

E-Mail: mwalker@crai.co.uk
Telephone: +44-20-7664-3700
Direct Telephone: +44-20-7664-3726
Fax: +44-20-7664-3998

Maarten-Pieter  Schinkel

Additional Information
Maarten Pieter Schinkel, Senior Consultant, is Assistant Professor of economics at the Faculty of Economics and Econometrics of the Universiteit van Amsterdam, and Co-Director of the Amsterdam Center for Law & Economics (ACLE). His research interests and teaching span industrial organization theory, competition policy issues, and the economics of information. His recent papers consider, among other things, imperfect competition in dynamic games, potential strategic consequences of errors in antitrust enforcement, optimal fining theory, the empirics of the history of European competition policy, incentive effects of awarding private damages claims, measuring efficiencies in merger control, and Internet-related information problems. Dr Schinkel has previously worked in the history of economic thought and general equilibrium theory, particularly on questions concerning the behavior of economies outside of equilibrium. He has published his work in international journals, including the European Economic Review, the Journal of Mathematical Economics, the Journal of Regulatory Economics, and the European Competition Law Review, as well as with Cambridge University Press and Edward Elgar.

E-Mail: m.p.schinkel@uva.nl
Telephone: +31-20-521-9326
Direct Telephone: +31-20-521-9320
Fax: +31-20-521-9333

Paul  Dobson

Education
Ph.D. Economics, Birkbeck College, University of London
M.Sc. Economics, Birkbeck College, University of London
B.A. (Hons) Economics, 2.1, CNAA

Primary Office Location
1 Undershaft
London EC3A 8EE UK

Additional Information
Paul Dobson, Senior Consultant, holds the Chair of Retail Strategy and Industrial Organization at Loughborough University Business School. He has published widely in the area of competition economics and competition policy, notably in the areas of mergers, vertical restraints, and retailer buyer power. Dr. Dobson has produced commissioned reports for a number of competition authorities, regulatory bodies, and international organizations. He has also worked as an economics expert on numerous merger cases, monopoly investigations, restrictive practices cases, and industry reviews across a wide range of sectors, including telecommunications, financial services, consumer goods, retailing, wholesaling, books, newspapers, brewing, sports, and property selling.

E-Mail: pdobson@crai.co.uk
Telephone: +44-20-7664-3700
Direct Telephone: N/A
Fax: +44-20-7664-3998

Robert  Lind

Additional Information
Robert C. Lind, Senior Consultant, has interdisciplinary expertise in economics and government. He is currently Professor Emeritus of Economics, Management, and Public Policy at the Johnson Graduate School of Management, Cornell University. Dr. Lind's research, teaching, and consulting have addressed a wide range of topics from investment analysis and the theory of decision making under uncertainty to broad issues of public policy. The focus has been on issues relating to business and public policy, such as regulation, antitrust policy, investment and productivity, and the implications for both corporate management and public policy of the increasingly complex relationship between business and government. This work addresses the general problem of structuring laws and institutions for efficiency and productivity. Dr. Lind's specific areas of application have included antitrust, regulation, natural resources, the environment, health care, land use, criminal justice, and employment. Professor Lind has published widely and over the past 27 years has been among the top 5 percent of actively publishing economists in terms of citations in professional literature.

E-Mail: rlind@crai.com
Telephone: +1 617-425-3000
Fax: +1 617-425-3132

Dietmar  Harhoff

Education
Ph.D., Alfred P. Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
M.P.A., John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
Diploma in Mechanical Engineering, University of Dortmund

Additional Information
Dietmar Harhoff is co-leader of our Munich office. He is a Professor of Business Economics at the Ludwig-Maximilian University of Munich where he directs the Institute for Innovation Research, Technology Management and Entrepreneurship.

Dietmar Harhoff holds a Diploma in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Dortmund, a Master of Public Administration (M.P.A.) from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and a Ph.D. from the Alfred P. Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1991, he joined the Center for European Economic Research (ZEW) in Mannheim and became the Associate Scientific Director of ZEW in 1995. In 1998 he joined LMU's School of Management in his current position.

Dietmar Harhoff specialises in the fields of innovation, industrial organisation, and intellectual property. He has served in an advisory and consulting function to many private and public organizations in Europe. Dietmar Harhoff is currently a Research Associate of CEPR, Research Professor at ZEW and WZB Berlin and an International Associate of the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) in London.

Dietmar Harhoff is a native German speaker

E-Mail: dharhoff@crai.com

Kai Uwe  Kühn

Education
Ph.D. Economics, Oxford University
M.Sc Economics, London School of Economics
B.A. Economics, University of Bonn

Additional Information
Professor Kai-Uwe Kühn is an Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Michigan. His main research interests are in the field of Industrial Organisation and microeconomic theory. Professor Kühn has advised numerous companies on competition and regulatory matters.

Professor Kühn has worked with us on a large number of merger cases and competition inquiries at the European Commission and national competition authorities. Cases include the Microsoft investigation (for Sun Microsystems and other interested parties), the GE/Honeywell merger, the Norske-Skog/UPM/Haindl merger and the Totalfina/Elf merger (among several others).

Professor Kühn holds a BA in Economics from the University of Bonn, an MSc in Economics from the London School of Economics and a PhD in Economics from Oxford University. Since 1992 he held teaching positions at Princeton University, the Autonomous University of Barcelona, the Institut d'Analisi Economica in Barcelona, the University Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona and the Centro de Estudios Monetarios y Financieros in Madrid. In the last few years, his work has focused on antitrust economics, with a particular interest on collusion and vertical integration. He has published a large number of papers in peer-reviewed journals.

Professor Kühn is a native German speaker.

E-Mail: kukuhn@umich.edu

Pierre  Regibeau

Education
Ph.D. Economics, Berkeley University
B.A. Economics, University of Liège

Additional Information
Dr Pierre Régibeau is a reader of Economics at the University of Essex. He specialises in the field of Industrial Organisation, law and economics and international business with a strong experience of economic consultancy.

Dr Régibeau has worked with us on numerous cases involving mergers, competition inquiries at the European Commission and national competition authorities. Cases include the Newscorp/Telepiú merger, the UK Premier League football case and the review of BskyB's position within the wholesale Pay TV market by the OFT.

Dr Régibeau holds a BA in Economics from the University of Liège in Belgium and a PhD in Economics from Berkeley University. Since 1987 he held teaching positions at the Sloan School of Management (MIT), the Kellogg School of Management (Northwestern University), the University of Barcelona and INSEAD. In the last few years, his work has mostly focused on the electricity sector, network externalities and innovation economics. A complete CV with the full list of publications is available below.

Dr Régibeau is a native French speaker.

Academic activities

E-Mail: pregib@essex.ac.uk

John  Van Reenen

Education
Ph.D. Economics, University College London
M.Sc. Industrial Relations and Personnel Management, London School of Economics
B.A. Social and Political Sciences, University of Cambridge

Additional Information
Professor John Van Reenen is a Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics and Director of the Centre for Economic Performance. He has worked on many cases involving mergers, competition inquiries and private litigation in Britain, the United States and at the European Commission.

His major cases include the Microsoft case at the European Commission, the Reed/Harcourt merger and the Compass/Rail Gourmet merger in the UK, the UK Competition Commission inquiry into mobile phones, and the EC Phase II investigations in Norske-Skog/UPM/Haindl and GE/Honeywell. Professor Van Reenen's clients have included a numbers of leading companies such as British Telecom, Centrica, Compass, McKinsey & Co, Ernst & Young, GSK, Orange, Pfizer and Sun Microsystems. He has also consulted for major international institutions such as the OECD, EC and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

He received his BA from the University of Cambridge, his MSc from the London School of Economics and his PhD from University College London. He has been a Professor at University College London, Research Fellow at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, a visiting Professor at the University of California at Berkeley and an advisor to the Secretary of State for Health, Downing Street and other parts of the UK government. Professor Van Reenen has written over fifty published articles in peer-reviewed journals and books.

E-Mail: j.vanreenen@lse.ac.uk

Frank  Verboven

Education
Ph.D. Economics, University of Toronto
B.A. Catholic University of Leuven

Additional information
Professor Frank Verboven is Professor at the Catholic University of Leuven, editor of the Journal of Industrial Economics, an associate editor of the Journal of the European Economic Association and a fellow at the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR, London). He is also a member of the Economic Advisory Group of the Chief Economist's team at the European Commission (DG Competition). His main research interests are in the field of Industrial Organisation, econometrics and the application of empirical techniques to competition issues.

Professor Verboven has worked on a number of competition cases for the European Commission (e.g. Volvo/Scania) or for parties (his past clients include Aventis, Belgacom and Interbrew). He has contributed to policy reports for the European Commission on a number of issues such as efficiency defence in mergers or market definition in the passenger car sector. Professor Verboven has written numerous articles on market definition and merger assessment in peer-reviewed academic publications such as the Rand Journal of Economics, the Review of Economic Studies and Economic Policy amongst others.

Professor Verboven first received a BA at the Catholic University of Leuven and a PhD in Economics from the University of Toronto. Since 1993 he has taught Economics at Tilburg University and the University of Antwerp.

Professor Verboven is a native Dutch speaker.

E-Mail: frank.verboven@econ.kuleuven.ac.be

Helen  Weeds

Education
D.Phil. Economics, University of Oxford
M.Phil. Economics, University of Oxford
B.A. Philosophy, Politics and Economics, University of Oxford

Additional information
Dr Helen Weeds is a lecturer of Economics at the University of Essex. Her research interests are in the field of Industrial Organisation, focusing on investment and entry behaviour, competition policy and regulation. Dr Weeds has considerable consulting experience. She has worked with us on numerous mergers and competition inquiries at the European Commission, UK and other national competition authorities. Recent cases include the Centrica/Dynegy acquisition, the Newscorp/Telepiu merger, the 2002 UK Competition Commission inquiry into calls to mobiles, and the BP/E.On merger. During 2003/04, she took leave from her academic post to hold the position of Chief Economist of Ofcom.

Dr Weeds holds a BA in PPE, Masters and Doctorate in Economics from the University of Oxford. She held a Junior Research Fellowship at Cambridge University before moving to a lectureship at the University of Warwick. She has been at Essex University since 2003, where she teaches Industrial Organisation and the Economics of Regulation.

Details of her academic activities can be reached via the link below.

Academic activities

E-Mail: helen.weeds@gmail.com

William  Bishop

Additional Information
Dr. William Bishop, Vice President, has 24 years of experience as an advisor to companies on antitrust matters. He has held academic posts at the London School of Economics, Oxford University, and at universities in Canada, Australia, and the United States. He is currently professor of the economics of competition law at the College of Europe in Bruges. He is also a (non-practising) member of the English bar. Dr. Bishop has appeared as an expert witness before the Courts of several European countries, before the European Commission, the Monopolies & Mergers Commission, and the Ways and Means Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives. He has conducted research and written economic analyses on more than 100 industries in the course of advising on litigation and on investigations by the OFT, the MMC, the European Commission, and national competition authorities. He has been an advisor to DGIV on its Market Definition Notice, on Quantitative Techniques and on Remedies, and to the DTI on the UK Competition Act.

E-Mail: wbishop@crai.com
Telephone: +44-20-7664-3700
Direct Telephone: +44-20-7959-1441
Fax: +44-20-7664-3998

Cristina  Caffarra

Additional information
Cristina Caffarra is a Vice President in CRA's European Competition Practice. She was previously a Director at Lexecon Ltd, which was acquired by CRA in 2005. Cristina is an expert in the application of modern industrial economics to competition law and in the empirical analysis of markets in the context of competition investigations. She has provided economic advice to companies on issues of merger control, assessment of vertical restraints, finding of dominance, evaluation of abusive conduct, and several other competition/ antitrust issues including bundling, tying, rebates, price discrimination, other forms of potentially exclusionary conduct, intellectual property rights, collusion, and the assessment of damages.

She has directed and coordinated empirical and theoretical economic analyses, and provided expert witness testimony on several cases before the European Commission, the competition authorities of several member states (including the UK, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Ireland, Spain, Finland, and Sweden), and other jurisdictions such as South Africa.

She has been advising before the European Commission (DG Comp) on several Phase II merger investigations, such as TotalFina/Elf, Air Liquide/BOC, GE/Honeywell, UP Kymmene/Norske Skog/Haindl, BP/E.ON, Tetra/Sidel, NewsCorp/Telepiù, Ineos/BP Dormagen, Inco/Falconbridge, CVC/Ferd-SIG, Ryanair/Aer Lingus (for Aer Lingus), Ineos/Kerling and numerous others. She has worked on the appeals before the CFI of GE/Honeywell and Tetra/Sidel, and given evidence before the CFI in the appeal of EDP-ENI/GDP. She has been involved in the European Commission's investigation of Microsoft (on behalf of interveners such as Sun Microsystems, Nokia, and CCIA), including Microsoft's appeal before the Courts. In the UK she has advised on several mergers, both at the OFT stage and before the Competition Commission.

E-Mail: ccaffarra@crai.com
Telephone: +44-20-7664-3700
Direct Telephone: +44-20-7959-1443
Fax: +44-20-7664-3998

Andrea  Coscelli

Additional Information
Dr. Coscelli is a vice president at CRA International in London. Since finishing his PhD at Stanford University in January 1998, he has been working full-time on antitrust cases, including merger notifications in the EU, the UK and other member states, and economic analysis for clients involved in Article 81 and Article 82 proceedings with a special focus on the broadcasting and pharmaceutical industry. His main clients include Sky Italia, M Group, AstraZeneca, and BSkyB. He has presented expert evidence to a number of antitrust and regulatory agencies, including the European Commission, the Office of Fair Trading, the Competition Commission in the UK, the Italian Telecom and Media Regulator, and the Dutch Telecom and Media Regulator. He has been included in the International Who's Who of Competition Economists since 2002 and he was one of 10 economists worldwide included in 2004 in the Global Competition Review's, "40 under 40" survey of lawyers and economists. He has also recently been included in the list of top economists under 45 years of age compiled by the Global Competition Review (July 2006) and is a regular speaker at European antitrust conferences. He was also a co-founder (with John Fingleton and Patrick Rey) of the Association for Competition Economics (ACE) in 2003. Of ACE he was a member of the Executive Committee (2003-2005) and then of the Steering Committee (2005-2007).

E-Mail: acoscelli@crai.com
Telephone: +44-20-7664-3700
Direct Telephone: +44-20-7959-1445
Fax: +44-20-7664-3998

Hristina  Dantcheva

Additional Information
Ms. Dantcheva, Principal, has more than five years of consulting experience in a wide range of microeconomic issues. She has worked on a variety of competition cases both before the EU and national competition authorities in Europe and South Africa, covering a number of different industries such as pharmaceuticals, banking, flavored alcoholic drinks, telecommunications, logistics, IT, chemicals, gas, and tobacco. Her project work has included economic advice to interveners in the EC abuse of dominance investigation of Microsoft; calculation of damages due to anticompetitive behavior in the postal, chemical shipping, and railroad sectors; regulatory advice on access pricing in the broadcasting market; as well as estimation of competitive effects in supermarket, pharmaceutical, and hospital mergers. In addition to being a native Bulgarian speaker, she is fluent in English and Polish, and has working knowledge of French and Russian.

E-Mail: hdantcheva@crai.com
Telephone: +44-20-7664-3700
Direct Telephone: +44-20-7959-1446
Fax: +44-20-7664-3998

Geoff  Edwards

Additional Information
Dr. Geoff Edwards is a Principal with extensive experience in competition and regulatory issues both as an economist and as a lawyer, and particular expertise advising clients in the telecommunications sector. Prior to joining CRA (formerly Lexecon Ltd) in October 2004, Dr. Edwards worked as an economic analyst in the telecommunications branch of Australia's competition and utilities regulator (the ACCC), and then as a competition lawyer at a major Australian law firm, advising Australia's incumbent telecommunications operator (Telstra) on competition and regulatory matters (including investigations of alleged abuses of market power and negotiations and arbitrations concerning access and interconnection pricing for fixed and mobile services). He has published numerous papers and presented to many forums on issues in competition and regulatory policy, including abuse of market power and predatory pricing, and has been cited with approval by the Federal and High Courts of Australia. His most recent academic writings have concerned the political economy of telecommunications regulation.

E-Mail: gedwards@crai.com
Telephone: +44-20-7664-3700
Direct Telephone: +44-20-7959-1448
Fax: +44-20-7664-3998

Diana  Jackson

Additional Information
Diana Jackson has advised clients on a wide variety of issues in a range of industries since becoming an economic consultant in 1998. She has particular experience in merger investigations, having worked for the merging parties on European Commission investigations including INEOS/Kerling, KarstadtQuelle/MyTravel, Andersen/Ernst & Young, GE/Honeywell, and Airtours/First Choice (both at the Commission stage and in the Court of First Instance appeal), as well as on cases before the UK Competition Commission (Pan Fish/Marine Harvest, Centrica/Rough) and the German Bundeskartellamt (BP/E.ON, Avery Dennison/Jackstädt). She has also worked on several cases in South Africa (Sasol/Engen, Altech/NamITech) and has appeared as an expert witness before the South African Competition Tribunal. This work has involved unilateral, coordinated, vertical and conglomerate effects, and 'failing firm' issues, and has covered a broad range of industrial sectors, including several cases related to energy markets. She also has experience in non-merger cases, including studies of the comparative efficiency of alternative payment schemes for music rights, and the economic effects of vertical restraints.

E-Mail: djackson@crai.com
Telephone: +44-20-7664-3700
Direct Telephone: +44-20-7959-1453
Fax: +44-20-7664-3998

Vicki  Mertzanidou

Additional Information
Vicki Mertzanidou has advised clients on a range of different antitrust issues before both the EU Commission and national competition authorities across Europe and in South Africa. Merger cases (acting for the merging parties) include Ineos/Kerling, Owens Corning/Saint Gobain, Alcatel/Lucent, Linde/BOC, adidas/Reebok, Amer/Salomon, Solvay/Montedison-Ausimont, and Philips/Agilent before the European Commission; Dunfermline Press/Trinity Mirror, Arqiva/BT SBS, William Hill/Stanley Leisure, DS Smith/Linpac Containers, and BASF/Takeda in the UK; and Sasol/Engen and Ellerines/Relyant in South Africa. Her experience in industrial sectors ranges from white fuels and chemicals to telecoms equipment, athletic footwear, recorded music, betting, and a number of fast growing consumer goods. In addition to merger cases, she has also worked on abuse of dominance allegations before the European Commission, the competitive effect of commercial agreements, and the valuation of damages in commercial disputes.

Ms. Mertzanidou joined CRA (formerly Lexecon Ltd) in November 2003. Prior to this, she worked in the field of competition policy for more than four years, advising clients on competition matters at RBB Economics and NERA.

E-Mail: vmertzanidou@crai.com
Telephone: +44-20-7664-3700
Direct Telephone: +44-20-7959-1456
Fax: +44-20-7664-3998

Alan  Overd

Additional Information
Alan Overd is a vice president in CRA's London office. He studied economics at Cambridge University and the University of Oxford, where he held a lectureship at Keble College. Prior to joining Lexecon Ltd in 1995, Mr. Overd worked for Oxford Economic Research Associates (OXERA). Mr. Overd has worked on a range of competition cases in various jurisdictions. He has handled a number of European merger investigations, including BP/Mobil, GrandMet/Guinness, Price Waterhouse/Coopers & Lybrand, Airtours/First Choice, EMI/Warner Music, Ernst & Young/Andersen, and adidas/Reebok. The U.K. cases he has handled include Boots/Alliance Unichem, Lloyds TSB/Abbey National, and Asda/Safeway. He led the Lexecon Ltd team in Airtours' appeal to the Court of First Instance over the Airtours/First Choice decision. This was the first successful appeal to the court made by the parties to a merger.

E-Mail: aoverd@crai.com
Telephone: +44-20-7664-3700
Direct Telephone: +44-20-7959-1458
Fax: +44-20-7664-3998

Matthias  Pflanz

Additional Information
Matthias Pflanz has advised clients on a wide range of competition proceedings before the agencies and courts of the EU, UK, Germany, and various other countries within Europe and elsewhere. He has extensive experience of merger control proceedings in numerous jurisdictions and led the economic team in a number of major EU merger cases, including Air Liquide/BOC, GE/Honeywell, Oracle/PeopleSoft and Thomson/Reuters. In other competition proceedings, his clients have included BSkyB, Deutsche Telekom, Lloyds TSB, Orange, Pfizer, and Vodafone. His nonmerger experience encompasses proceedings relating to excessive and exclusionary pricing, dominant firm purchasing practices, cartels and other agreements, and general market investigations. He acted for General Electric throughout its appeal against the European Commission's decision in GE/Honeywell, and appeared for GE before the European Court of First Instance. Mr. Pflanz has also provided advice in relation to numerous major commercial arbitration and litigation matters, and has acted as an expert witness in commercial dispute resolution proceedings, including international arbitrations under ICC and other rules. His clients in such proceedings have included major corporations and sovereign states. His working languages are English and German (bilingual).

E-Mail: mpflanz@crai.com
Telephone: +44-20-7664-3700
Direct Telephone: +44-20-7959-1460
Fax: +44-20-7664-3998

Rameet  Sangha

Additional Information
Rameet Sangha, Principal, has advised clients on a range of economic issues such as the assessment of unilateral and coordinated effects, empirical techniques used in market definition and the competitive effects of mergers, and valuation methods used in transfer pricing and damages analysis. Her experience has involved cases before the EU, UK, and South African competition authorities, as well as cases before national courts and international arbitrations. Prior to joining CRA (formerly Lexecon Ltd) in 2000, Ms. Sangha was a consultant at Coopers & Lybrand, later PricewaterhouseCoopers, where she gained experience in market analysis and business strategy development across a range of industries, particularly the financial services sector.

E-Mail: rsangha@crai.com
Telephone: +44-20-7664-3700
Direct Telephone: +44-20-7959-1463
Fax: +44-20-7664-3998

Ian  Small

Additional Information
Dr. Ian Small, Vice President, is a specialist in the application of quantitative techniques to antitrust issues. Since joining Lexecon Ltd in 1999, he has worked on a wide range of competition cases in various jurisdictions. These include cases before the European Commission such as BP/E.ON, Tetra/Sidel, Air Liquide/BOC, TotalFina/Elf; before the UK competition authorities such as Asda/Safeway, H&H Celon/Marley, Nutreco/Hydro Seafood, Scottish Milk Enquiry and the Supermarket inquiry; before the Dutch competition authorities, such as Air Products/AGA Transfer; and before the German competition authorities such as BP/E.ON. He has also worked on a number of commercial litigation cases.

E-Mail: ismall@crai.com
Telephone: +44-20-7664-3700
Direct Telephone: +44-20-7959-1464
Fax: +44-20-7664-3998

Valter  Sorana

Additional Information
Dr. Valter Sorana is a Principal with CRA International. Prior to joining CRA International, he was Assistant Professor in the Department of Econometrics and Operations Research, Fellow of the Center for Economic Research (CentER) and senior member of the Tilburg Law and Economics Center (TILEC) at Tilburg University in the Netherlands. Dr. Sorana has previous consulting experience in the United States as a senior associate with CRA. He has provided advice on mergers, allegations of abuse of dominant position, auction design, auction bidding strategies, competition, and regulatory policy, with a focus on telecommunications markets.

E-Mail: vsorana@crai.com
Telephone: +44-20-7664-3700
Direct Telephone: +44-20-7959-1465
Fax: +44-20-7664-3998

Robert  Stillman

Additional Information
Bob Stillman specializes in the analysis of competition issues and in the quantification of damages in commercial litigation. Based in London, Dr. Stillman has worked on some of the European Commission's leading Article 82 cases (Microsoft and Qualcomm) as well as various mergers and cartel investigations. He has supervised the economic analysis for clients involved in market investigations before the U.K. Competition Commission. A significant portion of his current caseload involves matters in South Africa, where he has participated in numerous merger proceedings and other matters involving the South African Competition Commission and Tribunal.

E-Mail: rstillman@crai.com
Telephone: +44-20-7664-3700
Direct Telephone: +44-20-7959-1466
Fax: +44-20-7664-3998

Hugh  Wills

Additional Information
Dr. Hugh Wills is a principal with CRA (formerly Lexecon Ltd). Prior to joining the firm, Dr. Wills was a lecturer in economics at Sussex University and the London School of Economics from 1977 to 2000 and a visiting faculty member at the Australian National University and the University of California. At the LSE he taught microeconomics, industrial economics (including regulation and competition law) and econometrics (theoretical and applied). He has published on industrial economics and regulation, pricing in the computer industry, and theoretical econometrics. Both before and since joining CRA (formerly Lexecon Ltd) in 2000 he has advised on a number of cases before the OFT and MMC and the European Commission.

E-Mail: hwills@crai.com
Telephone: +44-20-7664-3700
Direct Telephone: +44-20-7959-1468
Fax: +44-20-7664-3998