Law firm Leigh Day adds new competition law team and court of protection partner

Leigh Day has now developed an in-house competition team which will specialise in bringing opt-out, collective proceedings competition cases on behalf of consumers, investors and other stakeholders against firms which may be abusing competition rules, in order to provide compensation and redress for those who would not otherwise be able to enforce their legal rights. As well as developing new collective proceedings, the team will also assist the Leigh Day legal teams working on current group claims with any competition law aspects. 

Collective action competition claims allow a single, large-value claim to be collectively brought against those that break competition rules, even though the individual damages of each class member may be relatively small in value. As well as providing individual compensation and justice, it also acts as a deterrence to future misconduct, as firms know that consumers can together hold them to account for any rule breaking.

Leigh Day is currently representing thousands of people bringing group claims including shop floor workers bringing equal pay claims against the big supermarkets; drivers bringing diesel emissions claims against car manufacturers; gig economy workers bringing workers’ rights claims and investors bringing claims against Link relating to the Woodford scandal.

New partner Amy Chater joined Leigh Day on 25 April 2022. She specialises in court of protection work and her arrival will expand on the of court of protection work currently undertaken in the firm’s human rights department. To begin with Amy will be working for Leigh Day’s personal injury and clinical negligence clients who have lost mental capacity following serious injury. It is hoped that this will then expand into a team of lawyers doing property and financial affairs deputyship work both for Leigh Day’s own clients and also for clients who are referred externally.

Amy brings with her a wealth of experience in financial deputyship management, working with people who need support with their finances. She has previously worked at Freeths LLP and Royds Withy King. She is also an experienced independent mental capacity assessor and regularly speaks at external events on the topic of capacity assessment and supported decision making.