Profile
Gillian Sproul focuses her practice on advising clients on the impact of EU and UK competition law on their transactions, operations and business strategy. She represents clients in cartel and abuse of dominance cases, energy regulatory investigations and market inquiries before the EU and UK regulators and courts and has obtained EU, UK and other national clearances for numerous complex M&A and joint venture transactions. Her experience extends also to advising clients on competitor co-operation and information exchange, distribution and licensing and compliance.
Gillian is recognised as a Leading Individual for Competition in The Legal 500 UK 2023. The guide quotes one source as saying “The team is led by Gill Sproul who has a quiet and confident manner which is appreciated in the area of competition law.” Another source states “Gill Sproul knows our industry well and ensures that the advice given is tailored and down to earth. Gill is practical, approachable and very easy to work with”.
According to the Chambers UK Guide 2022, Gillian "has great experience; she’s sharp, understands clients’ needs and provides clear instructions when coordinating international projects."
Concentrations
- Chemicals
- Construction and engineering
- Construction materials
- Energy and utilities
- Financial services
- FMCG manufacture, food and non-food
- Hotels and leisure
- Insurance
- Intellectual property
- Litigation and dispute resolution
- Antitrust litigation and competition
- Pharmaceuticals
- Retailing
- Technology, media and telecommunications
Capabilities
Experience
- Obtained numerous EU and UK clearances and co-ordinated multi-national clearances for clients in a variety of industries, including
- Handling antitrust aspects of public takeovers, private sales / purchases and joint ventures
- Representing clients in Phase 1 and Phase 2 investigations
- Advising on timetabling and consistency of advocacy issues where multijurisdictional clearances are required
- Negotiating derogations from information and suspensory requirements
- Advising on monitoring and divestiture trustee appointments
- Negotiating conditions of clearance
- Defended clients in European Commission and UK cartel and abuse of dominance investigations in sectors such as manufacturing, construction, energy, engineering, media, publishing and financial services.°
- Represented clients on appeal against cartel and abuse of dominance findings and penalties to the General Court and Court of Justice in the EU and the Competition Appeal Tribunal in the UK, securing strike-down of infringement findings and reductions in penalty.°
- Advised clients on competition-base court litigation, including follow-on damages litigation, in the UK.
- Advised a major accountancy firm on its role and obligations as monitoring and divestiture trustee in an energy case.°
- Advised in coordination with U.S. lawyers on parallel cartel investigations by EU, UK and U.S. regulators, most recently in the publishing sector.°
- Advised clients on their participation in EU and UK sector inquiries, including the EU energy, pharmaceuticals and insurance inquiries and the UK groceries, aggregates and audit inquiries, including advising on appeal to the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal against findings of the UK regulator in the aggregates inquiry.°
- Advised on complaints to the EU and UK competition regulators and courts against merger clearances, market dominant businesses and competitor collusion and co-operation.°
- Represented clients in investigations by the UK sectoral regulators into breaches of licence and of sector regulation.°
°The above representations were handled by Ms. Sproul prior to her joining Greenberg Traurig, LLP.
Recognition & Leadership
- Leading Individual, The Legal 500 UK, "EU and Competition" 2023 and 2024
- Listed, Chambers UK, 2006, 2008-2009, 2011-2017, 2022-2024
- Listed, Chambers Europe, 2015-2017, 2020, 2022-2024
- Listed, Chambers Global, 2016-2022 and 2024
- Competition Law, 2016-2022 and 2024
- European Law - UK, 2016-2022
- Listed, The Legal 500, 2014-2017, 2022-2023
Credentials
- LL.B. (Hons), (First Class), Leicester University
- M.A. (Hons), French and German, St. Andrews University
- Law Society Finals, with honors, Birmingham City University
- England and Wales
- Ireland
- English, Native
- French, Conversational
- German, Conversational
News, Insights & Events
Gillian is a contributor to the GT London Law Blog 
, the Legacy Advisors Blog , and the Inside Business Immigration Blog