London—Dentons has hired contentious competition lawyer Laura Whyatt as a Partner in London. Laura joins  from Willkie Farr & Gallagher, having previously worked at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan and Sherman & Sterling, both in London and Brussels.

Laura has almost a decade of contentious competition law experience, and has regularly acted in high value competition litigation matters before the UK courts.

She also has significant experience in cartel and abuse of dominance proceedings before the European Commission and EU courts, and has represented clients in a wide range of industries, including aviation, automotive and technology.

Paul Jarvis, CEO of Dentons' UK, Ireland and Middle East (UKIME) region said, “Laura's expertise adds to the extensive experience we have in the contentious competition space, where the team has a track record of advising clients on high value and high-profile litigation, including defending collective claims. Her arrival accelerates our strategic ambition to advise multinational companies everywhere in the world they need to do business."

Adrian Magnus, Head of Competition at Dentons UKIME, said "We are delighted to welcome Laura to our busy and expanding competition team. Competition litigation has grown exponentially since 2015 and our clients and colleagues will benefit considerably from Laura's experience and insights in this rapidly developing area."

Dentons has also announced that Chris Graf, a partner in its London Competition and Foreign Investment group, will lead the firm's competition practice in the UK from 1 May, taking over from Adrian. Chris has nearly 20 years' experience of advising clients on the full range of competition law issues.

Chris said, "I am honoured to lead our growing competition practice and pay tribute to the exceptional work that Adrian has done in developing and growing the team since joining Dentons as practice head in 2015. More and more, regulatory issues are creating headwinds for our clients, and they look to us for legal advice that considers the global view while providing a local perspective – Adrian has been at the forefront of driving that work, and I look forward to continuing it."

Laura's appointment follows on from recent news that Glasgow-based competition lawyer Carolyn Burns has been promoted to partner, bringing Dentons' competition partner headcount in the UK to six.

Together with the in-house team at Dentons' client the Department for Business, Enterprise and Industrial Strategy, Dentons was named "Competition and Regulatory Team of the Year" at The Lawyer Awards 2023, and was awarded for "Outstanding Collaboration" at the 2023 British Legal Awards.

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