Services
GMT Economics helps companies and their legal advisers by providing economic analysis, strategic advice and practical support.
Whether as part of early risk assessments or during investigations and litigation, GMT Economics can produce economic analysis proactively or provide a critical review of economic analysis prepared by authorities or by other parties. GMT Economics can also provide devil’s advocate reviews of preliminary analyses prepared by, and emerging views of, companies or their advisers.
GMT Economics can seamlessly and constructively plug into the business and its advisers, collaborating closely on strategic matters as well as on operational ones, such as supporting the responses to information requests from competition authorities.
GMT Economics helps clients use language, narratives and arguments that resonate with economists and decision-makers, particularly at competition and regulatory authorities.
GMT Economics can provide support across a range of different matters:
Abuse of dominance
- Key areas: market definition; market power assessment; evaluations of allegations of predation, anti-competitive rebates, bundling and tying, self-preferencing, raising rivals’ costs, margin squeeze, refusals to deal, exclusive dealing and excessive pricing; assessment of possible efficiencies and objective justifications; evaluation of potential remedies
Private antitrust litigation
- Key areas: economic support in the context of follow-on and stand-alone antitrust damages actions and commercial litigation more generally; devil’s advocate reviews; identification and testing of theories of harm; assessment of quantum, liability, pass-on, run-off and umbrella effects; critical evaluation of economic expert reports and of the evidence base available; support with collective proceedings
Vertical agreements
- Key areas: market definition; assessment of possible anti-competitive effects of alleged resale price maintenance, parity clauses, upfront access payments, exclusivity arrangements and distribution agreements; identification, characterisation and evaluation of efficiencies and other pro-competitive effects of the clauses at stake; evaluation of potential remedies
Market studies and investigations
- Key areas: anticipation of likely theories of harm considered; identification of key economic arguments and evidence for testing and possible deployment; critical evaluation of the economic analysis put forward by the authorities, across a wide area of fields of economics, including industrial economics, information economics, game theory, behavioural economics and public economics; evaluation of potential remedies, both pro-actively and reactively
Horizontal and non-horizontal mergers
- Key areas: anticipation of likely theories of harm considered; market definition; assessment of unilateral, coordinated and vertical effects, entry barriers, countervailing buyer power, merger-specific efficiencies, counterfactuals and possible failing firm defence; evaluation of potential remedies
Cartels and horizontal agreements
- Key areas: analysis of scope of alleged cartels; assessment of possible anti-competitive effects from JVs, information exchanges and hub-and-spoke arrangements; assessment of possible efficiencies
Competition appeals
- Key areas: critical assessment of the economic arguments and evidence of the decision being appealed; deployment of economic arguments and evidence for the appeal itself; critical evaluation of arguments and evidence presented by economic experts
Economic and policy submissions
- Key areas: identification of the key economic arguments supporting a given position; support collecting the relevant economic evidence; preparation of relevant and clear economic analysis; support in the submission of reports to regulatory or other bodies
GMT Economics brings expertise across numerous sectors, including:
GMT Economics can support you across multiple jurisdictions, and in different languages, depending on your requirements.
Please get in touch to learn more about specific experience and credentials in your area or sector of interest, or to discuss how GMT Economics could help you.
Training
GMT Economics designs and delivers workshops, seminars and courses for universities, law schools, business schools and executive education programmes, as well as to practising lawyers. These cover a broad range of competition economics and competition policy topics, and can be offered at introductory, intermediate or advanced levels depending on the audience and on the requirements.
Please get in touch if you would like to learn more about this offering or to discuss your specific needs.