Dr Sophie Lawrance
Year qualified in UK - 2004
Admitted in Republic of Ireland (non-practising) - 2016
Advocaat bij de Balie te Brussel - 2021
Sophie specialises in EU and UK competition law and litigation. She has a particular interest in working with businesses in the technology and pharmaceutical sectors, and in relation to the competition issues that arise in connection with standardised technology. Her practice spans all competition issues, but has a particular focus on litigation and investigations.
Sophie has significant experience of competition litigation in the UK courts. She has been involved both in pure competition law actions, acting for both claimants and defendants, and in several substantial pieces of patent litigation in which competition defences have been raised. Sophie has market-leading experience of cases involving FRAND licensing obligations, acting for both implementers and patentees. Alongside this, Sophie’s case load to date has included defending applications for interim injunctive relief, handling mixed stand-alone/follow-on damages claims, raising and defending competition issues arising from the seeking of remedies in IP cases and claims arising from IP licences.
Alongside her litigation case-load, Sophie handles competition authority investigations at both EU and national level, including in dawn raid situations. A recent focus has been on CMA investigations into the UK generics sector. Issues on which she has advised in this context include both substantive competition law and procedural issues, such as legal professional privilege, as well as dealing with competition director disqualification cases which are now a focus for the UK competition regulator.
Sophie is responsible for the competition law chapter of Copinger & Skone James on Copyright.