The CMS Antitrust, Competition & Trade Group is one of the largest and most internationally experienced competition law teams in the world with more than 225 competition lawyers in 40+ countries worldwide.

Our widespread local presence - complemented by the CMS EU Law Office in Brussels – ensures we are at the forefront of Competition & EU law in Europe. We have a strong track record advising international pharmaceutical companies and healthcare clients in relation to complex competition matters including rebates, pricing and distribution strategy, competition enforcement investigations, litigation and merger control / FDI. Our Competition lawyers work seamlessly with our Life Sciences regulatory and compliance specialists and have acted on major cases and matters within the industry. Our Competition lawyers have represented the main parties in many of the leading life sciences cases in the UK and EU in recent years. Covering matters such as patent settlements, excessive pricing, refusal to supply and alleged collusion.

Our team has hands-on experience in dealing with the European Commission and all national competition authorities as well as European and national courts. We act for clients in all areas of competition law: cartels, distribution agreements and other agreements comprising horizontal and vertical restraints, abuse of dominance, merger control, private enforcement, state aid, investigations and compliance.

We have received multiple award recognitions for our work, including: winning Law Firm of the Year for Antitrust at the JUVE Awards 2023; receiving the commended award in the Competition & Regulatory category at The Lawyer Awards 2022; and winning “Competition Team of the Year” at the Legal Business Awards 2020. Many of our competition practices across Europe are recommended in the leading directories with 7 of our Competition Partners recognised in Chambers and Partners Global Guide 2025.