Gwen Ballin‑Reeler

Gwen is a competition Partner with a practice spanning litigation, regulatory investigations, and advisory work across the full range of competition law. She acts for claimants in complex competition damages proceedings before the Competition Appeal Tribunal and the High Court, and advises clients on merger control, foreign investment screening, commercial agreements, and regulatory compliance.

Competition Litigation

Gwen's litigation practice encompasses collective actions, follow-on damages claims, and abuse of dominance disputes. She acted for the class representative in Le Patourel v BT Group from filing through to conclusion, the first opt-out collective action to be certified by the CAT under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 regime and the first to reach trial,  and has acted for retail claimants in interchange fee litigation against Visa and Mastercard for approximately ten years, achieving settlements for all of her clients. She has also acted in abuse of dominance disputes, cartel follow-on claims, and public law challenges with a competition dimension, including judicial review proceedings in the energy sector.

Merger Control and Foreign Investment Screening

Gwen advises on multi-jurisdictional merger control filings and integrates competition advice into complex transaction timetables. Recent matters include leading competition advice on the Embedded Finance / Equals Group acquisition (£283 million) and representing Vision Industries across three concurrent joint ventures in the Saudi Arabian wind and solar sectors. She also advises private equity clients on the CMA's growing scrutiny of roll-up strategies, and advises early-stage companies and their investors on founding rounds and investment structuring to manage regulatory exposure.

She has particular depth in NSIA mandatory and voluntary notifications and multi-jurisdictional FDI screening, with experience across defence and aerospace, AI and cloud computing, energy, and fintech.

Commercial Agreements

Gwen advises on the full range of commercial agreements with a competition dimension. In life sciences, she has developed particular expertise in licensing agreements, including exclusivity and field-of-use restrictions. In the technology sector, she advises on exclusivity clauses in supply agreements, cooperation agreements, and joint venture structures. She also regularly advises on the competition aspects of land agreements (including lease exclusivity clauses, radius restrictions, and non-compete covenants) which arise frequently in retail, leisure, hospitality, and mixed-use development contexts.

Investigations and Enforcement

Gwen has experience on all sides of competition investigations. She has advised clients under investigation by the European Commission and the CMA, acted for individuals facing concurrent criminal and regulatory exposure, and represented complainants seeking enforcement action. She has also advised clients on dawn raids in real time across multiple sectors and jurisdictions.