Herbert Smith LLP

Craig Pouncey is the managing partner of Herbert Smith’s Brussels office and a member of the firm’s EU and competition and regulation group. He joined Herbert Smith in 1987 and has been a partner in the firm since 1995. He has been based in the firm’s Brussels office for 17 years and is widely acknowledged by peers as one of the most established individuals in the Brussels legal market.

Craig is one of the leading competition specialists in Brussels and has extensive experience advising on all aspects of EU and UK competition law including merger control, cartels and behavioural issues. He has appeared on numerous occasions in cases before the European courts and the UK’s Competition Appeal Tribunal and Competition Commission.

Craig’s current practice straddles high-level merger work for clients such as Tata, Warner Music Group and Arrow Inc, as well as cartel work for a range of clients. He is representing clients in a number of ongoing cases before the CFI and ECJ, including the British Aggregates Association in relation to their ongoing challenge on state aid grounds to the UK’s Aggregates Levy, an environmental tax.

In the UK, Craig has amassed considerable experience as a leading specialist in media mergers and has advised on the competition aspects of well over 20 transactions in the newspaper industry.

Craig speaks widely on competition-related issues, and has contributed to a range of publications most recently on the public interest aspect of the recent UK banking mergers.