News
Competition practice named New Zealand's best
Bell Gully's competition lawyers have been praised as the standout practitioners in a report on competition law in New Zealand.
Specialist publisher Global Competition Review in an article titled 'Looking up, down under', describes New Zealand’s competition lawyers as "busier than ever, thanks to the country's expanding economy and an increasingly aggressive competition commission".
For this and other reasons, writes commentator David Vascott, competition specialists are fundamental to any serious law firm in New Zealand.
He says the country's leading competition practice belongs to Bell Gully, the only firm to feature in this year’s GCR 100, a listing of the top 100 global competition practices.
“Unsurprisingly, corporate counsel voted it New Zealand's top competition practice in 2006. Bell Gully’s competition group is led by Phil Taylor, a nominee in The International Who’s Who of Competition Lawyers,” reports Global Competition Review. "Rivals say Taylor is 'very experienced' and has 'both a good client base and good judgment'. Taylor's team has significant 'breadth and depth of expertise'."
The report notes Bell Gully's promising start to the year working on three of the four mergers notified in the country to April. These include Woolworths' bid to buy rival retailer The Warehouse Group, Goodman Fielder's acquisition of baker River Mill and Carter Holt Harvey's application to acquire Lakesawn Lumber. The latter two applications have since gained approval from the Commerce Commission while the first is yet to be determined.
The firm has also been involved in major competition behavioural matters including advising a major bank on New Zealand aspects of the worldwide MasterCard/Visa interchange fees investigation and Osmose in the Commission's wood preservative cartel investigation.
