"He's a brilliant lawyer and a very easy person to work with." "He possesses deep competition knowledge and is a fantastic team player who is unflappable under pressure."
Fergus Randolph QC is at the forefront of EU and competition law litigation at the English bar. He regularly appears before the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), General Court, all divisions of the High Court and the Competition Appeal Tribunal as well as acting for clients before competition regulators. In addition, Fergus is particularly sought after for his expertise in EU and UK Sanctions, Commercial Agency, and Public Procurement and all aspects of EU related Judicial Review.
He has been a member of the Bar Council Brexit/Future Relations committee and has been in regular discussions with civil servants on the Brexit transition and the eventual Trade and Cooperation Agreement agreed at the end of 2021. He has written extensively on those arrangements and will continue to contribute his thoughts on the TCA.
Fergus is a full member of the Brussels bar and as such is entitled to advise and represent clients on matters of EU law before the EU Commission and the EU Courts in Luxembourg.
Prior to practising at the London bar, Fergus spent 15 years in Brussels including time at the European Commission and his practice has taken him to international jurisdictions such as Hong Kong, the Falkland Islands and the South Georgia Supreme Court.
His present cases include competition follow-on claims both in the English and continential EU courts, constitutional EU cases in the EU General Court, fisheries disputes in the London High Court, sanctions issues involving the EU Blocking Regulation and commercial agency arbitration.
Throughout his career, he has appeared in many leading cases including White v. White (House of Lords), Lonsdale (House of Lords). Quark (South Georgia Supreme Court and the House of Lords), Ingmar (European Court of Justice), Arkin v. Borchard Lines (High Court and Court of Appeal), Albion Water (Competition Appeal Tribunal), Churchill Insurance v. Wilkinson (High Court, Court of Appeal and European Court of Justice), Bloomsbury International (Supreme Court) and IRISL (General Court).
Prior to taking silk in 2009, Fergus Randolph had been identified as one of the leading juniors in EU and Competition law in Chambers and Partners and in Legal 500 and is now recognised in both as a leading silk.
Important cases include:
Competition
Public Procurement
Fergus Randolph QC has advised on a substantial number of procurement cases both domestically and in the EU. In one case, the tender procedure was entirely withdrawn following his representations on behalf of an unsuccessful bidder because of inherent flaws in the process. In another case, he was instructed on behalf of an English County Council in judicial review proceedings, seeking the annulment of a multi-million pound penalty for alleged breach of ERDF funding rules, which was successfully defended. He recently acted on behalf of an unsuccessful tenderer in a multi-million pound tender in Northern Ireland and has recently been instructed to act on behalf of an English borough council in relation to a substantial procurement matter. He has also been instructed to act on behalf of a Maltese shipping company in a public procurement case in which a preliminary reference to the CJEU is being sought from the Maltese Court of Appeal.
Agriculture and Fisheries
Commercial Agency
Directives and State Liability
Human Rights and State Liability
Sanctions
Arbitration
Further information
Lectures
Fluent French, basic Italian and Dutch.
