UK: Latham & Watkins lures CMA director of mergers to firm

Latham & Watkins has hired the UK Competition and Markets Authority’s director of mergers Jonathan Parker as it rounds out its London offering.

Parker leaves the CMA after two years at the UK’s primary competition and consumer authority, bolstering its merger team after it replaced the UK Competition Commission in early 2014.

He will join Latham’s antitrust & competition practice in May as a partner. Parker is the latest in a string of high-profile antitrust and competition appointments made by Latham in Europe as it beefs up its corporate team, following the arrival of Elisabetta Righini from the European Commission in Brussels. Parker becomes Latham’s fifth competition partner in London and the 20th in Europe.

Latham antitrust and competition practice co-chair Sven Völcker said recent changes to the UK merger regime had raised the stakes for transactions with a UK nexus.

‘This creates obvious challenges in terms of deal certainty and increases the pressure to make notifications of any deals that may face scrutiny. Jonathan’s unique experience and insights will further enhance our ability to offer strategic transactional advice to our clients who are facing an increasingly complex competition landscape.’

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