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Russell has over ten years of experience in advising on merger control, behavioural cases, compliance, market investigations, abuse of dominance, competition law litigation, public procurement, state aid and consumer protection law, both at EU and UK level.

He has a strong focus on competition law and regulatory aspects of technology, media & telecoms matters, and also specialises on competition law questions arising in consumer products and real estate contexts. The construction, energy, financial services, life sciences, shipping and manufacturing sectors are other areas where he has extensive experience.  

Russell has gained a particularly valuable perspective by spending time working in-house at a well-known consumer goods manufacturer; and at a major international mobile network operator. In particular, he advised on dealings with fixed access providers, mobile network wholesale arrangements and mobile network sharing arrangements.

Relevant experience

  • GlaxoSmithKline, the lead party, in the UK's first reverse patent settlement investigation and one of the OFT/CMA's longest and most high-profile prohibitive competition law inquiries, and on its appeal to the Competition Appeal Tribunal and reference to the Court of Justice of the EU (novel issues at the IP/competition interface).
  • Comcast on media merger control and media regulatory aspects of its US$65billion bid for 21st Century Fox.
  • Liberty Global on merger control aspects of the sale of its direct-to-home satellite TV operations in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia to M7 Group.
  • CityFibre, the UK’s largest alternative provider of wholesale fibre network infrastructure, on its £200m acquisition of the FibreNation business from TalkTalk.
  • CityFibre on its intervention in Vodafone and TalkTalk’s appeal to the Competition Appeal Tribunal against Ofcom’s 2019 Business Connectivity Market Review.
  • CityFibre on a partnership with Vodafone to deliver ultra-fast Gigabit-capable full fibre broadband to up to 5 million homes and businesses across the UK by 2025.
  • Aon on the CMA market investigation into the provision of investment consultancy and fiduciary management services.
  • CGI on its acquisition of the IT provider, SCISYS Group plc, including securing Phase I CMA clearance and coordinating other national filings.
  • Resolution Chemicals on the European Commission’s Lundbeck reverse settlement investigation.
  • GTC (an arm of Brookfield Utilities UK) on its participation in Ofcom’s 2016 Business Connectivity Market Review, including producing commentary on practical and pricing aspects of Ofcom’s 'dark fibre' SMP remedy. 
  • Portsmouth City Council in relation to the European Commission’s in-depth Phase 2 State aid investigation with respect to its investment in MMD Limited at Portsmouth Port.  
  • A consumer-facing business with respect to an unannounced inspection and investigation by the CMA under its consumer enforcement powers.
  • A leading machine-to machine (M2M) connectivity provider on issues including application of EU Roaming Regulation to M2M and application of the UK General Conditions to M2M.    

Memberships & Roles

  • Law Society Competition Section
  • Procurement Lawyers‘ Association

Education

  • 2007 – Post-graduate diploma in competition law - King's College London
  • 2003 – Legal Practice Course – Nottingham Law School
  • 2002 – LLB Law, the University of Sheffield
  • 2001 – Semester in EU Law, Lund University, Sweden 

Insights by Russell

CMS advises Aviva Investors and Truespeed Communications Group Limited on merger of fibre broadband providers

16 Feb 2026 2 min read

CMA issues new guidance setting out how competition law applies in labour markets

24 Oct 2025 6 min read

UK competition law enforcement: a multi-regulator perspective

08 Oct 2025 1 min read

Distribution in the digital age

02 Jul 2025 1 min read
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