Charlie Markillie

Charlie advises clients on the application of UK and EU competition law to their trading relationships, business practices, and mergers and acquisitions – providing solutions which achieve clients’ commercial objectives, while reducing the legal risks associated with their transactions.

Ranked as an Associate to Watch in Chambers 2025 and a Leading Associate in the Legal500, Charlie’s areas of expertise include securing competition clearances for mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures (including from UK and EU merger control authorities, and in relation to Foreign Direct Investment regimes around the world), supporting clients to ensure that their trading relationships and business practices comply with competition law, and defending clients in investigations or inquiries carried out by the UK and EU competition authorities (including in relation to unannounced dawn raids and inspections), and advising on the UK subsidy control regime.

Examples of Charlie’s expertise include:

• Advising a large UK roofing contractor in relation to a Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) cartel investigation into bid rigging relating to the provision of roofing services to both public and private sector clients.
• Defending a luxury hi-fi and audio company against a standalone claim for damages relating to the legality of its selective distribution network, including representation in front of the Competition Appeals Tribunal.
• Advising one of the world’s largest publishing companies on the competition law risks relating to the formation of a cross-competitor platform relating to the sale of advertising in magazines and webpages.
• Delivering tailored, face-to-face competition law training to the both the procurement and sales teams of a major UK consumer brand.
• Advising a UK-based concrete manufacturer on the potential merger control and competition law issues resulting from its potential acquisition of a number of ready-mix concrete sites from a competitor.
• Providing dawn raid training to one of the largest UK airlines to ensure they are suitably prepared in the face of an unannounced inspection by either the Civil Aviation Authority or the Competition and Markets Authority.