Matthew O'Regan

Contact Matthew: mattheworegan@matrixlaw.co.uk | +44 (0)20 7404 3447

Contact Matthew's Practice Team (Team X): TeamX@matrixlaw.co.uk

Matthew’s practice focuses on competition law and regulation and subsidy control. He has a broad practice, covering all aspects of competition law, including disputes and litigation, investigations by the Competition and Markets Authority and other regulators and wide range of advisory matters. He acts for a wide range of clients in both the public and private sectors, including major UK companies and multinational businesses, as well as small and medium-sized enterprises, government departments and local authorities.

He appears, led and unled, regularly before the Competition Appeal Tribunal and has also appeared before the High Court and the County Court, and has also advised in arbitration proceedings. As a solicitor, he appeared in several competition and state aid cases before the EU General Court and the Court of Justice, in Luxembourg.

Prior to joining Matrix in May 2024, he practised from a leading set of Chambers in Bristol.  Before being called to the Bar in 2015, Matthew practised as a solicitor with leading firms in London, Brussels (where he worked for over a decade in a leading international law firm) and Bristol (where he was a partner in a leading national firm).

Matthew is a member of the Bar of England and Wales. He is an editor of Chitty on Contracts and of the Competition Law Journal.

Competition and Regulation

Matthew has a wide-ranging competition law and economic regulation practice. He has been ranked as a ‘leading junior’ for several years by each of Chambers & Partners, Legal 500 and Lexology (formerly Who’s Who Legal).

Matthew’s competition litigation and disputes practice include standalone and follow-on claims, including in collective proceedings, appeals against CMA decisions under the Competition Act 1998 and reviews against CMA decisions in merger cases, director disqualification proceedings in the High Court and in arbitration proceedings in the sports sector. Recent and on-going matters in which Matthew has acted include:

• Connexity v Google – presently instructed by US e-commerce operator Connexity in a substantial damages claim against Google arising from the abuse of its dominant position established by the European Commission in its Google Shopping decision
• Presently acting for a local authority in CAT and related High Court proceedings arising from an alleged abuse of a dominant position concerning an alleged refusal by it to consent to the placing of advertising structures on the public highway
• Presently acting for a software reseller in a standalone High Court damages claim against Microsoft concerning an alleged abuse of a dominant position by restricting the supply of pre-owned licences for Office and Windows software
• Evans v Barclays Bank and others – presently instructed by Mr Evans, the proposed class representative, in follow-on collective damages proceedings in the CAT arising from the European Commission’s decisions in FOREX
• Confidential arbitration proceedings in the London Court of International Arbitration, successfully representing a sports team in a claim against a governing body that raised questions of UK and EU competition law
• Lexon v CMA; CMA v Pritesh Sonpal (Prochlorperazine) – successfully representing Lexon in its appeal to the CAT against the CMA’s infringement decision in Prochlorperazine concerning an alleged ‘market exclusion agreement’ and successfully defending its former managing director, Mr Sonpal, in related High Court director disqualification proceedings
• Acting for Wacoal Europe in defending a standalone damages claim concerning alleged resale price maintenance brought by Belle Lingerie, settled shortly before seven-day trial in October 2022
• Acting for Tobii in its application to the CAT for review of the CMA’s decision to prohibit its acquisition of Smartbox
• Advising a self-employed healthcare professional in successfully resisting a threatened claim that she had breached post-termination restrictive covenants, which were in unlawful restraint of trade
• Acting for Melanie Meigh (operator of a bird park) in a standalone claim against her landlord, Prinknash Abbey Trustees, concerning contractual restrictions on her ability to trade, settled shortly before trial in July 2019
• Advising the English Football League in successfully defending arbitration proceedings brought by Queens Park Rangers FC that challenged the compatibility of ‘financial fair play’ rules with competition law

Matthew has extensive experience, both as a barrister and as a solicitor, of merger, antitrust and markets investigations by the CMA, other UK regulatory authorities, the European Commission and competition authorities in a number of other countries.

Matthew’s merger experience includes advising on both ‘Phase 1’ and ‘Phase 2’ investigations by the CMA and the European Commission, including drafting briefing papers and written submissions, representing merging parties and third parties in formal hearings and negotiating remedies. He has a broad merger control advisory practice, including advising parties before entering into a proposed transaction on jurisdictional, substantive and strategic issues, and dealing with inquiries by the CMA into non-notified mergers. Recent and on-going merger control matters in which Matthew has advised include:

• Advising leading grounds maintenance and landscape services provider, Nurture Group on its acquisitions of Gristwood & Toms and Tivoli Group
• Advising the vendors of dairy products supplier, The Collective, on its sale to Yeo Valley
• Advising leading food wholesaler, Sysco, on its acquisition of speciality butcher and fishmonger, Campbell’s Fine Meat
• Advising Tobii Dynavox on its acquisition of Acapela, in respect of which, following submission of a formal merger notice, the CMA adopted a ‘found not to qualify’ decision
• Advising boohoo.com on the merger control aspects of its acquisition of certain Arcadia brands
• Advising Tobii on the CMA’s Phase 2 investigation into its completed acquisition of Smartbox
• Representing Beijer Ref on the CMA’s Phase 1 investigation into its completed acquisition of HRP Holdings

Matthew’s antitrust experience includes advising parties under investigation by the CMA, other regulators and the European Commission into suspected cartels, anti-competitive conduct and abuses of a dominant position, as well as advising complainants, employees and third parties. He also advises businesses in relation to market studies and investigations undertaken by the CMA. Recent matters in which Matthew has advised include:

• Advising a leading refiner on the CMA’s market study into Road Fuels
• Advising on leniency applications made to the European Commission, the CMA and sectoral regulators
• Advising OPC (a provider of occupational psychometric testing services) on the Office of Rail and Road’s investigation into membership rules for the Railway Assessment Centre Forum, which was closed with commitments
• Representing individual employees during compulsory interviews conducted by the CMA under s.26A of the Competition Act 1998
• Attending a dawn raid conducted by the CMA in the musical instruments sector
• Advising a major multinational business on the application of UK and EU competition law to a wide range of commercial agreements, joint venture arrangements and proposed transactions, as well as providing competition compliance training, dawn raid training and drafting compliance policies
• Advising joint purchasing groups on ensuring that their activities and those of their members are compatible with competition law
• Advising businesses on the competition aspects and enforceability of commercial agreements, including land agreements (leases and licences), IP licensing, distribution and agency, long-term supply, franchising, R&D and joint purchasing, production and selling agreements

Subsidy Control and State Aid

Matthew has extensive experience of both EU State aid law, the subsidy control provisions of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement and the UK subsidy control regime. He has advised a wide range of government bodies, local authorities, local enterprise partnerships, businesses and charities on the application of these regimes to public funding for a wide range of projects. Recent and on-going matters in which Matthew has advised include:

• Advising a local authority on the subsidy control aspects of its disposal of land for an “extra care” retirement complex
• Advising various local authorities on the subsidy control aspects of applications for Levelling Up Fund grants, including for urban regeneration, housing, cultural infrastructure and housing schemes
• Advising beneficiaries and public authorities on the application of the TCA subsidy control provisions to grants for various projects
• Representing a local authority in defending a damages claim brought against it (in the County Court) by a telecommunications network operator for losses alleged to have been caused as a result of subsidies provided by it to another operator to install a next generation fibre network in a rural area of northern England. The claim was withdrawn before trial
• Advising on the State aid/subsidy control aspects of grant funding for R&D into carbon capture and storage at its refinery as part of the ‘Humber Net Zero’ project
• Advising MHCLG on ERDF funding of various projects and on Commission investigations into suspected State aid non-compliance in respect of various ERDF-funded projects
• Advising a number of further education colleges, universities and businesses on public funding that would be used for projects to provide training, education and research facilities to local businesses
• Advising local authorities, LEPs and beneficiaries on strategic investments in and grants for science parks, urban regeneration projects, social housing, transport, renewable energy, and local energy centres and district heating schemes
• Advising manufacturing businesses on ERDF and RGF funding for new manufacturing plants and for R&D projects
• Advising beneficiaries of ERDF funding under investigation by MHCLG and/or OLAF for suspected misuse of ERDF funding due to alleged procurement irregularities

Previous Experience

Before joining Matrix in 2024, Matthew practised as a member of a regional set of chambers in Bristol.

Before being called to the Bar in 2015, Matthew practised as a solicitor in London, Brussels and Bristol in the field of EU and competition law. He trained at Herbert Smith and qualified as a solicitor in March 1997 into the firm’s Competition Group. During his training, he undertook a six-month secondment to the Office of Telecommunications, where he worked on a range regulatory and competition matters. He moved to the London office of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in 2000 and then practised in the firm’s Brussels office between 2001 and 2011; he was appointed Counsel in 2006 and worked on a broad range of EU, UK and international merger control, competition and state aid matters, including litigation in the EU courts. Between 2012 and 2014 he was a partner in the competition team of Burges Salmon LLP. He qualified as a Solicitor-Advocate in 2014.

Professional Qualifications

2015: Called to the Bar of England and Wales as a transferring Solicitor Advocate

2014: Qualified as a Solicitor Advocate (Higher Rights, Civil Proceedings)

2001 – 2011: Member of the Brussels Bar (Barreau de Bruxelles), E-List

1997: Qualified as a Solicitor

Professional Memberships

The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple

Competition Law Association

Bar European Group

European Circuit

South West Administrative Lawyers Association

Academic Qualifications

1994: Nottingham Law School, Legal Practice Course, Commendation

1993: Amsterdam School of International Relations, University of Amsterdam, LLM (EC International Trade Law)

1992: University of Nottingham, LLB (Hons), first class

Languages

Matthew has a working knowledge of French.

Publications and Articles

Matthew publishes widely on competition law matters. He is an Editor of Chitty on Contracts (35th edition, 2023; Sweet & Maxwell; 36^th decision, 2025, forthcoming), contributing the chapter on Restrictive Agreements and Competition. He is also a General Editor of Garzaniti: Electronic Communications, Audiovisual Services and the Internet: EU Competition Law and Regulation (4th edition, 2019; Sweet & Maxwell), contributing the chapter on merger control. He is also a Co-Editor of the Competition Law Journal (published by Edward Elgar).

Other recent publications include:

• Merger litigation: more recent developments [2021] 20 Comp Law Journal 168
• Merger litigation: recent developments in the Competition Appeal Tribunal [2020] 19 Comp Law Journal 167
• Recent Competition and Markets Authority practice in the control of small mergers [2016] 15 Comp Law Journal 211
• The Competition Appeal Tribunal; A new venue for challenging restrictive covenants? [2016] 37 E.C.L.R. 393
• ‘United Kingdom: Merger Control’ (2014) and (2015) The European Antitrust Review
• ‘Merger Litigation in the United Kingdom’ (2013) 58 The Antitrust Bulletin
• American Bar Association, Telecom Antitrust Handbook (2nd ed, 2013) – author of the EU section of the international chapter

Matthew speaks frequently at seminars and conferences. His recent speaking engagements include:

• Law Society Competition Section Annual Conference, 2025, chairing and speaker at workshop on Competition Litigation (25 June 2025)
• UK Competition Law Conference 2023, Panel on Vertical Restraints (Informa, 27 February 2023)
• UK Competition Law Conference 2022, Panel on the Future of the CMA post-Brexit (Informa, 22 February 2022)
• UK Competition Law Conference 2021, Panel on Cooperation, collaboration and information exchange (Informa, 23 February 2021)
• UK Competition Law Conference 2020, Panel on Merger Control (Informa, 27 February 2020)
• International Competition Law Conference 2020, Speaker on ‘Major Events and Policy Issues in Competition Law in the Past 12 Months’ (Informa, 26 May 2020)
• Advanced EU Competition Law Conference 2017, Speaker on ‘Criminal enforcement of competition law: The UK experience’ (Informa, May 2017)

Matthew is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. In order to provide legal services to his clients, including advice and representation services, Matthew needs to collect and hold personal data. This includes his client’s personal data and the personal data of others who feature in the matter upon which he is instructed. To read Matthew’s privacy notice in full, please see here.