Andrew Austin is a partner with Freshfields based in the firm’s London office where he handles commercial disputes, consumer law issues, and product liability litigation within the tech, life sciences, consumer goods and retail sectors. He also helps clients manage regulatory risks and engage with (and sometimes challenge) regulators. He has acted on some of the most complex consumer mass claims of the last decade and is particularly focused on coordinating the defence of such litigation across borders. He has a particular specialism in product liability defence work, and is ranked by Chambers (2023) for Life Sciences - Product Liability (band 1) and Product Liability: Mainly Defendant (band 3). Andrew advises clients on the application of product liability rules to emerging tech, and in May 2018 was appointed to the European Commission’s Expert Group on Liability and New Technologies. In December 2019, he joined the Commission’s subgroup on AI and product safety. Another area of focus, in recent years, has been the growing importance of consumer law and governments’ increasing scrutiny of consumer-facing business practices. Andrew is Co-Head of the firm’s Consumer and Healthcare group, which brings together specialists in the consumer, retail and life sciences sectors from across the firm. He also helps lead Halo, the firm’s global LGBT+ network group.
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After months of waiting, the UK government has now introduced into Parliament the text of the hotly anticipated Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill (the Bill). Sarah Cardell, CEO of the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), has described this as a “flagship bill” which has (...)
