Thomas is a partner in the Competition and Commercial Groups in Sydney, he specialises in cross-jurisdictional regulatory issues in technology and communications. When advising clients, his work combines excellent, technical legal knowledge with innovative, creative approaches. He enjoys working for Bird & Bird because there are some phenomenally clever lawyers here, working on some of the most challenging international matters in technology and communications for innovative organisations and exciting clients. They work together as one cross-border team, sharing ideas and expertise, to deliver entirely ground-breaking projects for the wide array of clients. His expertise in technology and communications, particularly on the regulatory side, covers exciting new areas such as 5G and LEO satellites as well as the full range of existing services. Where law is just evolving or technologies are novel, he uses his creative problem-solving skills to plot a trajectory with his clients to achieve their desired outcomes. Clients enjoy working with him, and he has been recognised as a ’star’ by independent research company, Acritas, based on clients’ feedback. As co-head of the firm’s satellites and space activities team, he is pleased to work with several major satellite businesses and related projects, harnessing the transformative power of satellite technology and related communications to enhance people’s lives, all around the world. He is also the competition law partner in Australia and work closely with a broad range of clients in the region to help them achieve their commercial objectives in a way that doesn’t fall foul of competition or consumer laws. This includes advice on merger clearance, cartels and anti-competitive agreements as well as misleading or deceptive conduct. He does have another string to his bow. Initially, he trained as a professional classical violinist before qualifying as a lawyer. A few years ago, he realised that he needed music back in his life. As a result, he founded the Sydney Lawyers Orchestra. The orchestra, which he directs and conducts, brings together other classically trained musicians from across the Sydney legal profession. Classical music combines mind with soul, technique with expression, striking the perfect balance between intellectual and creative, which is so important to him both personally and professionally, including in his work as a lawyer.
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The ACCC has recently announced that it will bring civil proceedings against an Australian company and its director for alleged cartel conduct. According to ACCC’s press release, the conduct related to a 2019 tender for the replacement of a smart building management system at the National (...)
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On 23 February 2021, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) released its enforcement and compliance priorities for the year ahead. The Chairman of the ACCC, Rod Sims, also made his first public appearance today to discuss those priorities. As we have previously reported, (...)
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On 23 February 2021, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (“ACCC”) released its compliance and enforcement priorities for 2021. These priorities provide guidance to industries and businesses regarding those areas which will be a key focus for the ACCC’s enforcement activities in the (...)
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On 4 February 2021, the Federal Court of Australia imposed a fine of $24 million on Norwegian shipping company, Wallenius Wilhelmsen Ocean AS (WWO), for its involvement in a criminal cartel with a number of other shipping companies between 2009 and 2012. More specifically, the Federal Court (...)
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In a recent speech provided to the Law Council of Australia Business Law Section’s Competition and Consumer Workshop, the Chairman of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), Rod Sims, confirmed that the ACCC will be putting forward ideas for changes to Australia’s merger laws (...)
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The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) recently entered into a new memorandum of understanding with its counterpart competition agencies from five other countries in order to share intelligence and investigate techniques to better coordinate competition investigations across (...)
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Australia’s competition and consumer regulator, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), recently decided to take action against Google LLC (Google) in relation to allegations that it misled consumers about the collection and use of their personal information online, including, (...)
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On 18 June 2020, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) released its Statement of Issues in relation to Google LLC’s proposed acquisition of Fitbit, expressing its concerns that the acquisition may further entrench Google’s dominant position in the supply of data-dependent (...)
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In recent weeks, the Australia Competition and Consumer Commission ("ACCC") has acted swiftly and granted 17 interim authorisations to address immediate problems being faced by industry participants and to ensure public needs and benefits are retained during the COVID-19 pandemic. (...)
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Due to the rapidly changing global landscape, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission announced on 27 March 2020 a "re-focus" of its 2020 Compliance and Enforcement Priorities in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. While it has not explicitly revoked its existing priorities, which we (...)
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The ACCC has now commenced an inquiry into the digital advertising technology supply chain and advertising agency services in Australia, releasing an issues paper encouraging interested stakeholders (including advertisers and ad hosts) to provide their feedback on key issues affecting the (...)
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The ACCC has decided not to appeal the Federal Court of Australia’s highly anticipated judgment in the TPG/Vodafone merger in which it declared that the proposed merger between the two parties would not have the effect, or likely effect, of substantially lessening competition in the supply of (...)
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In December 2019, the Federal Court ordered the German car manufacturer, Volkswagen AG, to pay AUD$125 million in penalties for engaging in a breach of Australia’s consumer law (the Australian Consumer Law ("ACL")) by making false representations relating to its compliance with Australian diesel (...)
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The Australian Government has now published its eagerly awaited response to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s ("ACCC") Final report in its Digital Platforms Inquiry. The Digital Platforms Inquiry was undertaken by the ACCC in order to consider the impact of digital platforms (...)
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In October 2019, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (“ACCC") decided to take action against Google LLC and Google Australia Pty Ltd (collectively, "Google") in the Federal Court of Australia for allegedly engaging in misleading conduct and making false or misleading (...)
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In our August update , we discussed the proceedings that had been commenced by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) in the Federal Court of Australia against BlueScope Steel Limited (BlueScope) and its former General Manager of Sales and Marketing, Mr Jason Ellis, for (...)
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In August 2019, Australia’s competition regulator, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission ("ACCC") commenced proceedings in the Federal Court of Australia against BlueScope Steel Limited ("BlueScope") and its former General Manager of Sales and Marketing, Mr Jason Ellis, for alleged (...)
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On 2 August 2019, the Federal Court of Australia imposed its largest ever fine on Japanese shipping company, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd (K-Line), for engaging in price fixing as part of an illegal criminal cartel with a number of other shipping companies between 2009 and 2012. The fine of (...)
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Digital search engines, social media platforms and other digital content aggregation platforms have come under increasing global scrutiny in recent times. We are at a critical point in understanding the impact global digital search engines and platforms have on content aggregation, markets and (...)
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In mid-2019, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission ("ACCC") released its final report in the landmark Digital Platforms Inquiry ("Final Report"), in which it recommended, amongst other things, amendments to section 50(3) of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth), which forms (...)
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Digital search engines, social media platforms and other digital content aggregation platforms have come under increasing global scrutiny in recent times. We are at a critical point in understanding the impact global digital search engines and platforms have on content aggregation, markets and (...)
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In May 2019, Australia’s competition regulator, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), secured two significant victories in the Federal Court against airlines, one for misleading conduct against Jetstar Airways Pty Ltd (Jetstar) in relation to its refund practices, and one (...)
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In May 2019, Australia’s competition regulator, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), secured two significant victories in the Federal Court against airlines, one for misleading conduct against Jetstar Airways Pty Ltd (Jetstar) in relation to its refund practices, and one (...)
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In April 2019, Australia’s competition regulator, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission ("ACCC"), entered into a Memorandum of Cooperation ("MoC") with the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation ("FBI") in order to enhance its efforts in detecting, investigating and (...)
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On 29 March 2019, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (“ACCC”) published the draft Competition and Consumer (Consumer Data) Rules 2019 (the “Draft Rules”). The Draft Rules set out how the Consumer Data Right (the “CDR”) will be implemented, and how it will operate in practice. The CDR (...)
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In July 2018, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (“ACCC”) brought its first gun jumping cartel case against Cryosite Limited (“Cryosite”). Gun jumping occurs when parties to a merger or acquisition coordinate their activities prior to the completion of their transaction. This (...)
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On 20 December 2018, the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission ("ACCC") published guidelines on collective bargaining for small businesses, including agribusinesses ("Guidelines"). Whilst collective bargaining can generally lead to more efficient negotiations, better access to (...)
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