John Ratliff retired as a partner from WilmerHale on December 31, 2022. He is still working with the firm.

He has more than 35 years of experience dealing with all aspects of EU competition law. He has handled matters involving Phase 1 and 2 EU merger control, cartel and other infringement defenses, abuse of dominance claims, State aid proceedings and competition complaints before the European Commission, national courts and the European Courts. He also advises on EU energy market manipulation rules (REMIT).

Most recently, he has been advising on sustainability issues,  questions related to EU-UK trade since Brexit, and EU energy issues related to the Ukraine war.

Mr. Ratliff has worked for clients in numerous sectors, including energy, maritime pipelay, metal (steel and copper), heavy machinery, sport, telecoms, pharma and life sciences, aircraft manufacture, aviation, motor vehicles and retail/consumer goods.

Mr. Ratliff is active in:

  • EU (and worldwide) merger control (including Phase 1 and Phase 2 cases, with remedies; acting for the interested parties or third parties)
  • EU cartel defence cases (both where contested and for companies seeking leniency)
  • Abuse of dominance cases (assisting dominant companies to review their compliance with Article 102 TFEU; and to implement related changes to their commercial practices to resolve issues (sometimes in parallel with US colleagues))
  • Competition complaints and other representations to the European Commission seeking intervention against unlawful behaviour on behalf of injured parties
  • Extensive counselling on a wide range of competition issue (including joint ventures, distribution systems, sustainability cooperation, and merger remedies)
  • Representing companies in classic infringement proceedings (such as alleged prohibitions on parallel imports in the car sector); and alleged unlawful co-operation between competitors (e.g. in the insurance sector)
  • European Court litigation on appeals in cartel and other cases.

Mr. Ratliff also practises EU regulatory and EU trade law and has represented companies before the European Commission, national courts and the European Court on issues such as: free movement of goods, EU GATT quotas, food regulation, energy liberalisation, environmental issues, discriminatory taxation, 4G spectrum allocation.

Leading Cases

Some of the ground-breaking cases in which Mr. Ratliff has been involved are:

  • The Boeing/McDonnell Douglas Phase 2 merger case
  • The BT/MCI (Concert) joint venture
  • The EUDIM information exchange case
  • The London European/SABENA computer reservations case
  • Proceedings to reinstate The English Football League in the UEFA Cup
  • Actions based on (what is now) Article 106 of the TFEU to obtain compensation for Sydkraft, when the Swedish Government ruled that one of Sydkraft’s nuclear reactors at Barsebäck in Sweden should be closed
  • The Unilever Bestfoods merger clearance (in Phase 1, with some 80 affected markets and remedies)
  • Assisting Emerald Meats before the European Commission and the European Courts in relation to claims for damages for incorrect allocation of EU GATT meat quota import licences (damages awarded in Ireland).

Mr. Ratliff has a very wide European experience. He studied at University College, Oxford and qualified as a Barrister in the United Kingdom in 1980. He was a trainee in the European Commission's Legal Service (as a Middle Temple Bristow Scholar) and then studied first in Germany (as a participant in the Young Lawyers Programme to Germany) and then in the Netherlands (at the Europa Instituut in Amsterdam). 

Mr. Ratliff then practised EC Competition and commercial law in Paris and as a general litigator in London, before moving to Brussels in 1986. He was an associate member of the Brussels Bar until 2017. He has been a full member of the Brussels Bar since then. 

Professional Activities

Since 1992, Mr. Ratliff has presented an annual review of "Major Events and Policy Issues in EU Competition Law" at one of the leading competition law conferences in Europe (then published each year in the International Company and Commercial Law Review). 

He is also on the Editorial Boards of the Competition Law and Policy Debate, and The European Energy & Climate Journal.

He has spoken at legal and business conferences and published on a wide range of issues including, recently:

  • “Market Manipulation under REMIT – Key Concepts and Developing Enforcement Practice” (co-author; in The European Energy & Climate Journal)
  • “International Merger Remedies” (an annual co-authored Chapter in The Merger Control Review)
  • “German Guidelines on the Monitoring of Market Abuse in the Wholesale Electricity Market - Price spikes and Their Permissibility” (co-author, in the Competition Law and Policy Debate)
  • “Transparency under REMIT and Competition law” (in the Competition Law and Policy Debate)
  • "EU Competition law in the European Courts" (each year at a leading competition law conference in Helsinki)
  • “Unilateral Conduct in the Energy Sector” (a competition law review for eConcurrence each year; also published in its EU Competition Case Law Digest).

Experience

    • Representing Danaher (with WilmerHale colleagues in the US and Europe) in its $20 billion acquisition of GE Healthcare Life Sciences’ biopharma business (a complex EU Phase I clearance with remedies) 
    • Representing third parties in relation to the EU Wieland/Aurubis and Praxair/Linde merger procedures.
    • Representing Baker Hughes in connection with its $32 billion combination with GE Oil & Gas (EU Phase 1 clearance) 
    • Representing Baker Hughes in relation to Halliburton's proposed acquisition of the company (a complex EU Phase 2 case which was ultimately terminated by the parties)
    • Representing a company involved in the EC's Oil and Biofuels investigation in relation to trading on Platts
    • Numerous worldwide merger filings involving acquisitions and joint ventures in jurisdictions ranging from Brazil to New Zealand and, across Europe, from Spain to Turkey, with local counsel (and, on occasion, related Form RS centralised review in Brussels)
    • StatoilHydro's acquisition of the "JET” branded motor fuel stations in Denmark, Norway and Sweden from ConocoPhillips (EU Phase 2 clearance involving extensive econometrics, settled with remedies)
    • Statoil's $30 billion merger with the petroleum business of Norsk Hydro
    • Representing a company involved in the Industrial Tubes and Copper Plumbing Tubes cartel cases before the European Commission, where the company obtained 70% reductions in fines, with related appeals to the General Court of the European Union (co-counsel)
    • Assisting an energy company in relation to claims of market manipulation in its trading activities
    • Assisting a telecoms company on discriminatory national taxation and the structure of a 4G spectrum auction
    • Assistance to dominant companies in various sectors on compliance issues
    • Assistance to arbitration counsel on competition issues
    • Advice on electricity interconnector ownership issues
    • Representing a company involved in the Industrial Bags case before the Court of Justice of the European Union (co-counsel) 

Recognition

  • Recognized as a leader in EU antitrust and competition in Belgium in the 2007–2009, 2011–2012 and 2015–2022 editions of Chambers Europe, and in the 2006–2022 editions of Chambers Global: The World's Leading Lawyers
  • Featured as a thought leader in his field in the 2018 and 2019 editions of Who’s Who Legal: Thought Leaders – Competition
  • Listed in the 2014 edition of Expert Guides as a leading attorney in Brussels in the area of Competition/Antitrust Law
  • Listed as a "leading lawyer" in the area of EU Competition law in the 2009/2010 edition of the PLC Cross-border Competition Handbook
  • Recognized in the 2009–2014 editions of Best Lawyers in Belgium in the area of Competition/Antitrust Law
  • Recognized as a leader in his field in the 2009–2015 editions of Global Competition Review's Who's Who Legal, The International Who's Who of Competition Lawyers and Economists and the 2011 edition of Who's Who Legal: The International Who's Who of Business Lawyer
  • Recognized by his peers as one of the world's leading antitrust and competition attorneys in Legal Media Group's The Best of the Best

Insights & News

Credentials

  • Education

    • DIEI, University of Amsterdam, 1983

    • BA, University of Oxford, University College, 1979

  • Admissions

    • England and Wales, Barrister

    • Brussels (Avocat)

  • Languages

    • French

    • English

    • German (basic)

Credentials