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).