James Webber is a partner in the Antitrust practice in Brussels and London.  

He focuses on EU and UK merger control, antitrust, State aid and subsidy control law.

James’s competition practice is focused on merger control, joint ventures, cooperative agreements and antitrust litigation. He also has a significant practice in subsidy control / State aid and is consistently rated as one of Europe's leading lawyers in this field.

James is listed as one of The Lawyer's "Hot 100" 2022, the top 100 lawyers in any field selected for excellence within and relevance to the legal profession in the UK.

• ViacomCBS in respect of its European SkyShowtime OTT streaming joint venture with Comcast
• Simon & Schuster in respect of global merger clearances for its merger with Penguin Random House
• Citrix in respect of merger clearance for its acquisition of Wrike
• Channel 5 in respect of merger clearances for its participation in Digital UK.
• Macquarie in respect of the antitrust and regulatory aspects of its divestment of Società Gasdotti Italia
• A financial institution in respect of FX cartel litigation in the English High Court
• Discovery Inc in respect of the proposed joint venture with Polsat for creation of a OTT streaming service in Poland
• Viacom in respect of merger clearances for merger with CBS
• Albemarle Corporation in respect of merger clearance for its MARBL Lithium joint venture in Western Australia
• Viacom in respect of merger clearance for its investment and joint control over Miramax
• ArcelorMittal in respect of merger clearance for its acquisition with Nippon Steel of Essar Steel of India
• Jaguar Land Rover in respect of European Commission approval for €129m regional aid in favour of JLR’s new production facility in Slovakia
• Albemarle Corporation in respect of US FTC, Bundeskartellamt and Korean approval for the sale of its polyolefin catalyst business to W R Grace & Co
• LyondellBasell in respect of the global and EUMR clearances for its €2.5bn acquisition of A.Schulman Inc.
• Albemarle Corporation in respect of global and EUMR phase 1 clearance for $3.6bn sale of Chemetall to BASF SE; in respect of global and EUMR Phase I approval for its acquisition of Rockwood
• Cyprus Cooperative Bank in respect of liquidation aid approval from the European Commission and merger control aspects of sale of certain assets to Hellenic Bank
• Sompo in respect of EUMR clearance for acquisition of Endurance plc
• First Eagle in respect of EUMR clearance for divestment of Emin Leydier SA to SAICA
• Shell, OMV, Wintershall, Uniper and Engie on the antitrust aspects of the Nord Stream 2 gas transmission pipeline
• Subordinated creditors of Banco Espirito Santo in the leading case against the European Commission’s State aid clearance of a bank resolution
• Senior creditors of National Bank of Greece in respect of the State aid aspects of the restructuring of the bank
• Dow Inc. in respect of antitrust matters arising from joint ventures
• Viacom in respect of EUMR phase I clearance for its acquisition of Channel 5
• BMI Healthcare with respect to the UK CMA Private Healthcare Market Investigation resulting in the first ever blocking minority in a CMA market investigation and thereby reducing proposed divestments against BMI from 11 at provisional findings to zero; : representing BMI Healthcare in its case against the CMA, the first successful judicial review quashing the CMA’s procedural approach during a live inquiry; on CMA clearance for acquisition of Nuffield Hospitals, including novel CMA “fix it first” remedy; in respect of the CMA market study and Competition Commission market investigation into private healthcare; BMI Healthcare in respect of the CMA market study and Competition Commission market investigation into private healthcare
• Singapore Airlines with respect to the sale of its stake in Virgin Atlantic to Delta Airlines
• Paramount Pictures in respect of its EU distribution arrangements for cross border Pay TV and DVD sales; relating to Ofcom UK Competition Commission investigation into movies on pay TV
• Syniverse in respect of global and EUMR phase II approval of its acquisition of MACH. This was a conditional clearance with an upfront buyer requirement
• Dassault Systèmes on EUMR phase I clearance for its acquisition of IBM DS Software
• Aditya Birla in respect of EUMR phase I clearance following Art 22 referral for its acquisition of Columbian Chemical Corp
• Lecta Group in respect of EUMR phase I clearance for its acquisition of Italian paper merchant Polyedra
• Government of Croatia on State aid and public procurement compliance associated with privatization of Croatian motorway network
• UK Government in connection with State aid schemes notified or negotiated with the Commission in risk capital, real estate and transport
• Numerous investment banks, hedge funds and distressed debt investors in connection with State aid approvals for Eurozone bank restructuring
• Major infrastructure investor with respect to the State aid and procurement aspects of privatization of High Speed 1 by the UK Government
• Lucasfilm Ltd with respect to UK Government support for production of Star Wars

• Listed in Who's Who Legal as a leading State aid lawyer
• Listed in Who’s Who Legal “Future Leader” in competition law
• Ranked by both Legal 500 and Chambers guides in the UK and Europe
• Selected by Global Competition Review as one of the “40 under 40” brightest antitrust lawyers in the world