Luke Streatfeild

Experience

Antitrust/Competition

Luke is part of the competition team at Hausfeld working on:

• An opt-out collective action filed with the CAT on behalf of an estimated 19.5 million eligible UK users of smartphones and tablets running on Google’s Android operating system relating to excessive and unlawful charges on purchase in the Google Play App Store. The claim alleges that Google unfairly restricts consumers from accessing potential competition from other app distributors, by requiring smartphone manufacturers to pre-install a bundle of Google’s proprietary apps and services including the Google Play Store as well as imposing other contractual and technical restrictions
• A representative collective action filed with the CAT on behalf of some 19.6 million eligible UK iPhone and iPad users relating to excessive and unlawful charges by the Apple App Store. The claim alleges that Apple’s conduct violates section 18 of the UK Competition Act 1998 and Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
• Representing proposed class representative, technology journalist Charles Arthur, in a collective action filed in the CAT seeking up to £3.4bn on behalf of over 200,000 UK publishers of websites and apps against tech giant Google who allegedly has unlawfully restricted competition by favouring its own ad tech services and charging inflated prices in the online display advertising market to publishers since at least 2014.
• Trains - The very first collective claim filed by Hausfeld back in February 2019, with co-counsel Charles Lyndon. It was also the first collective claim brought before the CAT on a standalone basis. Crucially for the regime more generally, in July 2022 the Court of Appeal held in Trains that liability can be determined on an aggregate basis in collective proceedings, which was a very important ruling for collective proceedings in the UK. We helped progress the case over 5 years during which the claim benefited from our competition litigation expertise.
• SSE plc & ors v Prysmian Cables & Systems Ltd and Others, representing companies with claims arising out of a global cartel in the high voltage cables manufacturing sector.

Formerly an Associate in Cleary Gottlieb’s London office, he:

• Represented clients contesting and supporting decisions by competition authorities, including representing Ryanair in challenging decisions of the Competition Commission prohibiting the purchase of Aer Lingus.
• Acted for Metlac in the Competition Appeal Tribunal and Court of Appeal supporting the CMA’s decision to block a hostile takeover by AkzoNobel.  

Technology & Data Breach

Luke helped lead the Hausfeld team which:

• Filed a CPR 19.6 representative action brought on behalf of Duncan McCann, on behalf of up to 5 million British children aged under 13 and their parents in the High Court – alleging that YouTube’s methods of targeting underage audiences and harvesting their data constitute major violations of the UK Data Protection Act and the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), both of which were designed to protect citizens’ privacy rights.

Commercial & Financial Disputes

Prior to joining Hausfeld, Luke gained experience:

• Managing a cross border team in LMAA arbitral proceedings advancing claims relating to the construction and delivery of a €500m superyacht.
• Acting for a high street bank in defending High Court proceedings regarding the sale of a distressed debt portfolio, including ancillary insolvency proceedings in the Chancery Division of the High Court.
• Advising an AIM listed mining company in defending mass tort claims relating to operations in Sierra Leone.
• Representing a Caribbean government in a $60m Bermuda arbitration claim.
• Duncan McCann v Google: a multi-billion pounds claim brought on behalf of up to 5 million British children aged under 13 and their parents. The claim alleges that YouTube’s methods of targeting underage audiences constitute major violations of the UK Data Protection Act and the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), both of which were designed to protect citizens’ privacy rights.