Frances Murphy
Frances Murphy is a noted leading practitioner in competition law and antitrust matters. Chambers describes Frances as a "highly responsive, results driven, practical lawyer” who is a “consummate team player.” Frances is singled out by clients in relation to complex, high-value, bet-the-company matters.
Frances represents a broad range of clients in complex, high-value global cartel investigations, alleged abuse of dominance matters, and civil proceedings for damages for breach of competition law/antitrust laws. She has experience in defending investigations by the competition authorities, in particular the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the Financial Conduct Authority, and the European Commission, and in leading litigation proceedings in the Competition Appeals Tribunal, the UK High Court, Court of Appeal, and UK Supreme Court.
Frances works across a broad range of industries, including aviation, construction, communications, ecommerce, financial services, grocery, life sciences, pharmaceuticals, retail, shipping, and steel.
Frances has acted in a number of the leading cases which have shaped “follow-on” litigation in England. In 2003, she began to act for BASF in the vitamins litigation, a case which gave rise to what remains the leading judgment on jurisdiction in cases involving defendants from multiple jurisdictions (Provimi and Trouw) and the leading judgment on the remedies available to claimants in follow-on claims (Devenish). Frances has also acted in the leading case challenging the use by the CMA of interim injunctions in competition investigations (London Metal Exchange v. CMA) and in the leading case challenging the use by the CMA of search warrants in ongoing investigations (Concordia v. CMA) in all of which the client prevailed. This last case was awarded Behavioural Matter of the Year—Europe by Global Competition Review (2018).
Frances leads significant competition litigation matters in the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) and the UK High Court, Court of Appeal, and UK Supreme Court, including representing Sainsbury’s in the leading case against Visa in the interchange fee litigation in the English courts (with successful appeals to the Court of Appeal and UK Supreme Court), and for a number of pharmaceutical companies in appeals of infringement decisions, including more recently the appeals against the CMA’s decisions in each of Hydrocortisone, Liothyronine, and Prochlorperazine.
Prior to joining Morgan Lewis, Frances led the antitrust and trade regulation practice of another international law firm.
Frances sits on the firm’s Advisory Board and on the firm’s international leadership team.
