Douglas Lahnborg
Partner | London | Brussels
Douglas Lahnborg

Douglas Lahnborg is a partner in Dechert’s antitrust/competition group, focusing his practice on EU and UK competition matters. With more than 20 years of experience, Mr. Lahnborg regularly represents multinational clients in high-profile, complex matters involving merger control, abuse of dominance and cartel investigations before the European Commission and the Competition and Markets Authority. He has represented clients in private damages actions, including the first follow-on damages action to reach trial in the UK.

Mr. Lahnborg’s clients span a broad range of industries, including technology, software, mobile telephony, media and TV distribution, sports, consumer goods, manufacturing, energy and infrastructure, healthcare and defense. He has extensive experience representing clients in concentrated markets including in ‘four-to-three’ and ‘three-to-two’ mergers.

In addition, Mr. Lahnborg advises on the UK national security regime and represents clients before the UK Government in investigations under the National Security and Investment Act (NSIA), including developing and negotiating remedies. He has contributed to working groups created by the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy and Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee on the National Security & Investment Bill and has moderated panels on the NSIA.

The Legal 500 UK regularly recognises Mr. Lahnborg as a leading antitrust lawyer, describing him as “highly experienced and always solution-oriented.” Recognized in the FT Innovative Lawyers Report Europe, he is also highlighted in Who’s Who Legal as a “Global Leader” in competition law.

Contentious matters

  • A U.S. technology group in the Commission’s probe into the licensing terms of Alliance for Open Media’s AV1 video codec standard.
  • Sonos in the EU Commission’s sector inquiry into Consumer Internet of Things.
  • Sony Europe Limited in its damages action before the High Court against AU Optronics and other LCD manufacturers.
  • An Asian technology group in its defense before the EU Commission in the DRAM cartel investigation.
  • A UK technology group in its defense in a transatlantic cartel investigation involving the Office of Fair Trading and the U.S. Department of Justice.
  • Enron Coal Services in its private damages claim against English Welsh & Scottish Railway Ltd before the Competition Appeal Tribunal and the Court of Appeal. This is the first follow-on action to have reached trial in the UK.
  • GlaxoSmithKline in the EU Commission’s abuse of dominance investigation into GSK’s enforcement of intellectual property rights relating to paroxetine.
  • NVIDIA in the EU Commission’s abuse of dominance investigation into Rambus’ charging of royalty rates.
  • U.S. technology groups in the Competition and Market Authority’s market studies/investigation into Mobile Ecosystem/Mobile Browsers and Online Platforms and Digital Advertising.
  • A U.S. technology group in relation to the Office of Fair Trading’s investigation into Amazon’s price parity policy.

Merger control matters

  • Telenor on the merger of Canal Digital and Viasat combining the Nordic region's two satellite (DTH) pay-TV operators into a single player.
  • Telenor on the merger of the Malaysian mobile telephony operators Digi and Celcom, creating the largest mobile telephony operator in Malaysia. The transaction was the first transaction cleared, subject to undertakings, by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission.
  • Telenor on the acquisition of DNA, the third largest Mobile Network Operator in Finland, with activities in TV distribution and fixed broadband.
  • Telenor on the merger of its and TeliaSonera's mobile network operators in Denmark, the first "four to three" mobile telephony transaction under Commissioner Vestager.
  • Plessey Semiconductors, innovator in microLED display technology, on its acquisition by Haylo Labs.
  • Invisio on the merger control and national security aspects of its acquisition of Racal Acoustics, a designer and manufacturer of audio communications for high noise environments.
  • Graphcore, an AI processor company, on its Series E financing round.
  • Schlumberger, the world's leading provider of oil and gas technology for reservoir characterization, drilling, production and processing, in its joint venture with Rockwell Automation creating the first fully integrated digital oilfield automation solutions provider, Sensia.
  • AVG Technologies, a developer of security software applications, in its acquisition by Avast.
  • Areva Transmission & Distribution in connection with its break-up acquisition by Schneider Electric and Alstom.
  • VTech in the investigation into its completed acquisition of LeapFrog.
  • Crane Co., a diversified manufacturer of highly engineered industrial products, in its acquisition of MEI Conlux Holdings, provider of unattended payment systems.
  • U-Shin on its acquisition of Valeo’s Vehicle Access Mechanism Business.
  • BAE Systems on the restructuring of Airbus; the creation of a rocket propellant joint venture; and its acquisition of United Defense.
  • Temasek on its public bid for P&O Ports.
  • Glaxo Wellcome on its merger with SmithKline Beecham.
  • Venture Production on the hostile takeover bid launched by Centrica.
  • H.J. Heinz on its completed acquisition of HP Foods.

Includes matters handled at Dechert or prior to joining the firm

  • London – Corporate and Commercial – EU and CompetitionThe Legal 500 UK
  • Global Leader – CompetitionWho’s Who Legal
  • Evolving Approaches to Antitrust Remedies – Moderator, Concurrences and Dechert Global Merger Control Conference, Paris (December 5, 2025)
  • Political and Policy Pressures Shaping Merger Control – Speaker, ThoughtLeaders4Competition Global Merger Forum 2025, Brussels (May 15, 2025)
  • Digital Mergers – Moderator, Concurrences and Dechert Global Merger Control Conference, Paris (December 6, 2024)
  • EU merger enforcement and remedy policy – Speaker, The Law Society 4th Annual International Antitrust Summer Conference 2024, London (June 26, 2024)
  • UK’s Approach to Digital Markets – Speaker, Informa Connect Advanced EU Competition Law, Brussels (November 20, 2023)
  • The European Commission’s Article 22 Policy: A New EU Approach to Non-Notifiable Deals – Moderator, MLex webinar (April 8, 2021)
  • The UK’s New National Security and Investment Regime: Cutting Through the Noise – Moderator, Lexology webinar (April 8, 2021)
  • 5 Questions With Dechert Antitrust Partner Douglas Lahnborg  Law360, London (November 4, 2024)
Services Industries
    • Stockholm University, LL.M., 1996
    • London School of Economics and Political Science, LL.M., 1997
    • England and Wales
    • Brussels
    • Sweden
    • English
    • Danish
    • French
    • Norwegian
    • Swedish
    • Antitrust Section of the American Bar Association
    • European Competition Lawyers' Forum
    • Law Society's Competition Section
    • Law Society of England and Wales
    • The Brussels Bar
    • The Swedish Bar Association