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

Mr. Lahnborg’s clients include companies across a range of industries, including technology, software, telecommunications, sports, consumer goods, manufacturing, energy, healthcare and defense. Some of his major representations include Microsoft, Telenor and Sonos, which he acts for in merger control and antitrust matters.

In addition, Mr. Lahnborg advises clients on the UK national security regime, having 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. He has also moderated panels on the National Security and Investment Act and represents clients active in the UK semiconductor industry on related issues.

The Legal 500 UK regularly recognizes Mr. Lahnborg as a leading antitrust lawyer, describing him as “highly experienced and always solution-oriented.” 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.
    • 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 Competition – The Legal 500 UK
    • Global Leader – Competition – Who’s Who Legal
    • 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)
    • 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