The Rise of Class Actions in the UK and EU

Davina Garrod is a partner in Akin Gump's London office and leads the firm’s international/UK/EU antitrust/competition practice. She represents clients in behavioral antitrust and regulatory cases, disputes, market studies and sector inquiries. She also represents multinationals and financial institutions in complex cross-border merger control & foreign investment/national security investigations. Davina is recognized by Legal 500 for her “encyclopedic understanding of competition and merger control laws” and her “in-depth understanding of the regulatory landscape in markets.” She advises multinationals, corporates, financial institutions and trade associations on mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, strategic alliances and restructurings.

Richard Hornshaw is a partner at Akin Gump and leads the London disputes team, and the firm’s international disputes group. He acts for a range of financial institutions on high-value, complex and cross-border disputes. He focuses his practice on finance and securities law matters, as well as insolvency and restructuring situations and has experience in conducting and resolving disputes—both in arbitration and litigation—in the UK and elsewhere around the world. Richard qualified as a Solicitor Advocate in 2002 and is also qualified as a solicitor in Hong Kong, where he previously practised.

Neal Marder is a partner in Akin Gump's Los Angeles office and heads the firm’s national consumer class actions practice. Neal is a highly accomplished trial lawyer and class action litigator, obtaining highly favorable outcomes for clients across myriad industries. He has achieved significant and precedent-setting victories in state and federal courts throughout the U.S. Neal is a recognized leader in complex and class action litigation—known for employing innovative strategies and compelling case presentation gained from nearly 35 years of practice. He has had tremendous success trying bet-the-company cases with winning results for both plaintiffs and defendants in court and arbitration.

Rosie Ioannou is a Director at Fortress Investment Group. In this role she provides bespoke funding solutions for high value commercial litigation and portfolio financing solutions for law firms and their clients. Rosie has experience both in private practice and as funder in a wide range of disputes both in the UK and internationally. She has particular expertise in funding large complex matters, including group claims and competition related disputes. An English-qualified solicitor, before joining Fortress, Rosie worked at Vannin Capital. Prior to that she worked in the litigation department at Allen & Overy in London.