Nicholas Frey: UK Mass Claims | Big Law Firm's 3D Chess | Competition Litigation | CAT Legal Success

Nicholas Frey is a Partner at Freshfields, where he specialises and leading a large team in competition litigation, collective actions and complex commercial disputes. He is also for many years a Honorary Associate Professor at the University of Exeter where he contributes to teaching and discussion on competition law and litigation. With extensive experience at the highest level of private enforcement, Nicholas brings a practitioner’s perspective to some of the most important developments shaping the UK legal landscape. 03:40 How many people do mass claims in Freshfields (lead by Nick Frey)? 05:05 How Nick Frey sees the evolution of mass claims regime in the UK 05:25 The dominant perception of “we don’t want to be too American and sue your friends” 07:27 How AI is being used in preparing a legal case 07:35 Lowering the costs of bringing cases 09:15 Is UK system of private enforcement developed already to the extent that (at least) the key players can predict the result of pending cases? 09:30 Which EU courts are more defendant friendly 10:30 Cross-jurisdictional strategies in private actions 11:40 Reasons for so many stand-alone cases 13:12 Choosing/finding/communicating with clients, dealing with potential conflicts of interest 16:00 Big law firms in this industry are often playing 3D chess. 18:20 Giving high and easily-politisisable stakes in this sector, do big law firms only offer purely juristic services, or it is more like a Legal + format? 20:00 Estoppel risk 21:42 DMCCA & private actions 24:05 Railway tickets litigation 25:30 Relationship between public and private enforcement 26:15 Public enforcement had left many harms unaddressed; private enforcement had opened the floodgate 27:15 It is a bit surprising to hear from public enforcers that they are outcome-neutral 29:30 Voluntary “commitments” & regulatory dialogue 34:20 Specific composition of the CAT 36:30 The role of subjective normative perspectives of different members of the CAT 37:30 Shortening procedures 39:10 Main features of premium lawyers 43:30 The ingredients of legal success 47:00 AI in a large law firm in 2026 51:00 Recommendations for students Previous episode (№ 173): Interview with Prof. John Newman: Neo-Brandeisian Movement Today | U.S. Antitrust: Major Developments | Big Digital Cases, available here    • John Newman: Neo-Brandeisian Movement Toda...   Next episode (№ 175): PhD Café No.6, series together with Prof. Magali Eben (University of Glasgow School of Law). Our guests are Eduardo Silva de Freitas and Sofia Caruso. Digital Markets Research Hub is an independent academic initiative aiming at scrutinising the functioning of competition/regulation in digital markets. We host one-to-one interviews with leading policymakers, regulators and practitioners. We also organise online mini-workshops inviting high-profile experts and academics in various fields of digital competition law & policy to discuss the most vibrant issues of the ongoing regulatory reforms in digital markets. While having our clear normative stand on the matters discussed within the hub, we value different views and invite relevant stakeholders and thinkers representing the whole spectrum of reasonable positions on how to regulate competition in digital markets. All our materials are available at YouTube channel, which you are very welcome to subscribe to. This interview is organised & conducted by Prof. Oles Andriychuk (School of Law, University of Exeter).