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Claudia Berg

Claudia Berg is a partner in the London office. Prior to joining the firm, Claudia served as General Counsel of the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), and as Senior Legal Director for Antitrust Enforcement at the UK Competition & Markets Authority (CMA). 

Claudia advises on all aspects of antitrust law, digital regulation and related litigation. Drawing on her considerable experience at the CMA and the ICO, her practice covers the full range of behavioural issues, merger control, government investigations and litigation, and the intersection of antitrust and privacy law. Claudia has strong experience in the technology and life sciences sectors.

As General Counsel of the ICO from 2021-2024, Claudia headed up the ICO Legal Service, oversaw the ICO’s litigation portfolio, and advised the Information Commissioner and the Board. During her time, she oversaw high-profile investigations into issues ranging from children’s privacy to AI. At the CMA, from its inception in 2014, she led a large team of antitrust attorneys working on the largest and most complex antitrust matters at the CMA, including successfully defending its decisions in the Courts. During Claudia’s tenure, the CMA’s strategic focus was on antitrust issues in the life sciences and tech sectors such as excessive pricing, pay for delay, information exchange, market sharing, multi-party concerted practices, parental liability, and most favoured nation clauses. Claudia worked closely with antitrust authorities in Europe, the US and throughout the world to co-ordinate investigations. She also regularly represented the CMA and the ICO at key international organisations, such as the International Competition Network and the Global Privacy Assembly.

Claudia advises on the critical intersection between antitrust and privacy, counselling clients on digital regulation in Europe (including the EU Digital Markets Act (DMA) and the UK’s Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act (DMCC)), data protection, and AI.

Prior to the CMA, Claudia worked at a leading global law firm advising clients on all aspects of EU and UK merger control and conduct issues.

Contact:Read more about Claudia BergEmail

In this blog post we set out key practical steps for technology-focused deal-making, having regard to the regulatory, antitrust and foreign investment screening issues identified in our earlier blogs here and here.

Key impacts of technology regulation on deal outcomes

The evolving regulatory landscape is having a significant impact on deal outcomes, including (i) longer timelines due to complex regulatory approval requirements; (ii) higher diligence burden, especially around data, AI and ownership transparency; (iii) greater risk allocation pressure in deal terms; and (iv) increased use of creative structures to mitigate regulatory exposure. Continue Reading Technology Industry Trends and M&A Outlook in the EU and UK, Part 3: Recommendations for Tech M&A and Strategic Transactions

Until the last year, merger control in the UK has been fairly hostile towards tech deals, with a highly interventionist competition authority taking an uncompromising line on global deals; even where those deals had only a limited nexus to the UK. The EU has generally taken a more pragmatic approach, clearing Google’s acquisition of Fitbit in 2020, and Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision in May 2023, following the acceptance of remedies by the tech firms. However, it, too, has taken some more hardline positions, such as prohibiting the Booking.com/etraveli merger based on a novel theory of harm related to the Booking.com travel ecosystem. 

This has all taken place against the backdrop of an explosion of tech regulation (see our prior blog post here). The wave of new rules also introduced new merger filing requirements for those tech firms who have been designated as gatekeepers in the EU (under the Digital Markets Act (DMA) (2022)), or firms with strategic market status in the UK (under the Digital Markets Competition and Consumers Act (DMCCA) (2024)). Just this month the CMA designated Google with strategic market status (SMS) in general search and search advertising services. This comes, almost to the day, two years after the EU’s designation of Google’s parent company and five others as gatekeepers. More tech regulation is on the horizon, for example the remaining parts of the AI Act, on general-purpose AI, are due to enter into force in the EU in August 2026.Continue Reading Technology Industry Trends and M&A Outlook in the EU and UK, Part 2: Antitrust/FDI Environment for Tech

Technology-focused deals are driving many of the largest global M&A and strategic transactions—whether digital infrastructure, artificial intelligence (AI), digital services or gaming. The successful execution of these transactions and ultimate success of the business opportunities promised by them, depends on understanding how emerging technology, regulation and market norms are evolving. In this three-part blog series, from an EU and a UK perspective, we will cover: (1) the new regulatory landscape for tech, (2) the evolving antitrust and foreign investment screening environment and (3) recommendations for planning, structuring and executing technology-focused M&A and other strategic transactions.Continue Reading Technology Industry Trends and M&A Outlook in the EU and UK, Part 1: The New Regulatory Landscape for Tech

On 16 January 2025, the European Data Protection Board (“EDPB”) published a position paper, as it had announced last year, on the “interplay between data protection and competition law” (“Position Paper”).

In this blogpost, we outline the EDPB’s position on cooperation between EU data protection authorities (“DPAs”) and competition authorities (“CAs”) in the context of certain key issues at the intersection of data protection and competition law.

Key takeaways

  1. In the interest of coherent regulatory outcomes, the EDPB advocates for increased cooperation between DPAs and CAs.
  2. The Position Paper offers practical suggestions to that end, such as fostering closer personal relationships, mutual understanding, and a shared sense of purpose, as well as more structured mechanisms for regulatory cooperation.
  3. The EDPB is mindful of the Digital Markets Act’s (“DMA”) significance in addressing data protection and competition law risks.

Continue Reading EDPB highlights the importance of cooperation between data protection and competition authorities