Europe

In the EEA, Euclid Law, an award-winning London and Brussels-based competition law firm, will work with you to build comprehensive online sales control programs designed to help protect and grow your brand in today’s market.

The collective experience of Vorys eControl and Euclid Law positions us to offer cutting-edge and cost-effective solutions to your specific eCommerce-related challenges.[1]

We will work with you to establish or refine the distribution strategies necessary to alleviate eCommerce disruption and maximize growth across all channels. Once a clear strategy is in place, our team will help you develop the necessary legal and commercial foundation to execute your strategy in a manner that is both legally compliant and supported by key internal stakeholders and customers. Then, we will design and execute customized enforcement strategies that help you efficiently and effectively remove unauthorized sellers and regain control of online marketplace sales.

We have extensive experience in selective distribution, which is often the distribution strategy of choice for brands looking to protect themselves from the harms caused by uncontrolled and inappropriate sales across different channels in today’s eCommerce age.

European courts and regulators have made clear that brands may sell their products through a selective distribution system. In a selective distribution system, brands only sell to authorized sellers who satisfy certain stated criteria of a qualitative and/or quantitative nature. These authorized sellers may then sell only to other authorized sellers within the selective distribution system (that also meet the criteria) or to end users. Authorized sellers within the selective distribution system may not sell to unauthorized sellers outside the system. Once implemented, selective distribution allows brands to cut off supply to sellers who divert products outside of the system in breach of their agreement with the brand and, critically, to enforce against unauthorized sellers.

When designing selective distribution systems and related reseller criteria, brands must be conscious of the entirely new “ecosystem” created by online marketplaces, and understand how they underpin the dramatic rise of eCommerce. This new ecosystem requires a new way of thinking about the characteristics of high-quality resellers in the ever-evolving eCommerce channel, particularly with respect to online marketplaces. More specifically, brands must now give careful thought to the qualities sought across three distinct categories of channels: brick-and-mortar, online, and online marketplace, as each category comes with its own distinct business realities. By designing marketplace-appropriate criteria and implementing a lawful selective distribution system, brands can achieve significant control over how their products are sold and how their brand is represented.

Euclid Law is a boutique competition law firm with offices in London and Brussels, and a member of eControl Global™.  The Euclid Law team are thought leaders on the intersection of eCommerce and competition law, having advised numerous manufacturers and brands on these issues across the EEA.  Euclid Law has significant experi­ence advising brands on how to create and execute effective distribution systems that work on today’s market, with a specific focus on selective distribution, and understand the commercial intricacies and challenges involved.  To learn more about Euclid Law, click here.

Becket McGrath and Sarah Long, partners at Euclid Law, are lead attorneys for Euclid's eControl clients in the EEA.  Becket and Sarah are highly regarded competition lawyers, counted among the region’s leading practitioners in the vertical restraints and selective distribution fields.  Becket and Sarah advise eControl clients on all aspects of European competition law, with an emphasis on designing and implementing cutting-edge selective distribution models capable of affording brands the control required in today’s market. 

Becket advises clients on all aspects of EU and UK competition law, with a particular expertise in technology markets and eCommerce.  Becket is regarded as one of the leading experts in Europe on issues raised by online distribution, specifically in the context of selective distribution.  Becket has advised a number of major online retailers, marketplaces and brands on a wide range of strategic competition issues, including the European Commission’s current review of the Vertical Agreements Block Exemption Regulation and Guidelines. 

Before joining Euclid in June 2020, Becket was a partner at U.S. firm Cooley.  He was one of the founding partners of that firm’s London office in 2015 and established its Brussels office in 2019.  Becket has experience of enforcing UK and EU competition law at a senior level in the UK's Office of Fair Trading (now the Competition and Markets Authority) and retains good links with enforcement agencies and regulators in the UK and across the EU. Becket is a frequent commentator on legal developments and is a UK non-governmental advisor to the International Competition Network.

Becket is listed in the latest Who's Who Legal/Global Competition Review directory of leading competition lawyers. 

To learn more about Becket, click here. 

Sarah advises on all aspects of EU and UK competition law, and has significant experience working with both the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and European Commission on a number of high-profile cases. Sarah’s experience spans a variety of sectors including retail and consumer goods and she has particular expertise in online markets and the digital economy.  Sarah has advised a number of brands and large online retailers on a variety of competition law issues relating to their online and marketplace distribution, with a specific focus on selective distribution.

Before joining Euclid Law in 2015, Sarah worked for Allen & Overy (London), Jones Day (Brussels) and for the OECD Competition Committee (Paris), where she was responsible for the preparation of roundtable meetings attended by heads of competition law enforcement agencies from around the world.  Sarah was recently listed in GCR’s 40 under 40 for 2020, and is recognised as a ‘Next Generation Partner’ by Legal 500, a ‘Future Leader’ by Who’s Who Legal and as one of 30 most notable competition professionals in private practice (Women@competition/Parr).

Sarah is co-editor of the Competition Law Journal and a CEDR qualified Mediator.

To learn more about Sarah, click here.