04 Feb 2026
Van Bael & Bellis hires Becket McGrath to lead UK competition practice
"Van Bael & Bellis hires Becket McGrath as partner in London to lead its UK competition practice, working on merger control, e‑commerce distribution, investigations and consumer protection."
Becket is a highly experienced competition practitioner who earlier in his career served as a branch director for competition enforcement at the Office of Fair Trading, the predecessor body of the UK Competition and Markets Authority. He advises clients across the full spectrum of EU and UK competition law, including merger control, complex selective distribution and other distribution-related issues in the e-commerce context, behavioural investigations, and national security/foreign direct investment and consumer protection matters. He regularly represents clients on merger control and consumer protection matters before the CMA and is currently acting for a party in the last High Court proceedings under the old consumer protection regime and for another party in one of the first investigations under the new regime.
Becket has worked in both London and Brussels and is dual-qualified as a solicitor of England & Wales and as a member of the Brussels Bar (A list). He joins VBB as a partner in London and was previously a partner in a well-known competition law boutique firm.