Gillian has significant experience in advocacy and advice in competition and trade practices law.
Gillian has appeared as counsel in some leading competition law cases, including:
- acting for the Commerce Commission in successful proceedings under s 36 of the Commerce Act 1986 against Telecom for taking advantage of its market power in its wholesale pricing of “data tails” (access to Telecom’s high speed data network). Following a six week High Court trial and subsequent penalty hearing, a record penalty of $12m was awarded. Gillian also appeared for the Commission in successfully defending the subsequent appeals by Telecom to the Court of Appeal on both liability and penalty.
- acting for the Commerce Commission in appeals to the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court in proceedings under s 36 of the Commerce Act against Telecom for allegedly taking advantage of its market power in implementing its “0867” scheme. The Supreme Court reaffirmed the “counterfactual test” as the mandatory test of use of market power under s 36.
In these cases Gillian worked with leading US economists, and she has a keen interest in law and economics.
As well, Gillian acted for the Commission in its first application for a cease and desist order under s 74A of the Commerce Act, against a port owner. The case settled favourably.
Gillian also advises commercial clients on various Commerce Act, Fair Trading Act and other regulatory issues. She has also given advice on ‘niche’ competition regimes, for example:
- Part 9 of the Civil Aviation Act 1990 relating to strategic alliances between international airlines, and
- the non-statutory, consensual regime governing postal network access, including the application of the Efficient Component Pricing Rule (ECPR) under the relevant “Pricing Principles”.
This overlaps with some of Gillian’s other practice areas, such as public law. For example, a decision by a regulator may involve issues of fair procedure, as well as competition law issues.