Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer hires competition litigation partner Helen Fairhead in London

Leading global law firm Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer has hired Helen Fairhead as a partner in its Competition, Regulation and Trade (CRT) practice in London. 

Helen is a competition litigation specialist whose practice covers all types of contentious competition matters, with a particular focus on damages claims. 

She has acted on some of the most complex and high-profile pieces of competition litigation of recent years in the telecoms, technology, transport and financial services sectors. She has significant experience of acting for claimants and defendants in High Court and Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) litigation (operating as a member of the CAT's user group), and has in-depth knowledge of the litigation funding market in the UK. Two recent highlights in Helen’s work are defending the Qualcomm collective proceedings which settled post-trial and successfully defending Orange in the claim brought by Phones4U.

Helen's arrival adds further depth at partner level to the firm's market-leading competition litigation team in London against the backdrop of the continued growth of competition class actions and an increasingly complex regulatory landscape.

Veronica Roberts, Head of Competition, Regulation and Trade, UK, at HSF Kramer, said: “We're very excited for Helen to join the team. Helen is a first-rate lawyer whose practice aligns closely with the priority areas of our practice, including tech, consumer, transport and financial services, enabling us to continue to meet increasing client demand for contentious competition support."

Helen Fairhead commented: "HSF Kramer's competition litigation team in London has a genuinely unrivalled reputation in the market. It is the ideal platform for me to further develop my practice alongside leading competition litigators, while supporting clients facing the increasingly significant risks of class actions."  

Helen is the latest arrival for the firm's global CRT practice over the past year, following the hires of US partners David Pearl and John Elias in March 2026 and October 2025 respectively, and Paris partner Laurence Bary in September 2025.