FTI Consulting, Inc. announces experienced antitrust lawyer and journalist Anne MacGregor has joined its Strategic Communications segment in Brussels as a Managing Director, enhancing its public affairs and communications offering at a time when antitrust, competition and state aid issues are at the top of the European Union’s agenda.
Ms MacGregor has over 25 years of experience in the Brussels EU legal and regulatory arena, having worked on many complex deals and investigations during her career. She combines extensive legal and public affairs expertise with strong journalistic insights, having also worked at MLex and The Capitol Forum, investigating, analysing and reporting on some of the largest global transactions in recent years.
Ms MacGregor joins from The Capitol Forum, a Washington, D.C.-based investigative business news service, where she launched and led its Brussels bureau. She focused on in-depth reporting on European merger control risk in complex M&A transactions.
Ms MacGregor’s career in Brussels started in 1993. Along with her media experience, she spent over 20 years in private practice as an EU competition, trade and regulatory lawyer at international law firms, most recently serving as a National Partner at Dechert LLP.
At FTI Consulting, Ms MacGregor will advise clients across sectors on antitrust, M&A, state aid and trade issues. She will provide integrated advice on policy, politics, and communications handling surrounding these matters.
Julia Harrison, a Senior Managing Director and Managing Partner of Brussels in the Strategic Communications segment at FTI Consulting, said, “It’s wonderful that Anne is joining our FTI Consulting team. She brings a unique blend of legal expertise, political experience and communications insights. This is the right time to further strengthen our competition team.
“Abuse of dominance and cartel investigations are lengthy, and businesses can be hit with reputational damage, billions of euros in fines as well as follow-on damages actions. In the M&A space, companies embarking on complicated global transactions do so against an overall political backdrop. Obtaining competition and national security clearances is an essential prerequisite to closing and has to be undertaken with an understanding of the wider environment. Anne will help our clients get their deals done and engage with regulators when their competitors, customers and suppliers merge. She will also support clients in defending antitrust cases and bringing competition complaints.”
Commenting on her appointment, Ms MacGregor said, “This is an exciting time to be joining FTI Consulting. I’ve enjoyed working alongside the firm on many occasions previously in my career and have seen first-hand how the Brussels office provides high-quality advice across a range of issues. I look forward to being part of the team.”