From Investigation to Redress: Managing the Long Lifecycle of Competition Class Actions

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Competition class actions and collective proceedings can span extraordinary time horizons, often starting with early indicators of potentially problematic conduct, moving through internal investigations and regulatory engagement, and only later crystallising into follow-on damages claims and collective proceedings. In many matters, the “lifecycle” is measured in years; in some, it can extend well beyond a decade.

This session uses the RO-RO litigation as a case study in long-tail risk: a matter where the downstream collective claim in the Competition Appeal Tribunal ultimately resolved only recently in 2026, and yet the investigative activity commenced more than a decade earlier. The discussion will explore what this type of timeline means in practice for corporate legal teams, outside counsel, and the advisors supporting them, particularly when data preservation, disclosure readiness, damages analysis, and reputational exposure must be managed across changing systems, stakeholders, and business priorities.

Bringing together perspectives from outside counsel and FTI experts in forensic technology and strategic communications, the panel will focus on how organisations can plan for downstream litigation risk early, often before formal litigation is filed, and how to maintain a defensible, proportionate approach as the matter evolves.

Key discussion areas include:

• The Long Lifecycle of a Competition Class Action: Mapping the stages from internal investigation and regulator interaction through follow-on claims, collective proceedings, settlement, and (where relevant) redress/claims administration.

• Downstream Data Strategy and Preservation That Can Last for Years: Practical approaches to scoping, legal holds, evolving system landscapes, and maintaining defensible documentation so decisions still stand up to scrutiny a decade later.

• Outside Counsel Playbook at Each Stage: How external legal teams advise clients early on (including “how far this might go”), manage disclosure strategy, and coordinate with experts across data, quantum, and communications.

• Deep Data Analysis at Scale (and What It Means for Quantum): Techniques for analysing large consumer and transactional datasets, claimant populations, and enterprise systems to support exposure assessment, damages modelling, and challenges to causation.

• Reputation and Stakeholder Management Across a Multi-Year Horizon: Managing reputational risk, pressure-group dynamics, media cycles, and internal stakeholder alignment as the narrative shifts from investigation to litigation to settlement.

Designed for in-house counsel, competition and disputes lawyers, risk leaders, and communications professionals, this session will equip attendees with a practical framework for managing “long-tail” competition class action risk, especially the data, analysis, and governance decisions that must endure as the matter evolves over many years.