Brick Court competition barrister James Flynn KC has died after a short illness, the set has announced. He passed away on Thursday 10 October, aged 68.

The set’s joint head of chambers, Helen Davies KC, said: “James was a leading competition law litigator at the London Bar and a highly respected and valued member of chambers for nearly 30 years. We are profoundly saddened to have suddenly lost a good colleague and friend. He will be greatly missed by all at Brick Court, the competition law Bar and the competition litigation field more generally.”

Flynn’s passing ends a career at the Bar that spanned London, Brussels and Luxembourg, which, in many ways, typified the very best of his profession at a time when it was as profoundly respected in the City as it was in the UK and European courts.

His wide experience built on his years of practice at Linklaters in London and Brussels and his work as a legal secretary at the European Court of Justice. While initially called to the Bar, he first worked in Paris for Goldsmith Delvolvé, using his fluency in French to gain legal experience, before undertaking a stage at the European Commission’s legal team, specialising in competition law. He then completed another at the European Court of Justice in 1980, thanks to a Bristow Scholarship, part of a long association with Middle Temple that saw him become a Bencher.

Pupillage followed at Monckton Chambers with Christopher Bellamy. Still, his initial time with the future judge, now Conservative peer and former justice minister Lord Bellamy was short. Brussels beckoned, as did Linklaters & Paines, as it was known then, first in London – where he qualified as a solicitor – and then in Brussels, for four years in total.

These were formative years, but none more so than working as legal secretary with the late Sir Gordon Slynn – who at the time was Advocate General. Flynn then returned to Linklaters, from which partnership flowed in 1993, becoming a mainstay in the Brussels office.

In 1996, Flynn exchanged Brussels and Luxembourg for Brick Court. However, his return to the Bar still saw him regularly appear before the European courts and regulators, whether in the Microsoft litigation, various iterations of the Air Cargo litigation, or the long-running Akzo Nobel litigation on legal professional privilege. This topic continues to vex regulators, in-house counsel and their associations.

Flynn’s work with the CCBE – Europe’s bar associations – and the Competition Law Association was in keeping with the man, who also maintained interests outside of practice, including a deep love of the arts, particularly music and poetry. He supported young UK and EU lawyers in the European Law Moot Society for years and delighted in it and them.

When silk came in 2003, it was warmly welcomed by lawyers who saw him as “sensible and down-to-earth”. His domestic practice before the OFT and the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) spanned Pay TV, healthcare, bruising antitrust litigation between Aer Lingus and Ryanair, and many CMA investigations.

Flynn was a pioneer of follow-on damages litigation. While such actions are more commonplace now, he acted for Inntrepreneur in Courage v Crehan, the first UK standalone damages case to go to full trial, and for Cardiff Bus in the first follow-on damages action to come to trial and to lead to a damages award.

This was delicate work and heavily contested, but intellect and delicacy were his forte. His mastery of the antitrust and IP aspects of the interface between competition and intellectual property law, particularly on licensing Standard Essential Patents and FRAND terms, saw him act for Qualcomm and Samsung, among others.

Ian Moyler, a former senior clerk at Brick Court, recalled: “His novel and groundbreaking work in FRAND cases at the intersection of IP and competition law made his name and reputation truly global.”

Few at the London Bar could bring together both disciplines. Flynn won the respect of EU powerhouses like Cleary Gottlieb and US disputes giant Quinn Emanuel (QE) while retaining that of the UK and EU bench and contemporaries like Nicholas Khan KC of the Commission’s Legal Service.

More recently, he acted for GSK in its appeal against the UK’s first pharmaceutical patent reverse settlement proceedings (including a reference to the ECJ). Brexit did not deter him, although his choice of the Flemish-speaking Brussels Bar in 2019 showed a certain pragmatism in choosing the most Anglophile of the Belgian Bars.

His death ends his association with cutting-edge cases in London, including acting for the Road Haulage Association against the truck cartel in the first opt-in collective proceedings authorised by the CAT, against some of the brightest and best at the Bar, from Mark Hoskins KC to Meredith Pickford KC.  

Trevor Soames, a close contemporary at QE, called Flynn “a brilliant lawyer with vast experience” adding that he was “a kind, generous, warm and funny man, immensely cultured and a fine singer who was a great friend and inspiration to many. His ever-youthful smile is imprinted on my memory”.

Another contemporary, Cleary’s Maurits Dolmans, said Flynn was “thoughtful, generous, kind, witty, deeply knowledgeable and experienced, and a great advocate”.

Davies concluded by saying: “The many messages that have already been received are a true testament to the very high esteem in which James was held. We send our deepest condolences to his widow, Anna, their daughter Olivia, and his children, Hugo and Harriet.”