KEN DALY, the managing partner of Sidley’s Brussels office and co-head of the Antitrust and Competition practice, focuses his practice on global merger clearances and on EU competition and EU regulatory matters across a wide variety of industries and business sectors, including film, music, media, broadcasting, professional and financial services, pharmaceuticals, sports, consumer goods, automotive parts, and transport.
Ken has over 25 years’ experience in competition law, including advising on European Commission investigations in mergers, cartel and abuse of dominance cases, advisory work in relation to selling practices and market behavior, and all aspects of competition litigation. He is an experienced advocate and has advised clients in a variety of high-profile cases before the European Commission and national competition authorities and has represented clients in litigation before the EU Courts and national courts of EU Member States.
In addition to his case work, a significant part of Ken’s practice relates to advising companies on how to interpret and navigate the EU’s law-making processes and regulatory regimes, including how to participate in the development of EU policy.
The U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform (ILR) awarded Ken the “Research and Policy Award” for his work on third-party litigation financing and class actions, as well as helping guide ILR’s efforts in the EU and the UK at its 17th Annual Legal Reform Summit. Ken served a four-year term as Secretary General to the International Court of Appeal of the world motorsports regulator, the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA).
Ken has written extensively on EU law and policy topics, including merger law, distribution, competition law criminalization, cartel enforcement, and sports law.
Strong leadership in advising clients has earned Ken acknowledgement in industry ranking guides:
- Legal 500 EMEA (Belgium) 2024 and 2023 — Recognized for Competition: EU and global, where clients report that “working with Ken Daly is a real pleasure. He is practical in his advice and substantively capable in handling large global transactions” (2023).
- Chambers Europe and Chambers Global Belgium 2019 – 2024 — Ranked for EU Competition where clients report that “He is a pleasure to work with, very practical, targets what you need and does it very efficiently.” and that “He is a superb lawyer and incredibly nice to work with.” (2024), “he doesn’t recommend things that are going to take more work than potential payoff; he is very good at finding efficient ways to deal with matters” (2022), “a gem of a lawyer who has our interests at heart and who is both highly dependable and super smart” (2023).
- Best Lawyers Belgium 2022 — Ranked for Competition and Antitrust, European Union, and Regulatory Law.
- Who’s Who Legal 2021 – 2024 — Recommended for Competition.