Biography
Pınar Akman is a Senior Advisor in the London Competition group.
Pınar is a prize-winning academic and an internationally renowned expert in competition law with nearly twenty years of experience. Her research covers all aspects of EU and UK competition law including notably, abuse of a dominant position, digital markets, online platforms, vertical restraints, and e-commerce. She has presented her research all around the globe and provided expertise to numerous organisations including the IMF, OECD, United Nations, European Parliament, House of Lords, US Federal Trade Commission and World Economic Forum.
Pınar has served in numerous prestigious roles. Such roles have included being a judge (Ordinary Member) at the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT), a Member of the UK Financial Conduct Authority's Innovation Advisory Group, a Visiting Scholar at the IMF, an International Consultant at the International Trade Centre (UN/WTO), a Director of the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence on Digital Governance, and the Director of the Centre for Business Law Practice.
She is a Non-Governmental Advisor to the United Kingdom at the International Competition Network (ICN) Unilateral Conduct Working Group and Professor of Law specialising in competition law at the University of Leeds.
Women@Competition 5-Star Professionals Award in 2023.
Shortlisted for an Antitrust Writing Award in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2023 and 2025 (Concurrences Review & George Washington Competition Law Center).
Profiled as one of the "world's most influential competition scholars" across all disciplines by Global Competition Review.
Philip Leverhulme Prize, which recognises "the achievement of outstanding researchers whose work has already attracted international recognition and whose future career is exceptionally promising".
Pınar regularly provides commentary for the media and has been interviewed by/quoted in the New York Times, New Statesman, Bloomberg, Euronews, Voice of America, BBC Radio 4, Guardian, CNBC, among others. The Intelligence Squared debate on "Break up the Tech Giants" in which she took part was broadcast by BBC World News to a global audience of 70 million viewers.
Example publications include:
The Concept of Abuse in EU Competition Law: Law and Economics Approaches (Hart Publishing, Oxford, 2012; reprinted, 2015).
Research Handbook on Abuse of Dominance and Monopolization (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2023) (with Brook and Stylianou)
"The European Commission's Draft Guidelines on Exclusionary Abuses: A Law and Economics Critique and Recommendations" (2025) 16 (4) Journal of European Competition Law and Practice 234 (with Fumagalli and Motta)
"A Critical Inquiry Into 'Abuse' in EU Competition Law" (2024) 44 (2) Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 405
"A Web of Paradoxes: Empirical Evidence on Online Platform Users and Implications for Competition and Regulation in Digital Markets" (2022) 16 (2) Virginia Law and Business Review 217
"Regulating Competition in Digital Platform Markets: A Critical Assessment of the Framework and Approach of the EU Digital Markets Act" (2022) 47 (1) European Law Review 85
Numerous other peer-reviewed articles have been published in prestigious journals, such as the Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, Modern Law Review, Antitrust Law Journal, Journal of Competition Law and Economics, European Law Review, Journal of Business Law, Journal of Law and Society, among others.
For the full list see here.