About Andrew Austin

Andrew handles commercial disputes, consumer law issues, and product liability litigation within the tech, life sciences, consumer goods and retail sectors. He also helps clients manage regulatory risks and engage with (and sometimes challenge) regulators.

He has acted on some of the most complex consumer mass claims of the last decade and is particularly focused on coordinating the defence of such litigation across borders. He has a particular specialism in product liability defence work, and is ranked by Chambers (2023) for Life Sciences - Product Liability (band 1) and Product Liability: Mainly Defendant (band 3).

Andrew advises clients on the application of product liability rules to emerging tech, and in May 2018 was appointed to the European Commission’s Expert Group on Liability and New Technologies. In December 2019, he joined the Commission's subgroup on AI and product safety. Another area of focus, in recent years, has been the growing importance of consumer law and governments’ increasing scrutiny of consumer-facing business practices.

Andrew is Co-Head of the firm’s Consumer and Healthcare group, which brings together specialists in the consumer, retail and life sciences sectors from across the firm. He also helps lead Halo, the firm’s global LGBT+ network group.

He speaks English, French and German.

Recent work

• Helping a healthcare company co-ordinate the defence of product liability claims and related regulatory enquiries in a large number of markets outside North America.
• Assisting a number of clients with investigations by the UK Competition and Markets Authority into alleged unfair sales, pricing and promotional practices.
• Advising a global pharma company on litigation and investigations management issues arising from a series of interlinked M&A transactions.
• Acting for a diagnostics products manufacturer in relation to false positive results produced by a hospital’s laboratory in the context of cancer screening, and defence against threatened legal action.
• Coordinating multi-j advice on the regulation of tech products and FMCG, including on the regulation of electronic cigarettes in 150+ markets and the regulatory classification of healthcare apps.