Kate McKenna
Kate is a partner in the Competition and Regulation Group at Matheson. Prior to joining Matheson, Kate worked at a Magic Circle law firm in London.
Kate’s EU competition practice spans the areas of merger control, behavioural competition issues (including abuse of dominance, cartels and other restrictive arrangements), State aid, sectoral regulation and public procurement. As part of Kate’s regulatory practice, she advises clients on compliance with telecommunications, broadcasting and postal regulation as well as representing life sciences companies on regulatory and pricing matters arising during the life cycle of medicinal products.
Kate’s clients are leaders across a broad range of industries and Kate has particular expertise in the communications, Life Sciences and financial services sectors. Kate has advised on numerous notable regulatory processes and court cases. With her extensive experience of regulators and courts at Irish and EU level, clients turn to Kate for expert advice on defending their interests and for practical solutions which achieve their commercial objectives.
Kate contributes articles to leading international legal publications and speaks regularly on EU law issues including as a lecturer on Law Society courses.
Practice Area
Panel
- Contributing Author
Qualified Year
- 2010
Experience
- Slaughter and May (2008 - 2011)
- Matheson (2011 - Present)
Membership
- Irish Society for European Law (Kate is Chair)
Qualification
- LLB (2007)
Education
- Trinity College Dublin (2003 - 2007)
- BPP Law School (2007 - 2008)
1 Contributions by Kate McKenna
PRACTICE NOTES
EU Digital Markets Act: Irish overview-gatekeeper designation, enforcement, private litigation and compliance timelines
This Practice Note sets out a high-level guide to Regulation (EU) 2022/1925, the EU Digital Markets Act (DMA), viewed from an Irish standpoint. It addresses the DMA’s effects on the Irish marketplace, outlines the suite of rules the DMA introduces, explains how gatekeepers are designated, and describes the European Commission’s enforcement toolkit under the regime. It also considers worldwide compliance expectations, the forthcoming steps towards rolling out the DMA, and the key dates for meeting the obligations it imposes.
The Digital Markets Act
On 15 December 2020, the European Commission (the Commission) unveiled proposals for two EU-wide measures to govern digital services-the Digital Services Act and the Digital Markets Act. On 27 October 2022, the Commission completed adoption of the DMA by publishing its text in the EU Official Journal, triggering a six‑month transition period before the DMA became enforceable on 2 May 2023. The DMA aims to steer the treatment of online platforms across the EU by establishing a consistent standard across Europe. It targets various categories of online intermediaries, spanning basic intermediary services to very large online platforms, with differing levels of regulation applying. This framework provides a uniform approach throughout Europe for such intermediaries and platforms alike...
Ireland - Commercial
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