Margaret Bloom Biography

Margaret Bloom

Margaret Bloom has been a Visiting Professor in the School of Law, King’s College London since November 2002 and a Senior Consultant at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer since October 2003. For the six years to mid 2003 Margaret was Director of Competition Enforcement at the UK Office of Fair Trading (OFT) where she headed the Competition Enforcement Division. With around 180 staff, the Division enforced the OFT’s competition responsibilities. She led the successful implementation of the Competition Act 1998 and the Enterprise Act 2002 which considerably increased the OFT’s powers.

Prior to joining the OFT Margaret worked in the UK Cabinet Office and the UK Department of Trade and Industry on privatisation, competition policy and public sector finance. She worked in the private sector as an economist before joining the Civil Service. She read economics at Cambridge University in England: BA 1965 and MA 1969.

Margaret has spoken widely on antitrust in the UK and internationally. She was a Vice Chair of the OECD Competition Committee for six years to summer 2003. In May 2003, she was presented with a US Department of Justice plaque for “Outstanding Contributions to Effective International Antitrust Cooperation and the Fight Against International Cartels.” In June 2003 she was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for her work at the OFT.