Austen Hays appoints competition partner as Grindr collective action gathers pace
Insight shared by:
We have appointed a new partner with expertise in competition disputes to expand its growing team focusing on collective actions.
Leonia Chesterfield, who specialises in class actions, competition law disputes, and consumer redress, joins Austen Hays which is bringing a claim against the dating app Grindr on behalf of thousands of users for breaching data protection laws.
Leonia will also help develop the firm’s competition law practice and launch competition-based proceedings.
“I was attracted to Austen Hays for many reasons, but particularly its investment in technology to enhance the end-to-end client experience, its people-focused culture, and its commitment to delivering access to justice and great results for clients, as these values very much align with my own,” Leonia said.
“I’m delighted to join the team and looking forward to working on building its competition practice.”
Prior to joining Austen Hays, Leonia was Of Counsel for competition and competition litigation at RPC, where she had substantial experience managing collective proceedings in the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT).
Leonia also spent several years at the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) where she ran defences of appeals and regulatory decisions, as well as warrant applications and carrying out dawn raids, on behalf of the authority. While at the CMA, Leonia represented UK competition policy interests as a UK OECD Competition Division lead and supported the Department of Business and Trade (then BEIS) with redress policy reforms.
Leonia has also been ranked as a Legal 500 Recommended Lawyer for Competition Litigation for both 2024 and 2025.
The Austen Hays team has grown significantly this year, with Eleanor Leedham, who has significant experience of representing claimants in cases in the Competition Appeals Tribunal (CAT) also joining the team.
Austen Hays Managing Director and Partner Chaya Hanoomanjee said: “Our recent hires demonstrate our commitment to focusing on legal expertise to deliver the best service to our clients. We are determined to continue to seek redress for clients where there has been a failure on the part of big corporates. We continue to do so on behalf of the thousands of Grindr users whose sensitive personal data, including HIV status, was shared for profit without their consent. The case is now gathering serious momentum.”
