Speaker Details

Hilary Ross

Head of Retail, Food & Hospitality, Executive Partner, DWF LLP

Hilary works closely with clients to help design and implement systems to minimise exposure to challenges under a wide range of regulatory legislation. For the last two decades she has worked with PLCs to develop compliance procedures to ensure safety of their products, employees and third parties.

She is a partner in the firm’s Regulatory team, specialising in regulatory compliance and litigation, with an unrivalled reputation in respect of health & safety and product liability, for a wide range of highly regulated products.

She regularly helps companies devise innovative and practical approaches to achieving regulatory compliance across the UK and EU. In particular she advises on compliance issues in relation to foods, cosmetics, toys and medical devices, assisting companies bring about amendments to EU legislation and challenging decisions of regulators concerning the application and interpretation of EU law. She also advises on the coordination of products at their launch, advertising campaigns, across the EU, together with withdrawals and recalls.

When challenges are brought her primary aim is to prevent matters reaching court. By combining her contentious and non-contentious experience, as well as her contacts across a large number of regulators, she is able to provide clients with a practical overview of how regulation works in the UK and the EU, which assists them in reaching commercially acceptable compliance strategies. Where that is not possible she helps them to challenge decisions in the UK and European Court of Justice.