Michelle Meagher

Meagher was born in the UK. She is British of Bangladeshi origin. Her parents wanted her to become a medical doctor.{{cite book |last=Meagher|first=Michelle|date= 2020|title=Competition is Killing Us|url= https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/315772/competition-is-killing-us-by-meagher-michelle/9780241423011|location= |publisher=Penguin |page=xi |isbn=9780241423011}} Meagher chose instead to study Philosophy, politics and economics at Oxford University and competition law at Georgetown University.{{cite web |url= https://www.ucl.ac.uk/cles/michelle-meagher|title=Michelle Meagher |last= |first= |date= |website= Centre for Law, Economics and Society|publisher=UCL|access-date=28 December 2023|quote=}}

After her studies she worked as competition lawyer for Magic Circle law firms.{{cite web |url=https://www.ofc.org.uk/conference/2022/speakers|title=The Oxford Farming Conference |last= |first= |date=2022|website=OFC|publisher= |access-date=30 December 2023|quote=}}

In 2013, Meagher was emotionally affected by the Rana Plaza tragedy,{{cite news |last= Schechter|first=Asher|date=21 December 2020|title= The Best Political Economy Books of 2020|url=https://www.promarket.org/2020/12/21/best-political-economy-books-2020-dayen-teachout-deato/ |work= ProMarket|location= |access-date=28 December 2023}} in which an eight-story commercial building collapsed in the Bangladesh capital Dhaka, killing over 1,100 people, principally garment factories workers.

Meagher's maternal family came from Dhanmondi area of Dhaka, situated close to the district where Rana Plaza was once located and Meagher identified with the victims of the tragedy.

As an M&A lawyer facilitating mergers between large companies, Meagher was confronted with a crisis of consciousness.{{cite web |url= https://www.amazon.co.uk/Competition-Killing-Us-Business-Harming-ebook/dp/B07XSD5KVR |title= Competition is Killing Us: How Big Business is Harming Our Society and Planet - and What To Do About It|last= |first= |date= |website=amazon.co.uk|publisher= |access-date=28 December 2023|quote=}}

She saw irresponsible corporate governance structures resulting from unfettered competition for profits as the ultimate reason behind the Rana Plaza tragedy. Consequently, Meagher quit her job with a renowned multinational law firm.{{cite news |last=Seder|first=Sam|date=15 March 2021|title= 3/15 Competition is Killing Us & How to Stop Big Business from Harming the World w/ Michelle Meagher| url=https://majorityreportradio.com/2021/03/15/3-15-competition-is-killing-us-how-to-stop-big-business-from-harming-the-world-w-michelle-meagher |work= The Majority Report|location= |access-date=28 December 2023}}

In 2020, Meagher published the book Competition is Killing Us, in which she argues for a redesign of competition law to control the power of Big Tech.{{cite news |last=Nylen|first=Leah|date= 20 October 2020|title= Why breaking up (Google) is so hard to do|url= https://www.politico.com/states/california/story/2020/10/20/why-breaking-up-google-is-so-hard-to-do-1328344|work= Politico|location=Washington |access-date=28 December 2023}}

Meagher repeatedly called out the concentration of corporate power. She called for more regulatory intervention to rebalance the interests of shareholders with the interests of citizens,{{cite news |last= Foroohar|first=Rana|date=2 May 2022|title=The failures of stakeholder capitalism |url= https://www.ft.com/content/f7f76d7c-2d01-4129-b87d-fcc9815e3a77|work= Financial Times|location= |access-date=28 December 2023}} such as mandatory sharing of anonymized data by Big Tech companies with their smaller competitors.{{cite news |last= Thornhill|first=John|date=19 November 2020|title=Europe needs to build the digital future not just bash Big Tech|url= https://www.ft.com/content/63bc9826-f931-4c34-bc45-7daaf3c4f903|work= Financial Times|location= |access-date=28 December 2023}}

In 2021, Meagher co-founded the European anti-monopoly organisation Balanced Economy Project, with the journalist Nicholas Shaxson.{{cite news |last= Bou Mansour |first = Mark|date=19 May 2023|title= Nicholas Shaxson to lead new anti-monopoly organisation |url=https://taxjustice.net/press/nicholas-shaxson-to-lead-new-anti-monopoly-organisation/|work= Tax Justice Network|location= |access-date=28 December 2023}}

Meagher is a senior policy fellow at the Centre for Law, Economics and Society, University College London (UCL). She a co-founder of the think tank Inclusive Competition Forum.

Meagher's contribution to the anti-monopoly movement has been likened to Lina Khan in the US, among other antitrust legal scholars.{{cite news |last=Iacovides|first= Marios|date=22 March 2022|title= Why Aligning Antitrust Policy With Sustainability is a Moral Imperative|url= https://www.promarket.org/2022/03/22/sustainability-antitrust-policy-anticompetitive-climate-change/|work= ProMarket|location= |access-date=28 December 2023}}

Shareholder primacy is one myth of free markets that Meagher discussed in her work.{{cite news |last=Cocking|first=Simon|date=10 December 2020|title=Why Competition is Killing Us, insights with Michelle Meagher |url=https://irishtechnews.ie/why-competition-is-killing-us-michelle-meagher/|work=Irish Tech News|location= |access-date=15 January 2024}} She suggested to revisit the rules of corporate governance to ensure a greater alignment of companies' behavior with broader society goals and with environmental sustainability requirements.{{cite news |last=Bove|first=Tristan|date=3 May 2021|title=Book Review: Competition is Killing Us by Michelle Meagher|url=https://earth.org/book-reviews/book-review-competition-is-killing-us-michelle-meagher/|work=earth.org|location= |access-date=15 January 2024}}

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Category:21st-century British women lawyers

Category:21st-century British women writers

Category:Antitrust lawyers

Category:Georgetown University alumni

Category:Living people

Category:Scholars of competition law

Category:Year of birth unknown