Contact details
About
Overview
Dr Ryan Stones is Senior Lecturer at The City Law School and a specialist in competition law.
Ryan's research has been published in several leading journals, including the Modern Law Review, the Yearbook of European Law, the Journal of Competition Law & Economics, the Journal of Antitrust Enforcement, and the European Competition and Regulatory Law Review. He is the editor of the Current Intelligence section of the Journal of European Competition Law & Practice. Ryan's research interests are primarily at the intersection between competition law and legal theory, in particular the rule of law (the subject of his PhD thesis, "EU Competition Law and the Rule of Law: Justification and Realisation" (2018)). However, he has also undertaken research into the history of economic thought on competition enforcement, the use of behavioural economics, and the application of competition law in the video games industry. He co-authored the UK report on competition enforcement in the digital economy for the 2020/2021 FIDE Congress. Ryan welcomes expressions of interest from potential PhD students in competition law, broadly understood.
From a teaching perspective, Ryan oversees the delivery of all competition law modules at City. Since 2018 he has been the module leader and lecturer for LU3070 Competition Law, a final-year elective on the LLB programme, and LMM182 Merger Control, a module on the LLM programme. He also co-leads LMM196 Video Games Regulation and Online Platforms and delivers lectures on "Law & Economics" for LU1023 Foundations of Legal Analysis. Beyond competition law, Ryan has extensive experience of lecturing and teaching public law, including as co-module leader for LG2002 Constitutional and Administrative Law on the Graduate Entry LLB programme from 2019-2023. In the past, he has also taught immigration law.
Ryan has previously held significant administrative roles at The City Law School. From 2019 to 2022, he was Co-Director of the LLB Law programme. Since 2020, he has also been Assistant Dean responsible for all aspects of assessments across the LLB, GELLB, GDL, and other programmes.
Prior to joining City, Ryan completed his PhD at the London School of Economics from 2014-2018 under the supervision of Professor Pablo Ibáñez Colomo and Professor Martin Loughlin. From 2013-2014, Ryan completed his master's degree at Corpus Christi College, University of Oxford (Bachelor of Civil Law, Distinction). His journey in law started as an undergraduate student at the LSE from 2010-2013 (LLB, First Class), where he received the prizes for best overall examination performance in each of the three years.
Qualifications
- PhD, London School of Economics and Political Science, United Kingdom, October 2014 - September 2018
- Bachelor of Civil Law (BCL), University of Oxford, United Kingdom, October 2013 - July 2014
- LLB, London School of Economics and Political Science, United Kingdom, October 2010 - July 2013
Employment
- Assistant Dean (Assessments), City, University of London, United Kingdom, September 2020 - present
- Co-Director of the LLB Programme, City, University of London, United Kingdom, September 2019 - September 2022
- Senior Lecturer in Law, City, University of London, United Kingdom, September 2018 - present
Memberships of professional organisations
- United Kingdom Association for European Law, January 2020 - present
- Academic Society for Competition Law (ASCOLA), January 2020 - present
- Fellowship (from June 2021), Higher Education Academy, July 2016 - present
Research students
Negar Nasiraei
Attendance: February 2025 - present, full-time
Thesis title: Analysing the European Commission’s Merger Control Assessment In the Airline Industry
Role: 2nd Supervisor
Publications
Publications by category
Chapters (4)
- Stones, R. (2026). Video games and competition law. Research Handbook on Interactive Entertainment Law (pp. 333-363). Edward Elgar Publishing. ISBN 9781800883543.
- Stones, R. Antitrust Schools of Thought: Rethinking “Ordoliberalism” versus “the Chicago School”. In Deutscher, E., Lindeboom, J. and Makris, S. (Eds.), Research Handbook on the Theoretical Foundations of Competition Law Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
- Stones, R. (2023). Individual Exemption. In Healey, D., Kovacic, W., Trevisan, P. and Whish, R. (Eds.), Global Dictionary of Competition Law London, UK: Concurrences.
- Kalintiri, A. and Stones, R. (2020). United Kingdom. In Mândrescu, D. (Ed.), (pp. 559-583). The Hague, the Netherlands: Eleven International Publishing. ISBN 9789462361300.
Internet publications (2)
- Stones, R.(2025).How Both the Chicago School and Ordoliberalism Softened on Big Businesses. ProMarket.
- Stones, R.(2022).Taming the Titans of the Digital Economy. City Press Office.
Journal articles (5)
- Stones, R. (2026). Behavioural economics in EU competition law: Article 102 TFEU, the Digital Markets Act, and informed assumptions of irrationality. Journal of Antitrust Enforcement, 14(2), pp. 214-240. doi:10.1093/jaenfo/jnaf019
- Stones, R. (2021). Why Should Competition Lawyers Care about the Formal Rule of Law? The Modern Law Review, 84(3), pp. 608-635. doi:10.1111/1468-2230.12625
- Stones, R. (2019). Commitment Decisions in EU Competition Enforcement: Policy Effectiveness v. the Formal Rule of Law. Yearbook of European Law, 38, pp. 361-399. doi:10.1093/yel/yez011
- Stones, R. (2018). The Chicago School and the Formal Rule of Law. Journal of Competition Law and Economics, 14(4), pp. 527-567. doi:10.1093/joclec/nhz002
- Stones, R. (2018). Book Review: The Normative Foundations of European Competition Law: Assessing the Goals of Antitrust through the Lens of Legal Philosophy. European Competition and Regulatory Law Review, 2(1), pp. 65-69. doi:10.21552/core/2018/1/13
Thesis/dissertation
Working papers (3)
- Stones, R. (2025). EU and UK Competition Law in the Video Games Industry: Past, Present, and Potential Future. London, UK: City Law School
- Stones, R. (2024). Antitrust Schools of Thought: Rethinking “Ordoliberalism” versus “the Chicago School”. London, UK: City Law School
- Kalintiri, A. and Stones, R. (2019). FIDE Congress 2020 - EU Competition Law and the Digital Economy: United Kingdom Report. London, UK: The City Law School
Other
- Stones, R.(2016). The Google Saga.
Professional activities
Editorial activity
- Journal of European Competition law & Practice, Editor for Current Intelligence, December 2022 - present.
Events/conferences (7)
-
Rethinking Competition Law Workshop. (Workshop) Norwich, UK (2023).
Paper: Antitrust Schools of Thought: Rethinking “Ordoliberal” versus “Chicago”
Author: Stones, R -
City Law School Research Seminar. (Workshop) London, UK (2022).
Paper: Behavioural Economics and the Formal Rule of Law in Competition Enforcement: One of the Other
Author: Stones, R -
SLS Annual Conference 2022. (Conference) London, UK (2022).
Paper: Behavioural Economics and the Formal Rule of Law in Competition Enforcement: One of the Other
Author: Stones, R -
EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA): Evaluating Brexit. (Public lecture) Institute for the Study of European Laws, City, University of London (Online) (2021). Panel Member Invited speaker.
Paper: UK/EU Competition Policy under the EU-UK TCA: Cooperation or Divergence? - Enhancing the Global Experience of our Students. (Conference) City, University of London (2019). Invited speaker.
-
XXXth Competition Law Scholars Forum Workshop: Antitrust at the Intersection of Law and Economics. (Workshop) University of Graz, Austria (2018).
Paper: The Chicago School of Antitrust and the ‘More Economic Approach’ to EU Competition Law: A Mistaken Inspiration?
Author: Stones, R. -
LSE Law Lunchtime Seminar Series. (Seminar) London School of Economics, London, UK (2017).
Paper: Competition Policy and the Rule of Law: A Summary of the Case for Rule-Based Market Interventions
Author: Stones, R.