About Us
Proposed Class Representative
About Vicki Shotbolt
Vicki is a leading campaigner for children’s digital rights and has over 20 years of experience working at a senior level in national charities. She is the founder and CEO of Parent Zone, an organisation that works with families, government and companies to improve the lives of children who live in an increasingly digital world.
She is also the chair of FairFun, a charity that runs events for disabled children and is on the executive board of the UK Council on Child Internet Safety. Previously, Vicki was the Deputy CEO at the National Family and Parenting Institute. She has written on subjects including marketing directly to children and service families.
Vicki is seeking permission to bring this claim against Valve Corporation – via Vicki Shotbolt Class Representative Limited (a company set up to bring the claim) – because she believes that users of Steam have been treated unfairly and are owed compensation from Valve.
Vicki understands the importance of gaming to people of all ages and how widely enjoyed gaming is by people in the UK. She does not want to shut down Steam, or to prevent people from gaming, but she wants to ensure that Steam operates fairly and does not overcharge the consumer. Vicki believes this is important given how much money is spent on PC-games and add-on content in the UK, and the fact that games aim to encourage high levels of impulsive spending (of which Valve takes a cut).
Vicki does not profit from the claim.
The Lawyers
Milberg London LLP
Milberg London LLP is the firm of solicitors representing Vicki in this claim.
Milberg London is at the forefront of group actions law and practice in the UK. This is the second competition claim for Milberg London in the gaming sector, the first being the £5 billion claim against Sony Playstation for its abuse of dominance.
The team is headed by Natasha Pearman, a highly regarded competition lawyer. Natasha was responsible for the ground-breaking Justin Le Patourel v BT claim, which was the second ever collective action to be certified by the Competition Appeal Tribunal and the first to go to trial.
Competition law barristers Robert Palmer KC, Julian Gregory and Will Perry of Monckton Chambers have been instructed by Milberg London.
