Lawyers could be allowed to earn bigger success-related fees on private antitrust cases in an effort to encourage them totackle such litigation, Britain's competition watchdog has suggested.

A consultation paper issued by the Office of Fair Trading on Wednesday, aimed at facilitating private competition actions, also said it “might be appropriate” to let representative actions – brought on behalf of either consumers or businesses claiming to be victims of anti-competitive conduct – to be pursued through the ordinary court system.