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CBA COMPETITION LAW
FALL CONFERENCE

October  20 – 21, 2022 | Ottawa, ON

Presented by the CBA Competition Law and Foreign Investment Review Section

Register Now

CBA COMPETITION LAW
FALL CONFERENCE

October 20 – 21 | Ottawa, ON

Presented by the CBA Competition Law and Foreign Investment Review Section

Register Now

Speakers & Moderators

James Attridge

James Attridge

Axinn, Veltrop & Harkrider LLP

James (“Jimmy”) Attridge, a former Antitrust Division Chief of Staff, Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General, and federal prosecutor, counsels clients in cartel investigations, antitrust litigation, and complex merger reviews. Having most recently acted as the Antitrust Division’s Chief of Staff during the Biden Administration and Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General of the Antitrust Division across multiple administrations, Jimmy draws on first-hand government experience to provide a strategic and comprehensive perspective on a wide range of government investigations and litigation.

His unique background in government and private practice has given Jimmy the insight and extensive experience needed to advise clients on antitrust compliance, cartel investigations and defense, and follow-on civil litigation. He also counsels those interacting with the Antitrust Division in the range of areas where the Division has committed to heightened enforcement, such as merger reviews and civil conduct investigations.

During his time at the Department of Justice, Jimmy served as a criminal prosecutor and in a variety of leadership roles at the Antitrust Division. As Chief of Staff, he was a key advisor on policy changes, investigations, and enforcement efforts. He managed a team of advisors, oversaw work product ranging from articles to speeches, and represented the Division with fellow antitrust enforcers and within the Department of Justice. As Counsel, Jimmy advised the Division’s senior leadership team on a record-high docket of criminal investigations and ongoing litigation, including scores of recommendations to open investigations, resolve investigations, grant leniency, and seek indictments. Jimmy also implemented policy changes to bring criminal charges for collusion in the labor markets, to incentivize and assess corporate compliance, and to create the Procurement Collusion Strike Force, an interagency effort to detect and prosecute cartels and fraud affecting government procurement.

Prior to his government service, Jimmy practiced in the antitrust department of a large, global law firm. His practice focused on criminal investigations, civil litigation, civil investigations, and merger reviews. Following law school, he was a law clerk for the Honorable Liam O’Grady of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. During law school, Jimmy was a Charles H. March fellow and law clerk for Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jon Leibowitz.

Andy Baziliauskas

Andy Baziliauskas

Charles River Associates | Toronto, ON

Dr. Andy Baziliauskas is a competition and industrial organization economist who consults to private sector and government clients in a wide variety of industries, including the energy, telecommunications, retail, banking, and sports industries. He has prepared expert reports that have been submitted to courts, tribunals, and regulatory bodies in competition, class action certification, and electricity market matters, and has authored several other reports for clients on energy market issues, market power, mergers, damages, price fixing, abuse of dominance, and other public policy issues.

Dr. Baziliauskas holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Western Ontario. Prior to joining the private sector, he worked for seven years as a senior economist at the Canadian Competition Bureau and was the Coordinator of the Bureau’s Enforcement Economics division. He has published several articles in the areas of competition policy and energy markets, and has made numerous presentations on competition issues at conferences and seminars.

Matthew Boswell

Matthew Boswell

Commissioner of Competition, Competition Bureau Canada

Matthew Boswell was appointed Commissioner of Competition on March 5, 2019, for a five-year term.

Mr. Boswell first joined the Bureau in January 2011 as Associate Deputy Commissioner, Criminal Matters. Since then, he has held leadership positions directing merger reviews and major investigations targeting criminal cartels, abuse of dominance and deceptive marketing practices.

Previously, Mr. Bowell was Senior Litigation Counsel in the Enforcement Branch at the Ontario Securities Commission; Assistant Crown Attorney in Toronto with the Ministry of the Attorney General of Ontario; and has worked in private practice.

Logan Breed

Logan Breed, Hogan Lovells

Hogan Lovells | Washington, DC

Logan Breed is the global co-chair of Hogan Lovells’ antitrust practice. He has handled many of the most cutting-edge antitrust reviews of mergers and acquisitions over the past 20 years, as well as numerous non-merger conduct investigations and antitrust litigation matters. He has particular experience with issues at the intersection of antitrust and intellectual property law.

Logan's broad industry experience includes computer software and hardware, e-commerce, telecommunications, media and entertainment, aviation, consumer products, and defense. He also counsels clients on a wide variety of issues, including joint ventures and other strategic alliances between competitors, antitrust compliance, pricing, distribution, and distributor and dealer relations, and consumer protection matters.

Logan is an authority in the US antitrust bar, serving in the leadership of the American Bar Association Section of Antitrust Law and the International Bar Association Antitrust Committee. He speaks regularly around the world on antitrust issues and has published a number of articles on antitrust and other topics. His published articles have appeared in the Antitrust Law Journal, Antitrust Magazine, Mergermarket, the National Law Journal, various newsletters of the ABA section of Antitrust Law, the Intellectual Property & Technology Law Journal, and the Virginia Journal of International Law.

Cassandra D. Brown

Cassandra D. Brown

Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP | Toronto, ON

Cassie advises on all aspects of competition law, including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, distribution practices, criminal and civil investigations, compliance, as well as foreign investment transactions under the Investment Canada Act. Her clients span a variety of industries, including energy, mining, technology, software, private equity, pharmaceutical, consumer products, agricultural, telecommunications, transportation, aviation, financial services, manufacturing, automotive and real estate.

Cassie is the co-author of Competition Act: Commentary and Annotation, 2022 Edition.

Cassie is recognized as a leading competition lawyer by the following publications:
The Best Lawyers in Canada 2021-2023 (Competition/Antitrust)
The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory 2021-2022 (Competition Law)
Chambers Global: The World's Leading Lawyers for Business 2021-2022 (Competition/Antitrust)
Chambers Canada: Canada’s Leading Lawyers for Business 2021-2022 (Competition/Antitrust)
Who’s Who Legal: Canada 2021 (Competition)
Who's Who Legal: Global - Competition - 2019-2021 (Future Leaders - Partners)
The Legal 500 Canada - 2018-2022 (Next Generation Partner, Competition and Antitrust)

She was also a sessional adjunct professor of competition regulation at Osgoode Hall Law School.

Katherine Burke

Katherine Burke

Director General, Investment Review Division, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, Government of Canada | Ottawa, ON

Katherine Burke is the Director General of the Investment Review Branch at Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada where she is responsible for policy and administration of Canada’s foreign investment review regime under the Investment Canada Act.  

Since joining the public service, Kate has also worked at the Privy Council Office, Global Affairs, and Public Safety Canada. She previously worked in private practice on commercial transactions and labour and employment law. Kate holds law degrees from Dalhousie Law School, the London School of Economics and Harvard Law School, as well as a Bachelor of Arts with Honours from Queens University and a Masters of Public Administration from Dalhousie University.  

Stephen Calkins

Stephen Calkins

Wayne State University | Detroit, MI

Stephen Calkins is Professor of Law at the Wayne State University Law School, where he teaches courses and seminars in antitrust and trade regulation, consumer law, and torts. He has taught at the Universities of Michigan, Pennsylvania, Utrecht (The Netherlands), and UC Dublin, and served as Wayne State University’s associate provost and the Law School’s interim dean. In autumn 2015 he returned from almost four years in Ireland, where he served as a Commissioner of the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission and (before that) as a Member of the Competition Authority and Director of the Authority’s Mergers Division. While in Ireland he served as Adjunct Professor at University of Dublin Sutherland College of Law – to which he returned as a Sutherland Fellow for a semester in 2020. During 1995-97, Professor Calkins served as General Counsel of the Federal Trade Commission. Professor Calkins lectures widely throughout the U.S. and abroad, is a journal editor, and has authored many publications on competition and consumer law and policy and related subjects, including the co-authored 4th edition of ANTITRUST LAW: POLICY AND PRACTICE, the co-authored 5th edition of Antitrust Law and Economcis in a Nutshell, and the co-edited Consumer Protection Law Developments. He is a life member of the American Law Institute, a Fellow of the European Law Institute and a Life Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, and a member the Academic Society for Competition Law and of the advisory board of the American Antitrust Institute (which in 2019 bestowed on him the Alfred E. Kahn Award for Antitrust Achievement). He served three three-year terms on the Council of the American Bar Association Section of Antitrust Law and is a former member of the Council of the ABA Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice. He is also a former chair of the Association of American Law School's Antitrust and Economic Regulation Committee. He holds degrees from Yale (B.A.) and Harvard (J.D.).

Majid Charania

Majid Charania

Competition Bureau Canada | Toronto, ON

Majid is Director of Compliance with the Competition Bureau of Canada. He is responsible for promoting compliance by businesses of all sizes with the Competition Act and other labelling statutes that fall under the responsibility of the Bureau. Prior to assuming this role, Majid was Special Advisor to the Commissioner of Competition, the head of the Competition Bureau. He has significant enforcement experience leading or participating in complex merger reviews and abuse of dominance cases, both at the Bureau and at the European Commission as a visiting case handler. He also has experience litigating on behalf of the Commissioner and providing legal advice to the Bureau as counsel with Competition Bureau Legal Services, a unit within the Canadian Department of Justice. Prior to joining the Competition Bureau, he worked for a national law firm and in sales and marketing for a major integrated oil and gas company. Majid holds a Certified Compliance and Ethics Professional (International) designation from the Society for Corporate Compliance and Ethics, as well as a JD from the University of Ottawa and an international bachelor of business administration from the Schulich School of Business at York University.

Danielle Chu

Danielle Chu

Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP | Toronto, ON

Danielle is an associate in Osler’s Competition/Antitrust Law, Foreign Investment, and International Trade Groups. Danielle has broad experience in all aspects of competition law, foreign investment review, and international trade, across a broad range of industry sectors including energy, mining, agriculture, telecommunications, financial services, real estate, transportation, and media.

Danielle has been a term lecturer at the University of Alberta for Competition & Antitrust Law, currently serves as Social Committee Chair of the Osler Women Lawyer’s Network and Co-Chair of Osler Toronto’s Associates Representative Committee, and serves as a member of 4H-Canada’s Board of Directors.

Danielle was previously based in Calgary with Osler’s Regulatory, Environmental, Indigenous and Land Litigation Specialty Group. Danielle advised broadly on regulatory, environmental, and Indigenous law issues for natural resource developers, including for large scale industrial projects such as oil sands facilities, coal mines, pipelines, and renewable energy projects.

Danielle completed her LL.M. at the London School of Economics in 2017, and her J.D. at the University of Alberta in 2016. Her LL.M. focused on International Dispute Resolution and Global Comparative Competition/Antitrust Law. 

Chantelle Cseh

Chantelle Cseh

Davies | Toronto, ON

Chantelle's practice focuses on corporate/commercial, shareholder, competition and securities disputes. A significant portion of her practice involves the defence of national and cross-border class actions, including respecting allegations of anti-competitive conduct. She has appeared before courts and tribunals across the country, including the Ontario Court of Appeal, the Ontario Securities Commission and the Supreme Court of Canada.  

Chantelle is at the forefront of the use of litigation technology, and regularly consults on best practices for paperless and virtual litigation. She was named among the top 10 legal innovators in North America in the Financial Times Innovative Lawyers Report (2019). 

Chantelle sits on the Board of Directors and acts as the Chair of the Governance and Risk Management Committee of Earth Rangers, a not-for-profit organization that educates children about biodiversity and environmental sustainability. She is the Past Chair of the Ontario Bar Association Civil Litigation Section Executive and a member of the Commercial List Users Committee. 

Anthony Durocher

Anthony Durocher

Deputy Commissioner, Competition Promotion Branch, Competition Bureau of Canada

Anthony Durocher is Deputy Commissioner of the Competition Promotion Branch at the Competition Bureau of Canada. Competition is the engine that drives Canada’s economy, and in his position, Anthony’s primary role is to champion competition and its direct benefits to consumers and the economy.

He leads a team of 70 who work together to fly the flag of competition. As Branch head, Anthony supports the success of the International Affairs; Policy, Advocacy and Planning; Communications; Compliance and Outreach; and Economic Analysis teams.

Anthony has held increasingly senior roles in his 18 years at the Competition Bureau including Deputy Commissioner responsible for the Monopolistic Practices Directorate and Assistant Deputy Commissioner in the Mergers Directorate.

Anthony holds a Bachelor of Economics from McGill University and a Master of Economics from the University of British Columbia.

Jon Foreman

Jonathan J. Foreman

Foreman & Company | London, ON

Jon Foreman is the founder and partner of Foreman & Company, a boutique class actions law firm with an emphasis on securities law, competition law, consumer and product law, and pensions and copyright law, among others. Honored in 2013 as one of Lexpert®’s "Rising Stars: Leading Lawyers Under 40" in Canada. Also recognized by Lexpert®â€Żas a leading practitioner in Canadian Class Actions in the annual Canadian Legal Lexpert® Directory and in several special Lexpert® publications. He has litigated a full range of class action matters and has accumulated considerable class action trial experience. Has also negotiated and mediated many class action settlements and has much experience in the design of notice and claims distribution systems for class members. Jon was an adjunct faculty member at Western University law school where he taught class actions for five years. A frequent writer and presenter on class actions at leading legal conferences, he also often provides legal commentary to media outlets such as the CBC, the National Post, The Globe and Mail, The Lawyers Weekly, and others. Jon is a graduate of the law school at Western University and completed the “Emerging Leaders in Law Firms” executive legal program at the Harvard Law School.

Calvin Goldman

Calvin Goldman

Law Office of Calvin Goldman, KC | Toronto, ON

Calvin Goldman is the principal of The Law Office of Calvin Goldman, QC. His practice covers all areas of Canadian competition law, with a particular emphasis on Canadian and international matters before the Competition Bureau, as well as foreign investment reviews under the Investment Canada Act. Cal has acted as counsel in a number of leading competition law and foreign investment review cases in Canada.

Cal is a former Director (since renamed Commissioner) of the Competition Bureau in the Canadian Government and a former Vice Chair of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Competition Committee. He is a special advisor to the Business at OECD Competition Committee (BIAC), and a member of the C.D Howe Institute Competition Policy Council. He also is on the Binational Panels Roster under the Canada-US-Mexico Agreement, and serves as Co-Editor of the Foreign Investment Regulation Review text.

He was co-chair (2020-21) of the ICC Competition Commission’s Working Group on Competition and Economic Recovery. He also was co-chair (2019–2021) of the ABA Antitrust Law Section Task Force on the Future of Competition Law, which delivered two substantial Reports to the Section’s Council in August 2020 and August 2021 on evolving antitrust thinking and enforcement issues. In addition to co-chairing previous ABA antitrust law section task forces, Cal is a former Chair of the National Competition Law Section of the Canadian Bar Association.

Cal’s law firm includes Richard Taylor as Senior Competition Analyst and Case Manager. Richard was Deputy Commissioner of the Competition Bureau for 15 years, which followed many years as a Bureau official. His broad experience included responsibility for the enforcement of the merger, abuse of dominance and criminal provisions of the Competition Act.

Cal also works on various cases with Nicholas Cartel, with whose law firm Cal shares space. Nick has a Ph.D and was formerly in the federal Justice Department advising the Competition Bureau. Subsequently, Nick worked with Cal when Cal was Chair of the Competition, Antitrust and Foreign Investment Group at Goodmans LLP, before establishing Nick established his litigation law firm. Nick’s practice includes competition law, other regulatory matters and class actions.

Cal continues to be widely recognised in both Canada and globally as a leading competition and foreign investment review lawyer in a number of legal directories, which are reflected on his law firm’s website.

David Gore

David Gore

BMO Financial Group | Toronto, ON

David is a senior compliance and legal executive with over 20 years of leadership experience with global retail, manufacturing and financial services companies. He is currently Associate General Counsel, Competition/Antitrust at BMO Financial Group, a major Canadian-based financial services company with operations around the world, including BMO Harris Bank, based in Chicago. Prior to that, David held positions in both private practice and in-house environments. He was Senior Vice-President, Legal Counsel at Canada’s largest retailer and prior to that was senior legal counsel at Canada’s largest baked goods manufacturer. Subsequently, David was in private practice with Borden Ladner Gervais LLP in Toronto where he practised Competition/Antitrust law and specialized in compliance program development. David’s experience with Competition/Antitrust compliance includes top to bottom program assessment, design, implementation and administration.

James Gotowiec

James Gotowiec

Torys LLP | Toronto, ON

James Gotowiec is Counsel in the litigation group at Torys LLP. He has a broad commercial litigation practice focusing on competition litigation, class action defence, patent litigation and complex commercial disputes. He regularly represents clients before the Competition Bureau and in competition-related class actions, including in respect of auto parts, e-books, foreign exchange, generic drugs, SSA bonds, airfares, and flexible polyurethane foam.  James has appeared as counsel in the Supreme Court of Canada, the Ontario Superior Court and Court of Appeal, the Federal Court and Federal Court of Appeal, the BC Supreme Court, the Saskatchewan Court of King’s Bench and the Competition Tribunal.

Casey Halladay

Casey Halladay

McCarthy TĂ©trault LLP | Toronto, ON

Casey Halladay is a Partner in the Toronto office of McCarthy TĂ©trault LLP whose practice covers all areas of competition law, including cartel defence, class action litigation, and merger control, as well as foreign investment review under the Investment Canada Act. He brings a unique analytical approach to these issues, having practiced with leading firms in Toronto, Washington and London.

Casey is recognized as among the world’s leading cartel defence lawyers, has served as Vice-Chair of the ABA/IBA International Cartel Workshop (San Francisco, 2020), and as Co-Chair of Global Competition Review’s GCR Live 5th Annual Cartels conference. He has defended clients in more than 15 different Competition Bureau cartel investigations, as well as numerous undisclosed internal investigations and immunity applications, and in a broad range of antitrust class actions.

Andy Harington

Andy Harington

The Brattle Group | Toronto, ON

Andy is a Principal in the Toronto office of The Brattle Group, a global economics consulting firm that provides, amongst other things, competition related economic services around the world.   

With a background in mergers and acquisitions, he has provided litigation related services for over 20 years.  This includes having been involved in over 75 transactions involving the quantification of efficiencies.  Having worked on engagements both for the merging parties and the Commissioner, he has testified in front of the Tribunal in Tervita, Parish & Heimbecker / Louis Dreyfus and, most recently, Secure/Tervita. 

In addition to competition law, he has testified in the quantification of loss in intellectual property and commercial litigation damages in the Federal Court of Canada, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice and the International Court of Arbitration of the ICC as well as in domestic arbitrations. 

Joshua Hollenberg

Joshua Hollenberg

Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP | Toronto, ON

A lawyer in Davies’ Competition practice, Joshua has assisted on a range of commercial transactions, including lending, mergers and acquisitions, as well as on cartel investigations. His clients span a wide array of industries, including telecommunications, mining, healthcare, cannabis and financial services. Before starting private practice, Joshua worked as a lobbyist and on provincial and federal political campaigns.

Justine Johnston

Justine Johnston

Baker McKenzie LLP | Toronto, ON

Justine Johnston practices competition, commercial and regulatory law as a member of Baker McKenzie’s Global Antitrust & Competition Group and International Commercial Practice Group. She advises clients on all aspects of Canadian competition law and foreign investment review, with a particular focus on obtaining regulatory clearances for transactions and compliance matters. She has worked with clients across Canada's key industries, including transportation, construction, telecommunications, and consumer products. 

Justine recently completed a three-year term, culminating as Chair, of the CBA's Competition and Foreign Investment Review's Young Lawyers Committee, and has been a long-time member of OBA's Women Lawyers Forum, having served on its executive committee for five years.  

Navin Joneja

Navin Joneja

Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP | Toronto, ON

Navin is Co-Chair of the Blakes Competition, Antitrust & Foreign Investment group, widely regarded as one of Canada’s preeminent competition law practices and recently named Competition Regional Firm of the Year - Americas by Global Competition Review. Consistently ranked as a leading competition law practitioner, Navin is described in leading publications as providing “very practical and timely advice” who delivers “great client service”. He is recognized as an “outstanding analytical thinker” who is “deeply competent with respect to agency strategy”.

Navin is the past chair of the Competition Law and Foreign Investment Review Section of the Canadian Bar Association and is past chair of the Section’s Legislation and Public Policy and Competition Litigation Committees. He has authored numerous publications on competition law and foreign investment, including with respect to international cooperation in mergers, monopolization and cartel investigations, the interface between intellectual property and competition, and competition and international trade matters. Navin has also taught competition law at Osgoode Hall Law School and has previously been retained by the Canadian Competition Bureau to provide input and advice on the Canadian competition law regime.

Navin’s clients rely on him for timely and creative advice on domestic and multinational mergers, joint ventures, strategic alliances, cartels, abuse of dominance investigations, class actions and compliance programs. He is also considered an expert on Canada’s foreign investment laws and regulations, including those pertaining to national security and state-owned enterprises.

Kenneth Jull

Kenneth Jull

Gardiner Roberts LLP | Toronto, ON

Graduate of University of Toronto (Victoria College) 1978, Osgoode Hall Law School, (LL.B., 1981) (LL.M., 1985). Mr. Jull is a Partner at Gardiner Roberts LLP. Mr. Jull is the co-author of Profiting From Risk Management and Compliance (Thomson Reuters 2022. Co-Author is the Honourable Todd Archibald). A Student Edition of this text is used in a course taught by Mr. Jull at the University of Toronto, Faculty of Law, entitled “Financial Crimes and Corporate Compliance” and at the graduate level at Osgoode Hall Law School.

From 2016 to 2018 Mr. Jull participated in an interchange with the Competition Bureau where he held the position of General Counsel with the Legal Services Branch.

Mr. Jull conducts internal investigations and litigates disputes which have a compliance component. This risk and compliance practice spans a spectrum of diverse subject areas ranging from serious criminal offences such as bribery and price fixing to regulatory standards in areas such as the environment, telecommunications, occupational health and safety, advertising law and mergers and acquisitions review. As part of risk management, Mr. Jull provides advice to organizations with respect to a due diligence matrix for compliance. The matrix is based on a mathematical model which incorporates new behavioral research. 

Mr. Jull has litigated cases at all levels of Courts including the Supreme Court of Canada and Courts of Appeals in areas including constitutional and tax law, telecommunications, securities oppression, environmental offences, misleading/deceptive advertising and civil/criminal fraud.

Adam Kalbfleisch

Adam Kalbfleisch

Bennett Jones LLP | Toronto, ON

Adam Kalbfleisch's practice encompasses a wide range of competition/antitrust, foreign investment review and regulatory matters.

Adam is recognized as a leading competition lawyer in the most recent editions of Chambers Global, Chambers Canada, Who’s Who Legal: Canada and in The Legal 500 – Canada as a "Next Generation Partner". According to clients, Adam is "exceptional at providing easy-to-digest, frank and timely advice" (Chambers Global 2019) and is a "patient, detailed, and responsive" lawyer (Chambers Canada 2018). Adam has received commendation from peers and clients alike, who admire his "wealth of experience" and "attentiveness in regulatory matters" (Who's Who Legal 2019).

Adam regularly advises both domestic and foreign clients engaged in mergers, joint ventures and other forms of strategic alliances in connection with the notification and clearance provisions of the Competition Act and the Investment Canada Act (ICA). Adam is an expert in National Security reviews under the ICA and has guided clients, including several state-owned enterprises (SOEs) through the full national security review process on seven different occasions, making him one of Canada's leading experts in this area.

Adam advises clients in connection with conspiracy and other criminal provisions of the Competition Act, as well as on potentially anticompetitive business practices, including abuse of dominance, exclusive dealing and refusal to deal matters as well as corporate compliance. Adam also advises clients concerning product regulation and marketing/advertising law matters in a wide range of industries, including food processing, pharmaceutical, and other manufacturing sectors.

Adam is an active member of the Canadian Bar Association and the American Bar Association and was the chair of the 2014 Annual Competition Law Fall Conference of the CBA. He is also a member of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce Competition Law Policy Task Force, the Chair of the Icelandic Canadian Chamber of Commerce (ICCC) and the Honorary Consul General for Iceland (Toronto).

Kiran Khan

Kiran Khan

Competition Bureau Canada | Toronto, ON

Kiran Khan is currently the Acting Assistant Deputy Commissioner, Cartels and Deceptive Marketing Practices Branch of the Competition Bureau, Ontario regional office. Kiran began working for the Competition Bureau in June 2006. Her work has primarily focussed on investigating bid-rigging and conspiracies in the Cartels Directorate (previously known as the Criminal Matters Branch). Since November 2021, Kiran took over the role of Acting Assistant Deputy Commissioner for the Bureau’s Ontario regional office (Cartels and Deceptive Marketing Practices). In this role, she oversees enforcement matters, including those related to deceptive marketing, contributes toward policy development, and continues to play a role in strengthening the Bureau’s relationship with law enforcement partners.

Michael Kilby

Michael Kilby

Stikeman Elliott LLP | Toronto, ON

Michael Kilby is a partner and Head of the Competition & Foreign Investment Group at Stikeman Elliott LLP. He is a leading advisor on matters relating to Canadian competition and foreign investment laws, and has wide-ranging experience in complex merger reviews, foreign investment approvals, national security reviews, pricing and distribution practices, misleading advertising, anti-corruption and related counselling matters across a broad spectrum of industries. 

Michael has extensive experience advising clients in allocating and managing regulatory risk and securing governmental approvals throughout industries including technology, consumer goods, media, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, oil and gas, chemicals, transportation and telecommunications.  He has been involved in some of the most important, precedent-setting foreign acquisitions in modern Canadian history, including securing foreign investment approvals in the CNOOC / Nexen, Zayo / Allstream, Hasbro / Entertainment One, Petrochina / Athabasca Oil Sands and Vale / Inco transactions and the successful defence by Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan of the hostile bid from BHP Billiton.  

Michael is a former Chair of the Foreign Investment Review Committee and of the Marketing Practices Committee of the Competition Law Section of the Canadian Bar Association. 

Michael Koch

Michael Koch

Goodmans LLP | Toronto, ON

Michael Koch is a partner in a business law group and the Competition and Foreign Investment Group at Goodmans. 

His practice focuses on federal regulatory matters, including competition, communications, foreign investment and copyright law, in both transactions and litigation. 

Michael assists financial and strategic investors - both domestic and foreign - in completing mergers and acquisitions, advises and represents telecommunications and media companies in navigating Canada’s regulatory framework and before tribunals (e.g., the CRTC, Copyright Board of Canada and Competition Tribunal), and advocates on behalf of targets of government-initiated investigations and proceedings brought by the Competition Bureau. Michael also appears before the courts on reviews of, and appeals from, decisions of these bodies. 

Michael is recognized as a leading lawyer in Canada in the areas of telecommunications by Chambers Global, Chambers Canada, The Legal 500 Canada, The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory, the Lexpert Special Edition: Technology and Health Sciences and Best Lawyers in Canada. 

Gideon Kwinter

Gideon Kwinter

McCarthy TĂ©trault LLP | Toronto, ON

Gideon Kwinter is an associate in McCarthy TĂ©trault’s Competition / Antitrust and Foreign Investment Group in Toronto.

Gideon advises clients on all aspects of competition law, including mergers and acquisitions, marketing and advertising practices, abuse of dominance, criminal and civil investigations, and compliance matters. Gideon also provides counsel to foreign investors and Canadian businesses with respect to economic, cultural and national security matters under the Investment Canada Act.

Gideon has advised on numerous complex, global and domestic strategic transactions, with extensive experience in the transportation, telecommunications, retail, financial services and aerospace industries.

Gideon is a vice-chair of the Economics and Law committee of the CBA’s Competition Law and Foreign Investment Review section and a member of the International Committee of the ABA’s Antitrust Law section.

Michelle Lally

Michelle Lally

Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP | Toronto, ON

Michelle is a senior partner in Osler’s Competition Law and Foreign Investment Group. She is also a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and a Former Chair of the National Competition Law section of the Canadian Bar Association. Michelle’s practice covers the gamut of competition law from M&A and competitor collaborations to criminal & civil antitrust investigations and strategic counselling advice on managing competition law risk and structuring antitrust compliance programs. As well, Michelle has extensive experience representing targets and non-Canadian buyers confronted with the review process under the Investment Canada Act.

​Matthew Levitt​

​Matthew Levitt​

Baker Botts LLP | Brussels, Belgium

Matthew is a partner in Baker Botts’ antitrust practice and splits his time between the Brussels and London offices.

Mr. Levitt has extensive experience in the energy sector, advising on the EU regulatory aspects of the Shah Deniz gas pipeline project, the EU Power exchange investigation, and handling mergers in the utilities, water, ports and infrastructure sectors. He has also handled several ground-breaking cartel and abuse of dominance cases in the European Courts including the Masterfoods / van den Bergh ice-cream cases and Woodpulp III.

Mr. Levitt is described by clients in Legal 500 EMEA (2020) as having ‘…vast experience of our industry and understands the competition law issues in that specialized context. His knowledge of the people and processes in the regulatory arena is impressive. What sets him apart from competitors is a lack of excessive ego and an ability to communicate effectively with clients and regulators, as well as an ability and willingness to apply the appropriate amount of effort to the task at hand.’

Max Liu

Max Liu

Assistant Deputy Commissioner, Monopolistic Practices Directorate, Competition Bureau | Ottawa, ON

Max Liu is an Assistant Deputy Commissioner at the Monopolistic Practices Directorate of the Competition Bureau, an independent law enforcement agency that protects and promotes competition for the benefit of Canadian consumers and businesses. In his current role, Max is responsible for the review of a number of investigations related to abuse of dominance, competitor collaborations and other reviewable matters. Since joining the Bureau in 2007, Max has worked on a number of priority enforcement files for the Bureau, including in the real estate, pharmaceutical and airlines industries, and has played a key role in developing enforcement policy related to abuse of dominance. Max holds a Masters of Economics from the University of British Columbia.  

Ian Macdonald

Ian Macdonald

Gowling WLG LLP | Toronto, ON

Ian Macdonald is a partner in Gowling WLG's Toronto office who advises domestic and international businesses on all aspects of competition and antitrust law and foreign investment review. 

With an emphasis on merger review, Ian has successfully represented private sector and state-owned-enterprise (SOE) clients in a wide range of industries in relation to dozens of pre-notifications under the Competition Act and reviews and notifications under the Investment Canada Act.

Ian also advises clients in relation to the civil and criminal provisions of the Competition Act, and has assisted clients in responding to information and document production orders in relation to alleged violations of the Act's civil and criminal provisions. He frequently prepares competition law compliance policies and conducts compliance seminars for clients. 

Ian is deeply involved in the competition law and foreign investment review community. In addition to speaking at conferences and authoring articles, Ian is the past chair of the International Committee of the Competition Law Section of the Canadian Bar Association and a past member of the editorial board of the Canadian Competition Law Review.

John MacGregor

John MacGregor

Competition Bureau Canada | Toronto, ON

John MacGregor is a Senior Competition Law Officer with the Mergers Directorate of the Competition Bureau. Since joining the Bureau in 2014, John has led the review of a number of high profile merger matters, including several that involved analysis of efficiencies. John holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Toronto and a Master of Arts in Economics from Carlton University.

Reema Mahbubani

Reema Mahbubani

Miller Thomson LLP | Toronto, ON

As a member of Miller Thomson’s Competition / Antitrust Group and Global Trade and Customs Group, Reema Mahbubani’s practice focuses on allocating and managing regulatory risk for foreign and domestic businesses in connection with Canada’s competition, marketing and foreign investment laws.  Reema advises on all aspects of competition law, including mergers and acquisitions, deceptive marketing practices, civil and criminal investigations and regulatory compliance matters. Reema also provides general compliance advice under the Investment Canada Act.

Alysha Manji-Knight

Alysha Manji-Knight

Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP | Toronto, ON

Alysha is a Partner in the Competition, Antitrust and Foreign Investment Group at Davies.

Alysha’s commercial insight and technical know-how allow her to deliver practical solutions to clients’ critical business matters.

She advises clients on all aspects of competition law, with a particular focus on mergers and acquisitions, cartel investigations, reviewable conduct, misleading advertising and litigation. Alysha’s deep knowledge of complex regulatory requirements has made her a trusted adviser to clients across a range of industries, including mining, retail, commercial real estate, telecommunications, consumer products and financial services. She also counsels clients on Canadian ownership and control laws as well as privacy matters.

Alysha is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and holds leadership positions within the Canadian Bar Association and American Bar Association.

Alysha was recently recognized as a Future Leader in Who’s Who Legal: Competition 2022.

Chris Margison

Chris Margison

Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP | Toronto, ON

Chris Margison is Counsel in Fasken’s Competition, Marketing & Foreign Investment group. He has over 20 years of private and public sector legal experience, including as Special Advisor to both the Commissioner of Competition and the Senior Deputy Commissioner, Cartels Directorate at the Competition Bureau.

With his background, Chris brings a number of attributes, such as the ability to provide critical advice, guidance and recommendations in a timely fashion on all aspects of Canadian competition law. He has advised the Commissioner, Senior Deputy Commissioners and high-profile Canadian and international companies on mergers, strategic alliances, cartels, bid-rigging, abuse of dominance, distribution and pricing practices, and misleading advertising matters. He has been involved in several litigated matters before the Competition Tribunal, including as an integral part of the Competition Bureau’s case team in Commissioner of Competition v. Visa Canada Corporation. Chris has developed expertise in a wide variety of industries, including the agricultural, consumer products, entertainment, financial services, information technology, manufacturing, mining, pharmaceutical, plastics and telecommunications sectors.

Patrizia Martino

Patrizia Martino

TD Bank Group | Toronto, ON

As Senior Counsel at TD Bank Group, Patrizia provides strategic legal and regulatory advice on various enterprise-wide regulatory issues including competition law, supports the payments and anti-money laundering functions and has also supported marketing. Her role includes managing and mitigating risk, working collaboratively with key stakeholders internally and externally, and providing practical, risk mitigating advice and solutions. Prior to her role at TD, Patrizia was Senior Advisor to the Commissioner of Competition at the Competition Bureau, where she was responsible for providing strategic advice to the Commissioner on complex high profile enforcement and policy matters. While at the Bureau, she was also a Senior Competition Law Officer in the Mergers Branch, where she led various complex domestic and international merger examinations and developed guidelines to implement the amendments to the merger provisions of the Competition Act. She also participated in the International Fellow program at the U.S. Federal Trade Commission in New York City. Prior to joining the Bureau, Patrizia practiced at Stikeman Elliott LLP in the federal regulatory law group, as well as the corporate and commercial law group.

Sarah Mavula

Sarah Mavula

Baker McKenzie LLP | Toronto, ON

Sarah Mavula is a senior associate in Baker McKenzie's International Commercial Practice Group and the Global Antitrust & Competition Group in Toronto. Recognized as a 2022 Precedent Setter in Precedent Magazine's Precedent Setter Awards, Sarah practices competition/antitrust and foreign investment law. Sarah also regularly advises clients on product regulatory compliance.

Joe McGrade

Joe McGrade

Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP | Toronto, ON

Joe is a member of the Competition, Antitrust & Foreign Investment group at Blakes. Joe’s practice focuses on all aspects of competition law and advocacy, including contested merger litigation, class actions, merger review, cartel investigations, abuse of dominance, joint ventures and strategic alliance, and regulatory compliance. He also advises on foreign investment merger review under the Investment Canada Act.  

Joe has appeared before the Competition Tribunal and Ontario Superior Court and is a passionate advocate for his clients.

Christopher Naudie

Christopher Naudie

Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP | Toronto, ON

Chris practices corporate and commercial litigation, with a strong focus on regulatory enforcement and class action defence. He is a leader of Osler’s Competition Litigation and Investigations Practice, and he has served Co-Chair of Osler’s National Class Action Specialty Group. He is currently the Chair of the Criminal Matters Committee of the Canadian Bar Association – Competition Law Section, and he led the Section’s commentary on potential changes to the Immunity and Leniency Programs. Chris has also served on the executive of the Ontario Bar Associations – Class Actions Executive. In his antitrust practice, Chris has represented clients in a range of investigations and enforcement proceedings under the Competition Act. He has acted on behalf of numerous applicants under the Competition Bureau’s immunity and leniency programs and has defended targets of investigative and enforcement action under both the criminal and civil provisions of the Act. Chris also regularly defends civil and class action claims under the Competition Act and has acted in a number of the leading cases involving the scope of collective relief for anti-competitive conduct in both domestic and international cases. Chris has argued cases before trial and appellate courts across the country, including the B.C. Court of Appeal, Ontario Court of Appeal, the Federal Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada. Over the course of his career, Chris has successfully litigated numerous cases in British Columbia. Prior to joining Osler, Christopher served as a law clerk for the Right Honourable Antonio Lamer, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, and Justice Morris Fish, at the Quebec Court of Appeal.

Chris is currently ranked as a leading class action and competition litigation lawyer in Canada in Chambers Global: The World’s Leading Business Lawyers 2014-2020 and The Best Lawyers in Canada 2014-2020. In his younger days, Chris was recognized by Lexpert as one of the “Top 40 Under 40” lawyers in Canada in 2007.

Tegan O’Brien

Tegan O’Brien

Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP | Toronto, ON

Tegan O’Brien (she/her/hers) is a member of Cassels Competition & Foreign Investment and Regulatory Groups.  She advises clients on all aspects of Canadian competition and foreign investment review law, including mergers & acquisitions, cartels and other criminal matters, private actions (including class actions), advertising and marketing practices, abuse of dominance and other reviewable trade practices.

Tegan has advised international and Canadian clients in a variety of industries, including mining, oil and gas, food, real estate, insurance, financial services. manufacturing and others, on merger and foreign investment reviews issues.  Her competition litigation experience includes defending domestic and cross-border class actions alleging anti-competitive conduct, including the Canadian generics price fixing class action, which has been described as involving “the largest [alleged] private sector corporate cartel in history.

Tegan advises leading consumer products, food and drugs, medical devices, cosmetics, alcohol and cannabis clients on complex regulatory matters, including licensing, safety standards, and packaging and labelling requirements.

She is a member of the Executive of the Antitrust Law Committee of the ABA Business Law Section and an active member of both the CBA National Competition Law Section and the ABA Section of Antitrust Law. Tegan is also a co-editor of Cassels on Competition, the firm’s monthly client update on key trends and developments in Canadian competition and foreign investment law.

W. Michael G. Osborne

W. Michael G. Osborne

Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP | Toronto, ON

Michael Osborne practises competition law as well as commercial litigation and arbitration as a partner of Cassels. He advises and represents businesses in competition law matters, including Competition Bureau investigations, criminal matters, merger notification, and class actions. Michael also acts in a wide variety of regulatory matters and commercial disputes. Michael has acted as trial and appellate counsel before courts of all levels, administrative tribunals (particularly the Competition Tribunal), and domestic and international arbitral tribunals. Michael is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and a Fellow of Litigation Counsel of America.  

Michael was called to the Bar in Ontario in 1998, after completing his articles as a Law Clerk to the late Justice John Sopinka of the Supreme Court of Canada. He received his LL.B. from Dalhousie University in 1996, his M.A. from the University of Toronto in 1991, and his B.A. from the University of Saskatchewan in 1988. 

Michael is an active member of the Canadian Bar Association’s Competition Law Section, the American Bar Association’s Antitrust Section, the Advocates’ Society, the Toronto Commercial Arbitration Society, and the Toronto Lawyers’ Association.  

Margot Patterson

Margot Patterson

Dentons LLP | Ottawa, ON

Margot Patterson is Counsel with Dentons' Intellectual Property, Communications Law, Competition Law, and Media, Entertainment and Sports practice groups, with a focus on media, brands and intellectual property. Margot advises international entertainment, technology and e-commerce businesses on exploiting, growing and protecting their commercial assets.

Margot is recommended by Chambers Global, Chambers Canada, the Legal 500 Canada and Best Lawyers in Canada as one of Canada's leading lawyers in Media and Communications Law. She regularly works with media service providers across all platforms to structure commercial agreements, ensure the successful launch and promotion of their services in Canada, and keep up with increasing legislative and regulatory change.

She advises a broad range of clients on promotions, sponsorships and contests of all kinds, branding issues, competitive disputes, and consumer protection matters. Regulated consumer products and services are a particular focus. Industry areas include entertainment and gaming services, and beverage alcohol and cannabis products.

Margot has also worked extensively with businesses to meet direct marketing requirements under Canada’s anti-spam and telecommunications laws. She provides practical solutions to businesses to ensure that contracts, customer service processes and policies are compliant.

Before joining Dentons, Margot was General Counsel and Vice-President, Legal Affairs for the Canadian Association of Broadcasters

John Pecman

John Pecman

Fasken Martineau Dumoulin LLP | Ottawa, ON

John is a Senior Business Advisor in the Competition, Marketing and Foreign Investment group at Fasken. John is an economist with an MA from McMaster University and worked at the Competition Bureau as an investigator, manager, and executive for more than 34 years. John served as the Commissioner of Competition of the Competition Bureau Canada from June 2013 for a five-year term. Under John’s leadership, the Bureau’s enforcement actions preserved competition and drove innovation in a variety of major areas of the Canadian economy, including the automotive, manufacturing, e-commerce, telecommunications, and retail sectors. John was responsible for reinvigorating the Bureau’s role in advocating for Canadians by promoting the benefits of increased competition in regulated sectors of the economy. John’s philosophy of a more open, transparent, and collaborative Bureau led to many initiatives including a realignment of the organization, prioritization of corporate compliance programs and building many trust relationships with domestic and international partners. John held executive positions with the OECD Competition Committee and the International Competition Network (ICN) and served as ICN/OECD Liaison to ensure coordination of work by these international bodies. Presently, John holds several appointments, including as a Non-Government Advisor (NGA) to the ICN, Fellow at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Senior Fellow at the C.D. Howe Institute, as well as the TMX Industry Professor at DeGroote Business School at McMaster University.

Jeanne Pratt

Jeanne Pratt

Competition Bureau | Gatineau, QC

Jeanne Pratt is Senior Deputy Commissioner of the Mergers and Monopolistic Practices Branch at the Canadian Competition Bureau. She oversees the review of merger transactions and investigations related to abuse of dominance and other unilateral and joint anti-competitive conduct. From July 2017-July 2018, she held the position of Executive General Manager of the Merger and Authorization Review Division at the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission as part of an international interchange. Jeanne has previously held management positions in the Cartels Directorate and as Special Legal Advisor to the Commissioner of Competition. Prior to joining the Bureau, Jeanne practiced competition law in the private sector.

Jennifer Quaid

Jennifer Quaid

Civil Law Section, University of Ottawa | Ottawa, ON

Jennifer A. Quaid, B Soc Sci (Econ) (Ottawa), LL.L/LL.B. (Ottawa), LLM (Cantab), LLM (Columbia), PhD (Queen’s), is an Associate Professor and Vice-Dean Research in the Civil Law Section at the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Law. She is an internationally recognized legal expert and scholar in the fields of Organizational Criminal Liability, Corporate Accountability, Anticorruption Law, Competition and Business Regulation.  She teaches criminal law, competition law and corporate law.

Professor Quaid actively researches and publishes on a range of topics that explore how the criminal law is applied to organizations. Her research program is centred on the unique enabling role that business organizations play in creating the conditions for serious blameworthy conduct to occur. Her current research projects focus on three areas: organizational sentencing; non-trial resolutions for economic crime and general anticorruption law; and competition law, market regulation and the digital economy.

A member of the Bars of Québec, Ontario and New York, Prof. Quaid practised law for several years, first with the federal Department of Justice and then in private practice for a leading New York firm before joining the academy. She clerked for the Honourable Frank Iacobucci of the Supreme Court of Canada.

Prof. Quaid is a Senior Fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI). She is also a member of Transparency International Canada and is the current Chair of its Legal Committee.

She was a member of the Board of Governors of the University of Ottawa from 2018-2021.

Althia Raj

Althia Raj

Political Journalist & CBC "At Issue” Panelist | Ottawa, On

Althia Raj is an Ottawa-based political journalist and a member of the CBC’s flagship newscast The National’s “At Issue” panel. She is also an analyst and pundit at CPAC (Cable Public Affairs Channel), and has covered Parliament Hill on and off since 2006, writing for HuffPost Canada, Sun Media, and producing for CTV and for CBC Radio’s “The House.” She can be seen and heard on various CBC, Radio-Canada and CPAC programs throughout the week. 

Althia Raj previously served as HuffPost Canada’s senior editorial manager and its Ottawa bureau chief, from the news site’s inception in 2011 until its closure in March, 2021. She set up the Ottawa bureau and later ran its bilingual newsroom, overseeing its political coverage of Parliament Hill and of the National Assembly in Quebec City. In 2017, she launched “Follow-Up,” a bi-monthly politics podcast she hosted and produced.

Althia was one of the moderators of the 2019 federal election debate. She also organized and moderated a federal NDP leaders debate in 2017 and the Ontario PC leadership debate in 2018.

She has consistently been ranked in The Hill Times list of the top 100 most influential people in Canadian politics since 2015. She is also the recipient of several digital media awards for her multi-media election coverage.

Justine Reisler

Justine Reisler

Stikeman Elliott LLP | Toronto, ON

Justine Reisler is an associate in Stikeman Elliott LLP’s Competition & Foreign Investment Group. Justine provides advice and representation to clients in all aspects of competition law and foreign investment review, including in relation to merger notification and review by the Canadian Competition Bureau, conspiracy and other criminal and civil reviewable matters, the application of the Investment Canada Act (including its national security provisions) to non-Canadians establishing a new business or acquiring an existing business in Canada, and compliance with marketing/advertising laws. She was recognized by Lexology as a Legal influencer in 2022. Justine is Chair of the Young Lawyers Committee of the Competition and Foreign Investment Review Section of the Canadian Bar Association.

Thomas Ross

Thomas Ross

UBC Sauder School | Vancouver, BC

Tom Ross is a Professor Emeritus in the Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia and a former UPS Foundation Professor of Regulation and Competition Policy and Director of the Phelps Centre for the Study of Government and Business in the Sauder School. An economist, he did his undergraduate work at the University of Western Ontario and earned his doctorate at the University of Pennsylvania in 1981. Professor Ross worked at the University of Chicago and Carleton University before moving to U.B.C. (in 1992) and spent a year as the first holder of the T.D. MacDonald Chair in Industrial Economics at the Competition Bureau in 1990-91 and a year as a National Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University from 1987-88. From 1993 to 1996 he served as Chair of the Policy Analysis and Strategy Division and, from 2008 to 2012, as Senior Associate Dean (Faculty & Research) of the Sauder School. He has received awards for his research from the Sauder School (Faculty Research Prize, 2001) and the University of British Columbia (Killam Research Prize, 2005) as well as teaching awards from the Sauder School (CGA Graduate Teaching Award, 2004) and from the MBA Class of 2004 (Outstanding Professor Award). His research in the areas of competition policy, regulation, industrial organization, public-private partnerships and experimental economics has been published in a number of scholarly journals. Through the Phelps Centre, Professor Ross has been director or co-director of a number of important research and teaching initiatives, including the UBC Summer Conference on Industrial Organization and the Vancouver Competition Policy Roundtable. Professor Ross has also served as a consultant to a number of public and private sector organizations. 

Denes Rothschild

Denes Rothschild

Borden Ladner Gervais LLP | Toronto, ON

Denes is a Partner in Borden Ladner Gervais LLP’s Competition/Antitrust and Foreign Investment Review Group.

Making use of his dual Canadian and American law degrees, Denes regularly collaborates with attorneys in other jurisdictions to ensure consistent and outstanding representation for his large multinational clients.

Denes’ main areas of practice are providing practical advice on:

Clearance of proposed mergers;
Foreign investment review, including national security and cultural reviews;
Competition compliance;
Criminal cartel matters;
Reviewable matters such as abuse of dominance; and
Advertising and marketing law.

He has worked with numerous major companies to design, implement and improve their competition law compliance programs, as well as to audit their effectiveness. He acted for the immunity applicant on the largest domestic cartel case in Canadian history, and assisted in the development, roll-out and continued application and monitoring of that client’s compliance policy.

Danielle K. Royal

Danielle K. Royal

Stikeman Elliott LLP | Toronto, ON

Danielle Royal is a partner in the Litigation & Dispute Resolution Group. Her practice focuses on class actions, complex commercial litigation and competition litigation. Danielle has appeared before all levels of Court in Ontario, the Federal Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada. She has represented clients on several cross-border class actions involving claims of price-fixing and conspiracy, other commercial disputes, as well as a range of product liability claims. Danielle has significant experience advising and assisting companies regarding internal investigations and responding to regulatory, criminal or quasi-criminal investigations and the class action litigation that often accompanies allegations of serious misconduct. 

Ann Salvatore

Ann Salvatore

Deputy Commissioner, Cartels Directorate,Cartels and Deceptive Marketing Practices Branch, Competition Bureau Canada | Ottawa, ON

Ann Salvatore is the Deputy Commissioner in the Cartels Directorate, Cartels and Deceptive Marketing Practices Branch of the Competition Bureau Canada. Since joining the Bureau almost 35 years ago, she has worked in a variety of areas gaining broad experience in both the enforcement of the Competition Act and in developing enforcement policy. Ann has participated in and led numerous investigations involving both international and domestic cartels and investigations involving false and misleading representations and performance claims. Ann also has extensive experience in operations and has managed large groups involved in providing essential enforcement support, such as the Bureau’s computer forensics unit. Finally, Ann has represented the Bureau in various fora involving both domestic and international partners and collaborates frequently on best practices for criminal investigations and the enforcement of anti-trust laws generally. 

Debbie Salzberger

Debbie Salzberger

McCarthy TĂ©trault LLP | Toronto, ON

Deborah (Debbie) Salzberger is a Partner in our Antitrust/Competition & Foreign Investment Group in Toronto. 

She is consistently ranked in Chambers Global, Chambers Canada, Global Competition Review, Who's Who Legal and The Legal 500, among many others. Named by Global Competition Review on its international list of Women in Antitrust (2021) and a Global Elite Thought Leader, Debbie is widely recognized as one of a small group of leading competition lawyers, economists, academics and enforcers who define the highest professional and service standards in the sector. 

Debbie acts for clients in domestic and multinational mergers and acquisitions with respect to competition/antitrust law and foreign investment review matters. She also regularly provides competition law compliance advice regarding criminal cartel matters and reviewable practices, including joint ventures, resale pricing, advertising and distribution issues. 

Debbie actively participates in thought leadership and industry groups, both in Canada and internationally. She is the past chair of the Canadian Bar Association Competition Law Section's Foreign Investment Review Committee and the co-chair of the American Bar Association’s Insurance and Financial Services Committee.

Fiona A. Schaeffer

Fiona A. Schaeffer

Milbank LLP | New York, NY

Fiona Schaeffer is an international antitrust lawyer with over 25 years of experience practicing on both sides of the Atlantic. Clients entrust Ms. Schaeffer with the defense of “bet-the-company” criminal and civil cases as well as their most complex transactions. She counsels clients in a variety of industries, with a particular depth of experience in healthcare, financial services, energy, media and communications.  

Ms. Schaeffer regularly represents clients in FTC and DOJ investigations and follow on class actions in the US and internationally. She also counsels clients on optimizing intellectual property rights and licensing, distribution and marketing practices without creating unnecessary legal risks. Ms. Schaeffer began her legal career in the UK, and has appeared before courts and regulators throughout the EU as well as other significant antitrust enforcement agencies around the world. 

Craig Seebald

Craig Seebald

Vinson & Elkins LLP | Washington, D.C.

Craig serves as Co-Head of Vinson and Elkins’ Litigation & Regulatory department and is a leader of the firm’s renowned global Antitrust Group. With 30 years of antitrust experience that results from working with the world’s leading companies, today Craig represents clients in all areas of antitrust law, including criminal grand jury investigations, civil investigations by the FTC and the DOJ, class action litigation, and merger investigations.

A core area of Craig’s practice involves defending multinational companies in cartel and price-fixing investigations. He has successfully defended Fortune 100 companies in grand jury investigations and coordinated the defense of multijurisdictional cartel investigations. Craig, who is based in Washington, D.C., has represented clients in obtaining amnesty from the Department of Justice, and has successfully defended others in cartel investigations with no charges being brought against the company.

Craig also represents companies in antitrust civil litigation. He has been able to win bet-the-company cases for clients by winning early dismissals, defeating class certification and winning summary judgment motions.

Craig’s experience spans a wide range of industries, including technology, financial services, chemicals, aerospace and defense, semiconductors, transportation, consumer products, and energy, among many others. His work has involved multinational organizations based in Asia, Europe, North America and Australia.

Craig is ranked as one of the leading cartel lawyers in the world by several publications. He has been annually ranked by Chambers Global Antitrust: USA as one of the top cartel lawyers in the US. He has also been recognized annually in Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business from 2009-2022. He has also been recognized by Legal 500 as one of the top cartel lawyers in the United States. Craig was also recently selected by Lawdragon in 2021 as one of the 500 best lawyers in America in Lawdragon’s 500 Leading Lawyers Guide.

Robin Shaban

Robin Shaban

Vivic Research | Ottawa, ON

Based in Ottawa, Canada, Robin is a the co-founder and senior economist of Vivic Research, an economic consulting firm serving advocates, think tanks, governments, labour unions, and other agents engaged in the development of public policy. They are also a co-founder and director of the Canadian Anti-Monopoly Project (CAMP), which advocates for policy conducive to a more democratic economy. 

A major focus of Robin’s work is competition policy both in the Canadian and international context. They have undertaken studies on competition policy in Canada in studies for Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, Policy Horizon’s Canada, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, and McGill’s Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy. They have also testified at the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Industry and Technology to provide perspectives on the proposed Rogers-Shaw merger, competitiveness in Canada, and the review of the Competition Act

In addition, I Robin has also written on competition policy issues in various newspapers and publications — the Globe and Mail, National Post, Financial Post, the Monitor, Policy Options, and the Conversation — and has provided commentary on several podcasts and radio and tv programs. 

Robin is also a recipient of the Globe and Mail’s 2021 Changemakers Award where they were acknowledged for their efforts to advance public policy centered on advancing social justice through Vivic Research and my academic work on competition policy. 

Along with their research on competition policy through Vivic Research and CAMP, Robin is also a PhD candidate at Carleton University’s School of Public Policy and Administration where they are studying competition policy, the role of economic efficiency within merger control, and how Canada’s competition law compares to our international peers. 

Antonia Sherman

Antonia Sherman

Linklaters LLP | Washington, DC

Antonia represents clients in merger and non-merger investigations before the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice. She has over 20 years of experience advising clients on the antitrust aspects of mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and other business arrangements, with a particular focus on complying with and obtaining merger clearances under the U.S. Hart-Scott-Rodino Act and the laws of non-U.S. jurisdictions.

Antonia regularly advises large multinational corporations in sectors such as oil and gas, pharmaceuticals and industrial gasses. She also has a broad range of experience advising private equity firms on fund acquisitions and bolt-ons, and is recognized in Chambers USA and Legal 500.

Antonia graduated magna cum laude from Amherst College with a degree in History, and with honors from Emory University School of Law.

D. Daniel Sokol

D. Daniel Sokol

USC Gould School of Law | Los Angeles, CA

D. Daniel Sokol is the Carolyn Craig Franklin Chair in Law and Business at the USC Gould School of Law and an Affiliate Professor of Business at the Marshall School of Business, where he teaches in the marketing department.  He serves as faculty director of the Center for Transnational Law and Business and the co-director of the USC Marshall Initiative on Digital Competition.   

Professor Sokol is among the top 10 most cited antitrust law professors in the past five years.  He focuses his teaching and scholarship on complex business issues from early stage start-ups to multinational businesses and the issues that businesses face regarding competition: antitrust, data breaches, corporate governance, compliance, innovation, M&A, digital transformation, and global business regulation.

He also has testified or presented his work to antitrust authorities and practitioner groups in the U.S. and around the world in addition to presenting his work to academic audiences. He is a member of the American Law Institute. He also serves as academic advisor to the United States Chamber of Commerce and as a non-governmental Advisor to the International Competition Network and co-chairs the ABA Antitrust Section’s IP Committee.

Prior to joining USC, Sokol taught at the University of Florida.  He also has taught, among other institutions, at the Catholic University of Chile, University of Melbourne, University of Haifa, University of Tokyo and Northwestern University.

Among his books in the past decade are: The Cambridge Handbook of Compliance (Cambridge University Press 2021); Antitrust Procedural Fairness (Oxford University Press 2019); Patent Assertion Entities and Competition Policy (Cambridge University Press 2017); The Cambridge Handbook of Antitrust, Intellectual Property, and High Tech (Cambridge University Press 2017); The Oxford Handbook of International Antitrust Economics, Volume 1 (Oxford University Press 2014); The Oxford Handbook of International Antitrust Economics, Volume 2 (Oxford University Press 2014); Global Antitrust Compliance Handbook (Oxford University Press 2014); Competition and the State (Stanford University Press 2014); Competition Law and Development (Stanford University Press 2013); and The Global Limits of Competition Law (Stanford University Press 2012). 

Robin Spillette

Robin Spillette

Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP | Toronto, ON

Robin Spillette is an associate of Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP’s competition, marketing and foreign investment group. Robin assists clients with a variety of domestic and multi-jurisdictional competition related matters. Among other things, Robin has advised clients with respect to a number of matters under the Competition Act and the Investment Canada Act, including merger reviews, abuse of dominance, deceptive marketing matter, and refusal to deal issues, foreign investment notifications and reviews, and with corporate compliance and training programs. Robin also has experience assisting clients with general corporate/commercial matters including mergers and acquisitions for both public and private companies, reorganizations, securities regulation matters and private financings.

Robin completed a JD and Master of Arts in Economics at the University of Toronto. Prior to law school, she completed an Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Statistics from the University of Victoria.

Andrea Talarico

Andrea Talarico

Langlois Avocats | Montreal, QC

Andrea Talarico is an attorney at Langlois Avocats in Montreal where she practices in labour law and public law. She is also a doctoral candidate in law at the University in Ottawa. Her doctoral thesis focuses on the evolution of the constitutional protection of collective bargaining in Canada. Ms. Talarico is a member in good standing of the Barreau du QuĂ©bec since 2009 and holds degrees from the UniversitĂ© de MontrĂ©al and the European University Institute.  

Charles Tingley

Charles Tingley

Davies | Toronto, ON

Charles brings a combination of expert knowledge in competition law and enforcement agency experience to his practice. He advises on Canadian competition and foreign investment review law, including mergers, abuse of dominance, cartel investigations, misleading advertising and general compliance matters.

Charles has significant expertise in securing competition and foreign investment approvals for complex M&A transactions. He also assists clients in major competition litigation and in negotiating resolutions with the Competition Bureau.

He brings a unique understanding of enforcement agency concerns to his clients’ matters. Before rejoining us in 2012, he was Deputy General Counsel of the New Zealand Commerce Commission, where he managed the Commission’s major litigation portfolio and acted as counsel in a variety of complex competition proceedings.

Charles is actively involved in the leadership of the Canadian Bar Association’s Competition Law Section, including as current chair of the Digital Media Committee; past chair of the Mergers Committee, Reviewable Matters/Unilateral Conduct Committee, and the CBA’s 2016 Spring Competition Law Conference; and past vice-chair of the Legislation and Competition Policy Committee. He is a board member of the children’s charity Ready, Set, Play.

Holly Vedova

Holly Vedova

Director, Bureau of Competition, U.S. Federal Trade Commission

Holly Vedova is the Director of the Bureau of Competition, Federal Trade Commission, where she oversees the Bureau’s nearly 300 lawyers and staff in bringing merger and civil non-merger competition enforcement matters. Ms. Vedova has principal responsibility in carrying out Chair Khan’s priorities for the competition mission in the agency. Prior to this role, Ms. Vedova was most recently an Attorney Advisor to FTC Commissioner Rohit Chopra, where she analyzed recommendations from the Bureau of Competition and advised the Commissioner on all aspects of the FTC’s competition mission. Ms. Vedova has also served as an attorney advisor to four other FTC Commissioners as well as Counsel to the Director of the Bureau of Competition. Ms. Vedova joined the FTC in 1990 and started her career as a staff attorney in a Bureau of Competition merger division. Ms. Vedova also spent two years in private practice as in-house antitrust counsel to a large pharmaceutical corporation.

Ms. Vedova has a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Earlham College and a law degree from George Mason University in Virginia.

Paul-Erik Veel

Paul-Erik Veel

Lenczner Slaught LLP | Toronto, ON

Paul-Erik is a partner at the litigation boutique Lenczner Slaght LLP in Toronto.  His practice focuses on class actions, competition law, complex commercial disputes, and professional liability. His clients include major technology companies, financial institutions, professional services firms, pharmaceutical companies, retailers, and franchisors. 

Paul-Erik has extensive trial experience, having acted as counsel in trials involving a number of industries and subject-matters. He has appeared repeatedly before both the Supreme Court of Canada and the Ontario Court of Appeal. He also routinely assists clients with regulatory investigations and proceedings before administrative tribunals. 

Paul-Erik is an adjunct professor at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law. He has also previously been a sessional lecturer in the graduate program in the Department of Economics at the University of Toronto, where he taught Economic Analysis of Law. He has published articles on a variety of legal topics, including class actions, contracts, competition law, civil procedure, and constitutional law. Prior to joining Lenczner Slaght in 2010, Paul-Erik graduated as the Gold Medalist from the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, and then clerked for Madam Justice Louise Charron at the Supreme Court of Canada. 

Cristina Volpin

Cristina Volpin

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development | Paris, ĂŽle-de-France, France

Cristina Volpin is a Competition Expert at the OECD, where she conducts research on various competition law and policy topics for the OECD Competition Committee and provides capacity-building to competition authorities and members of the judiciary. At the OECD, she leads the work on sustainability and competition and authored research studies, including with a focus on competition enforcement and policy in labour markets, digital markets, innovation, and the economic recovery. She is a qualified lawyer in Italy, where she worked in two top-tier Italian law firms (Gianni Origoni Grippo Cappelli & Partners, and Chiomenti). Cristina obtained a Ph.D. in EU Competition Law from the University of Padua, where she also graduated in Law. Before joining the OECD, she was an associate lecturer in competition law at Queen Mary University of London. She recently completed a postgraduate course on Business Sustainability Management from the University of Cambridge. She is editor of the Journal of European Competition Law & Practice and a Fellow at the Centre for Law, Economics and Society at University College London. She has published in the Common Market Law Review and other leading journals. Her book on burden and standard of proof in EU competition law is in preparation. 

Rebecca Wagner

Rebecca Wagner

Torys LLP | Toronto, ON

Rebecca Wagner is a senior associate in the Torys Competition and Foreign Investment Review Practice. Rebecca’s practice involves all aspects of competition law and foreign investment review. She assists clients on matters requiring Competition Act compliance, including complex merger transactions, reviewable (civil) matters, criminal matters and related inquiries by the Competition Bureau. She also advises clients on compliance with and reviews under the Investment Canada Act. Rebecca’s recent experience includes work on both domestic and multi-jurisdictional merger transactions, matters involving the interface between competition and intellectual property law, advice on compliance with the marketing and advertising provisions of the Competition Act, and competition law compliance programs. 

Rebecca was a professional beach volleyball player for six years, representing Canada in over 20 international tournaments and training for the Olympic Games. She was also the president, director and co-founder of Dig Deep Inc., a company that she started to campaign for corporate sponsorship for professional athletes and which grew to run corporate wellness events. 

Sandy Walker

Sandy Walker

Dentons Canada LLP | Toronto, ON

Sandy Walker is co-Chair of the Competition and Foreign Investment Review Group at Dentons Canada LLP and former lead of its Regulatory Practice Group. Sandy's practice focuses on securing government approvals for mergers and acquisitions from the Competition Bureau, Investment Canada and other regulatory agencies and on offering strategic and creative solutions to clients on a range of compliance issues.

Sandy is the Chair of the national Competition Law and Foreign Investment Review Section of the Canadian Bar Association, a former Chair of the Mergers Committee and a former Chair of the Foreign Investment Review Committee. She has been a Vice-Chair of the International Antitrust Committee of the American Bar Association's International Law Section, and is a regular speaker on foreign investment and competition law topics at ABA, CBA, China Institute, Canada China Business Council, and other conferences in North America, China and Europe.

Sandy is recognized as a leading lawyer by publications and rankings directories, including Chambers, Who's Who Legal – Canada, The Legal 500 Canada and Best Lawyers in Canada.

Kevin Wright

Kevin Wright

DLA Piper (Canada) LLP | Vancouver, BC

Kevin Wright is an experienced competition law and class action defence lawyer. In his 28-year career, he has covered all aspects of competition law from complex international and national cartel investigations and defence of criminal charges: merger clearance, abuse of dominance investigations, advice on marketing and distribution practices and compliance programs. He has acted in two of the few fully litigated merger cases before the Competition Tribunal, including an appearance in the Supreme Court of Canada and the successful defence of vendors against the proposed dissolution of a merger. While on a secondment earlier in his career, he was involved in significant merger cases before the European Commission and in the United States.

Kevin has been lead counsel in the defence of over 30 class actions across the country. His class action experience covers a variety of industries, including automotive, technology, manufacturing, electronics, transportation services, food and petroleum.

For 12 years, Kevin has taught competition law as an adjunct professor at the Peter A. Allard School of Law at the University of British Columbia.

Willliam Wu

Willliam Wu

McMillan LLP

William (Bill) Wu maintains a dynamic and wide-ranging practice in competition law, antitrust, foreign investment and international trade.

Bill’s competition law practice includes the full range of competition law matters, including merger reviews, supplementary information requests, competition litigation, internal investigations, cartel defence and class actions.

As part of his international trade law practice, Bill works on anti-dumping and countervailing duty investigations involving the Canadian International Trade Tribunal (CITT) and the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA).

Bill also advises clients in the manufacturing and retail sectors on compliance with federal and provincial marketing, advertising and consumer protection matters.

Bill is teaching Competition Law as an adjunct instructor at Queens’ University Faculty of Law.

Bill is also an active member of the leadership of the Canadian Bar Association’s National Competition Law Section and has assisted on a variety of competition and policy matters in the American Bar Association’s Section of Antitrust Law. He has testified before the House of Commons standing committee on industry, science and technology regarding the Competition Act.

Markus von Wartburg

Markus von Wartburg

Analysis Group | Montreal, QC

Dr. von Wartburg specializes in the application of sophisticated econometric models and microeconomic theory to complex problems in antitrust, commercial litigation, media and telecommunications, finance, and intellectual property. His primary expertise is in industrial organization, antitrust/competition economics, and applied microeconomics. Dr. von Wartburg has served as an outside economic expert for the Competition Bureau, as an expert witness on investment and competition in the telecommunications industry, and has filed expert reports on damages arising from the European heavy trucks and the German plant protection cartel. He has extensive experience with horizontal and vertical merger matters in both Canada and the United States and has provided consulting support for competition authorities and merging parties. He has assisted testifying experts in engagements as diverse as the competitive assessment of single-firm conduct, the quantification of the impact and damages of price-fixing conspiracies, the evaluation of class certification claims in technology, healthcare, and financial services industries, and the estimation of damages in breach of contract and patent infringement matters.