Melanie Aitken is the Managing Principal of Bennett Jones (US) LLP, which carries on the practice of Canadian law in Washington, DC, in association with Bennett Jones LLP. She is also co-head of the competition and foreign investment practice of Bennett Jones. She specializes in global antitrust and competition law and litigation, working closely with colleagues in our Toronto and other offices.

Melanie served as Canada’s Competition Commissioner, in charge of the Canadian Competition Bureau from 2009 to 2012, having previously served as the Senior Deputy Commissioner leading merger review from 2006 to 2009.

Subrata Bhattacharjee is National Chair of BLG’s Competition and Foreign Investment Review Group, and National Business Leader of the firm’s Corporate Commercial Group. He practises competition/antitrust law, foreign investment law, and regulatory litigation, including cartel defence, quasi-criminal and constitutional matters. He advises non-Canadian investors on Canadian foreign investment regulation including national security reviews and regulatory strategy.  Subrata has served as an Officer and Council Member of the ABA Section of Antitrust Law, and has held leadership positions in the CBA Competition Law Section and the Canadian Chamber of Commerce Competition Policy Committee.  He also serves as a non-governmental advisor of the International Competition Network.  He has been consistently ranked as one of Canada’s leading competition lawyers by major domestic and international directories.

James Burns is currently Acting Director General of the Investment Review Division, having joined as Senior Director, Investment Policy and Outreach in January 2022, after spending four years as Director of the Digital Technologies Directorate at Innovation, Science and Economic Development. In this role, James leads a team of policy and business analysts to provide research, analysis and business intelligence in the domains of foreign investment review and economic security. Previously, James held senior leadership roles related to Manufacturing Industries, Foreign Direct Investment attraction, Automotive and Tourism industries.  In response to the global pandemic, James took on the added challenge of Director in the COVID Taskforce at Health Canada. James has a Master’s Degree in Public Administration and a Bachelor’s Degree in Business.

Russell Damtoft is the Associate Director of the Federal Trade Commission’s Office of International Affairs.  He is responsible for relationships between the FTC and antitrust agencies in the Americas and other countries, including Canada, as well as FTC’s technical assistance programs for developing competition agencies in Ukraine and elsewhere.  He also represents the FTC at UNCTAD and the OECD Latin America and Caribbean Competition Forum.

Mr. Damtoft has been with the FTC since 1985 and has served before in various capacities in the Bureaus of Competition and Consumer Protection and as Assistant Regional Director of an FTC Regional Office.  He has served as a long-term resident advisor to developing competition and consumer protection authorities in Eastern Europe.

He graduated from the University of Iowa College of Law in 1981 and from Grinnell College in 1976.  He serves as an adjunct professor of law at Georgetown University Law School, and is a member of the editorial board of Antitrust Magazine Online, published by the Antitrust Law Section of the American Bar Association.

Zee is a partner in Bennett Jones' Competition and Foreign Investment Group.  His practice focuses on Canadian competition law and foreign investment matters, including national security.

Zee regularly advises clients on all aspects of Canadian competition law in connection with complex mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures and other strategic alliances. Zee also has extensive experience advising clients on potentially anti-competitive business practices, as well as compliance under the Competition Act. He regularly provides advice to clients on the misleading advertising provisions of the Competition Act.

In his foreign investment review practice, Zee advises clients across a broad range of industries on net benefit, national security and cultural sector reviews under the Investment Canada Act.

Zee is recognized by Chambers Canada, Chambers Global, Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory, Who's Who Legal and Best Lawyers in Canada publications for Competition and Antitrust Law. Chambers Canada and Who's Who Legal have each described him as a "rising star" of the Canadian bar.

Zee is an active member of the Canadian Bar Association and the American Bar Association. He is the Chair of the Mergers Committee, and former Chair of the Economics and Law Committee of the National Competition Law Section of the Canadian Bar Association. He is also a Vice Chair of the International Comments and Policy Committee of the Antitrust Law Section of the American Bar Association.

Tony is a Partner and Co-Leader of Fasken's Antitrust/Competition & Marketing Group.  As former counsel to Canada’s Competition Bureau and having served as counsel in many of Canada’s most significant competition matters, Tony is widely recognized as one of Canada’s leading practitioners in competition law. Tony represents and counsels clients in domestic and multi-jurisdictional competition matters, including mergers, criminal cartel matters, advertising and marketing practices, abuse of dominance and other reviewable practices. Tony represents parties in criminal and civil investigations, litigated proceedings before Canada’s Competition Tribunal and class action litigation. Tony has extensive trial and appellate experience, having appeared as counsel before Canada’s Competition Tribunal, all levels of court in Ontario, the Federal Court of Canada, the Federal Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada. Tony is active in the Leadership of the American Bar Association’s Antitrust Section and the Canadian Bar Association’s National Competition Law Section. Tony is the author of the leading legal treatise, Competition Enforcement and Litigation in Canada (Emond Publishing). Tony is an adjunct law professor of law at Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto, where he teaches competition law and trial advocacy and a non-governmental adviser to the International Competition Network.

Joshua Gruenspecht is a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, where he advises domestic and foreign investors, funds, established companies, and start-ups in regulatory, investigative, and enforcement matters.

Joshua routinely represents domestic businesses and foreign entities before the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA), Federal Communications Commission (FCC), federal defense and intelligence agencies, state utilities commissions, and other government bodies on national security, cybersecurity, and communications matters. He has negotiated security agreements, information sharing agreements, and network and physical security plans and policies with CFIUS, DCSA, the FCC, and various other federal agencies. On a transactional level, he negotiates on behalf of clients to allocate national security risk; as counsel to the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) in connection with CFIUS matters, he authored the NVCA model CFIUS language for risk allocation in venture capital investing. In addition, he assists clients in assessing the U.S. transactional risks associated with foreign direct investment (FDI) reviews across the world.

Susan Hutton is a senior partner in the Competition & Foreign Investment Group at Stikeman Elliott LLP. She provides Competition Act and Investment Canada Act advice in respect of numerous complex mergers and acquisitions. She provides clients with ongoing compliance advice and has guided clients through civil and criminal investigations, as well as complaints under the Competition Act. Susan is recognized as a leading lawyer by Chambers Global and Chambers Canada, which quotes sources as saying she "is superbly pragmatic and understands the issues internationally," and that "her knowledge of the competition regime is incredible." She is frequently listed among the leading competition law practitioners in Canada and speaks and writes frequently in the field.

Nicole is global head of the antitrust & foreign investment group. With over 20 years of European and UK competition experience, Nicole has led on over 40 significant merger investigations in addition to maintaining a busy investigations and enforcement practice. She has particular expertise in regulatory issues in the healthcare, financial services, retail and mining sectors.

Nicole has advised clients on UK national security reviews under both the National Security and Investment Act and Enterprise Act. She was a specialist adviser to the foreign affairs committee of the UK Parliament in relation to the National Security and Investment Bill and has most recently been appointed as a specialist adviser to the Sub-Committee on National Security and Investment at Department of Business and Trade.

Nicole is ranked in Tier 1 of Chambers and peers and clients alike hold her in high regard as a top tier lawyer. She is described by clients as “an absolute star” and someone who understands “our business, understands our approach to risk and the information analysis we need to make decisions and provides very high-quality analysis”. She “is laser-focused on what the client wants and what needs to be done to get that”.

Joshua Krane is a nationally and internationally recognized leader in competition / antitrust and foreign investment matters. He advises companies in the agricultural, aviation, consumer products, energy, entertainment, technology and telecommunications industries, collaborating with clients’ legal and executive teams to address complex business issues.

Joshua has extensive experience completing strategic transactions, working with government officials on regulatory matters, and resolving commercial disputes. He also offers guidance on pricing and contracting practices, social media and influencer marketing, and relationships with customers, suppliers and competitors.

Considered a leader in advertising law, Joshua has also been at the forefront of new developments as advertising has become increasingly digital. In addition to providing advice on major ad campaigns, he represents clients in disputes before the courts, the Competition Bureau, the Ad Standards Canada and the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). Joshua successfully resolved a high-profile dispute with the Competition Bureau in a digital marketing case, including, as a first, obtaining the Bureau’s agreement not to extend the remedy to websites outside of Canada.

As the former co-author of Investment Canada Act: Commentary and Annotation, Joshua is frequently called upon to advise on foreign investment matters, including national security reviews. He has testified twice before the House of Commons standing committee on industry, science and technology regarding the Investment Canada Act.

Earlier in his career, Joshua worked for several government agencies, including the legal services branch of the Competition Bureau, the constitutional law branch of the Ministry of the Attorney General of Ontario, and the Federal Prosecution Service.

Simon Kennedy was named Deputy Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED) in September 2019. He has overseen ISED’s response to the global pandemic, working with industry to pivot towards the production of medical supplies and to build up Canadian biomanufacturing capacity, rolling out new programs to aid businesses affected by the pandemic, and partnering with Canadian companies to support innovation and industrial transformation.  

Previously, he served as Deputy Minister of Health. During his tenure, the Department assumed a national leadership role in responding to the opioids crisis; negotiated new funding with the provinces and territories for home care and mental health services; and launched major reforms to pharmaceutical pricing, nutrition labelling, vaping, and tobacco packaging. Mr. Kennedy also oversaw Health Canada’s implementation of the government’s initiative to legalize and regulate cannabis.

Mr. Kennedy has served in a variety of progressively senior roles in seven different federal organizations, including in six deputy minister-level appointments. He was the Prime Minister’s personal representative, or “Sherpa”, to the G-20 from 2012 to 2014. He has degrees from Mount Saint Vincent University and Syracuse University, and is a graduate of INSEAD’s Advanced Management Programme. Mr. Kennedy has been a member of the board of a variety of organizations, including the Canadian Tourism Commission, Canadian Institute for Health Information, Mental Health Commission of Canada, and Ottawa Community Foundation, among others. He co-chairs the Ottawa Chapter of the Institute of Corporate Directors.

Michael Kilby is a partner and Head of the Competition & Foreign Investment Group. 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 been involved in some of the most important, precedent-setting foreign acquisitions in modern Canadian history, including securing 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. He has extensive experience advising clients in allocating and managing regulatory risk, throughout industries including technology, consumer goods, media, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, oil and gas, chemicals, transportation and telecommunications.

Derek Leschinsky is Senior Counsel with the Department of Justice Canada. At Competition Bureau Legal Services, he advises on the application of the Competition Act and litigates cases on behalf of the Commissioner of Competition. His litigation experience includes civil cases under both Parts VII.1 and VIII of the Act.  Most recently, Derek co-led the legal team for the Commissioner’s challenge to the proposed merger of Rogers Communications Inc. and Shaw Communications Inc.  Derek is the co-author of the Canadian Encyclopedic Digest chapter on competition law.  He has taught Advanced Tort Law as an adjunct professor at the University of Ottawa Law School.

Kate McNeece is a Partner in McCarthys’ Competition/Antitrust & Foreign Investment Group in Toronto focusing on competition and antitrust law and foreign investment review.

Kate's practice encompasses all aspects of competition law, including mergers and acquisitions, marketing and distribution practices, abuse of dominance, criminal and civil investigations, and compliance matters. She also provides strategic advice on foreign investment merger review under the Investment Canada Act, including with respect to SOE investment and national security issues. Kate holds a degree in economics from Yale University and a law degree from Columbia Law School.

Krista McWhinnie is the Deputy Commissioner of the Monopolistic Practices Directorate at the Competition Bureau where she oversees a dedicated team responsible for investigating anti-competitive conduct related to abuse of dominance, competitor collaborations and other reviewable matters.

The Honourable Michael L. Phelan, former Justice of the Federal Court (retired), is Senior Counsel with Conlin Bedard.

Mr. Phelan’s experience and expertise is in public law and regulatory/commercial affairs with particular experience in competition law, intellectual property, indigenous disputes, governance and claim, class action, all modes of transportation, environmental disputes, labour/human rights, access to information and privacy, discrimination, workplace disputes, wrongful dismissal and trade remedies. He has been involved in numerous matters involving federal laws and regulations and has dealt with major federal tribunals, federal regulatory departments, government agencies, government contracting, federal policy making and legislative enactments.

In 2003, Mr. Phelan was appointed a Justice of the Federal Court, and ex officio, member of the Federal Court of Appeal, and then a Judge of the Court Martial Appeal Court of Canada in 2004. He was a judicial member of the Competition Tribunal from 2005 to 2012 and was re-appointed for a further term in 2016 until his retirement.

Mr. Phelan has lectured and written extensively on advocacy and competition law and related matters and has had a long association with many sectors of the transportation industry, especially in relation to aviation. He was also one of the Federal Court members designated to hear major intellectual property cases and has conducted numerous cases in patents, trademarks and copyright. He held a similar designation in respect of indigenous cases where he was the case management and the trial judge.

Prior to his appointment to the Bench, Mr. Phelan was a senior Litigation Partner and a Managing Partner at Ogilvy Renault (now Norton Rose Fulbright Canada) from 1999 to 2003. From 1985 to 1999 he was a Partner at Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt in Ottawa.

Mr. Phelan earned his B.A. at Loyola College in Montreal and his LL.B. at Dalhousie University Law School. He was called to the Bar of Ontario in 1973.

Julia is a Partner in Blakes Competition, Antitrust & Foreign Investment group. She advises clients on all aspects of competition law, including mergers and acquisitions, criminal and civil investigations, and regulatory compliance matters. She also advises on foreign investment merger review under the Investment Canada Act.

Julia has advised international and Canadian clients on a wide variety of competition law matters, and has been involved in a number of large, high-profile mergers in a variety of industries including financial services, energy, consumer products and manufacturing.

David Rosner is a partner in Goodmans’ Competition and Foreign Investment Group. He provides strategic advice on all aspects of Canadian competition law, particularly with respect to complex mergers (including in regulated industries and mergers involving multi-jurisdictional review). David also advises on behavioral matters under Canadian competition law and mergers subject to the Investment Canada Act. David’s recent notable matters include:

• Counsel to Rogers in its $20 billion acquisition of Shaw.
• Counsel to WestJet in its acquisition of Sunwing Vacations and Sunwing Airlines.
• Counsel to Cineplex in its proposed acquisition by Cineworld (not completed).
• Counsel to pharmaceutical companies in resolution of a number of inquiries related to settlements of pharmaceutical patent litigation.

David is recognized in numerous industry publications. Among other things, he was the only Canadian named in Global Competition Review’s 40 under 40 list in 2020, and in 2019 was honoured as one of Lexpert’s Rising Stars: Leading Lawyers Under 40. Clients describe David as “a sharp thinker with great analytical capabilities,” and praise his “straightforward practical advice.”

Prior to returning to Canada, David practiced law with a leading international law firm.

Kent is the Head of Litigation at Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP in Toronto, which has received numerous awards and recognitions during his tenure at the firm including Chambers Canada’s Litigation Firm of the Year. He specializes in complex, high-stakes litigation and has appeared as lead counsel in trial and appellate courts throughout Canada. Kent has acted in a number of leading cases in a wide range of areas, including commercial disputes, securities cases, competition law and class actions. He has argued successfully a number of appeals in the Supreme Court of Canada, including in cases involving the law of oppression, libel law, tax law, plans of arrangement, intellectual property, the intersection of copyright and broadcasting law and the law of contested elections. Kent has conducted dozens of trials as well as numerous contested hearings before administrative tribunals such as the Ontario Securities Commission. He has also conducted a number of complex domestic and international arbitrations in Canada, the United States, Europe and Africa. Kent has been recognized repeatedly as one of Canada’s leading litigation counsel, including in The Lexpert/American Lawyer Guide to the Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada, Chambers Global, Chambers Canada, Benchmark Canada (as a recipient of its Hall of Fame Award), The Legal 500 Canada (in its Hall of Fame category), Who’s Who Legal and The Best Lawyers in Canada. He has been listed for more than a decade in Canadian Who’s Who. Kent has recently been named by Euromoney’s Expert Guides: Best of the Best as one of the top 30 litigation counsel in the world, and been recognized repeatedly by Benchmark Litigation as one of the top 50 trial lawyers in Canada. He has received consistently Martindale-Hubbell’s highest ranking for legal ability and integrity. Kent is one of only a handful of litigators in Canada to be admitted as a Fellow of all of the American College of Trial Lawyers, the International Society of Barristers, the International Academy of Trial Lawyers and the American Bar Foundation.