Competition and antitrust

Brian Facey

Brian is one of the world's most highly regarded lawyers and a trusted advisor to senior counsel, management and CEOs. He is sought after for his judgment, experience, connections and ability to execute on complex matters. Recognized at the top of all the major ranking services, including as one of Canada‘s 25 most influential lawyers and as Competition Lawyer of the Year, Canada. Competition and Antitrust Laws in Canada: Mergers, Joint Ventures and Competition Collaborations; Competition and Antitrust Law: Canada and the United States; Investment Canada Act: Commentary and Annotation; Competition Act: Commentary and Annotation. Repeatedly cited by the Supreme Court of Canada and other leading Courts.

Jason Gudofsky

Jason is the Chair of McCarthy Tétrault’s Competition/Antitrust & Foreign Investment Group. He has over 25 years of experience advising on all aspects of competition law, including mergers, joint ventures and alliances, and both civil and criminal investigations. Significant recent mandates include: Parkland/Husky, Parkland/Pétroles Crevier, Discovery/WarnerMedia, Hitachi Rail/Thales Ground Transportation Systems, NCR/Cardtronics, AstraZeneca/Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Aon/Willis Towers Watson AbbVie/Allergan, Harris Corporation/L3 Technologies, and Walt Disney/21st Century Fox. Jason also advises on foreign investment/national security reviews under the Investment Canada Act, including the following significant transactions: Cineworld/Cineplex, Zijin Mining/Continental Gold, CCCI/Aecon and CNOOC/Nexen. Jason is regularly relied upon to provide risk assessments, internal audits and navigate sensitive matters through the relevant Canadian governmental authorities. Jason previously worked for three years at a leading international law firm in Brussels.

Erin Keogh

Associate

Gideon Kwinter

Partner

Rebecca Wagner

Lawyer

Emrys Davis

Partner

Subrata Bhattacharjee

Partner

Oliver Borgers

Practice focuses on all aspects of antitrust law, foreign investment and national security review. Emphasis on application of these laws to mergers, acquisitions, notifications and market conduct. Regularly provides merger advice to major global companies. Has obtained competition and foreign investment clearances for Canada’s largest transactions, among many others.

Cassandra Brown

Cassandra is a Partner in the Competition, Antitrust & Foreign Investment Group at Blakes. She 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, pharmaceutical, consumer products, agricultural, telecommunications, transportation, aviation, financial services, manufacturing, automotive and real estate. She has completed secondments to Coca-Cola Limited, a major international law firm based in London and the Blakes New York office. Cassandra is co-author of leading treatises including Competition Act: Commentary and Annotation; Competition and Antitrust Laws in Canada: Mergers, Joint Ventures and Competitor Collaborations, and The Foreign Investment Regulation Review (Canada Chapter), Third Edition. Cassandra is recognized as a leading lawyer in Chambers Canada: Canada's Leading Lawyers for Business 2022; Who’s Who Legal: Competition 2021 (Future Leaders – Partners) and The Legal 500 Canada 2021 (Next Generation Partner).

Randall Hofley

Partner

Randal Hughes

Partner, Co-Chair of Competition, Antitrust and Foreign Investment

Adam Kalbfleisch

Partner

Robert Kwinter

Robert advises clients on the Competition Act including conspiracy, bid-rigging, trade association activities, misleading advertising, mergers and other reviewable trade practices, as well as on regulatory approval under the Competition Act and Investment Canada Act. Litigation counsel in cases under various provisions of the Competition Act, including lead counsel to Visa Canada in a successful proceeding before the Competition Tribunal. Extensive class action experience includes: DRAM, air cargo, hydrogen peroxide, EPDM, chocolate, LCD and credit cards. Complex mergers include: Suncor/Petro-Canada, Merck/Schering-Plough, GE/Alstom.  

Kevin MacDonald

Partner

Linda Plumpton

A highly accomplished advocate in commercial dispute resolution, class actions and competition and securities litigation, Linda Plumpton is known for her work in bet-the-company litigation and for her long track record defending clients in their most important disputes.Chair of the firm’s Litigation and Dispute Resolution Practice, Linda is a recognized leading practitioner for her vast experience across competition litigation, class action defence, corporate/commercial disputes and securities litigation. Linda has appeared as counsel in the Supreme Court of Canada, in all levels of court in Ontario and in the Federal Court, as well as before the Competition Tribunal and the Ontario Securities Commission. She also advises clients in the areas of public law, constitutional law and employment.Linda is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers (ACTL).

Debbie Salzberger

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 in respect of criminal cartel matters and reviewable practices, including joint ventures, resale pricing, advertising and distribution issues. Widely recognized in Canada and abroad for her experience working on complex domestic and multijurisdictional transactions, Debbie’s practice is marked by her pragmatic and solutions oriented approach, working with clients to achieve their objectives. Her deep knowledge of the Canadian competition/antitrust and foreign investment regimes is complemented by her understanding of a variety of industries, making her a valued business advisor.

Julie Soloway

Practice Area: Julie is Co-Chair of the Competition, Antitrust & Foreign Investment group. Julie provides advice on all aspects of competition law with a particular emphasis on cross-border merger transactions. She is also a leading expert on securing approvals under the Investment Canada Act for foreign investors in Canada’s key industries. Julie is ranked in all leading directories as one of the top competition lawyers in Canada, and Global Competition Review consistently recognizes her as one of the world’s top 100 Women in Antitrust. Clients value her concise and pragmatic approach, praising her “truly international practice” and “fantastic legal mind,” and further commenting that “she is a real star – commercial, clever and knows her way around the authority”. Julie is co-author of the ground-breaking book: Leading the Way: Canadian Women in the Law (LexisNexis), which documents the inspiring journey of 50 Canadian women who, like Julie, have lead the way for women in the legal profession and shaped Canadian society while promoting greater diversity.

Dominic Thérien

Dominic advises clients on all aspects of competition law, including merger control, cartel defence, abuse of dominance, and advertising and marketing practices. He has solid experience with domestic and international criminal cartel and bid-rigging investigations. He also advises on foreign investment merger review and national security issues arising under the Investment Canada Act. From 2011 to 2013, Dominic acted as Assistant Deputy Commissioner for the Quebec and Atlantic regions with the Canadian Competition Bureau. In his role, he was responsible for criminal cartel and bid-rigging investigations, as well as investigations with respect to advertising and marketing practices.

Omar Wakil

A leading lawyer in his field, Omar has deep understanding of competition law and foreign investment matters and extensive experience that spans industries, giving clients creative, tailored advice across business-critical transactions, discrete matters and investigations.Omar advises domestic and international clients on all aspects of competition law and foreign investment. In particular, he provides strategic advice to firms involved in mergers, cartel and abuse of dominance investigations under the Competition Act.In his foreign investment review practice, Omar advises clients on net benefit and national security reviews under the Investment Canada Act. He has represented numerous foreign investors, including state-owned enterprises, as well as domestic targets in acquisition transactions.Omar works with clients active in a wide range of business sectors, including automotive parts, agricultural products, chemicals, consumer products, energy, financial services, grocery retailing, manufacturing, media, metals and mining, pharmaceuticals, telecommunications and transportation.