Ontario’s leading competition lawyers in 2021

Here are Ontario’s leading competition lawyers in based on the results of Lexpert’s annual peer survey. Check out the complete line-up of the province’s most recommended lawyers and law firms in the field on our practice area rankings.

The practice of competition law in Canada falls into two categories, namely solicitor work and litigation.

Solicitor work revolves around providing advice and representation on the implications of competition law on day-to-day business activities, including mergers and acquisitions, strategic alliances and joint ventures, marketing and distribution activities, relations with customers, competitors and suppliers and the interface between competition law and intellectual property law.

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Competition litigation involves representing clients before the courts on criminal matters and before the Competition Tribunal on civil proceedings initiated by the Commissioner of Competition.

Most frequently recommended competition lawyers

George N. Addy
Law firm: Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP
Year called to the bar: 1979 (ON); 1999 (AB)
City: Toronto

George N. Addy is a partner at Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP. He boasts 40 years of experience in foreign investment, regulatory and competition law. Addy advises clients on matters involving domestic and foreign regulators, including cartels, mergers and acquisitions and various trade practices. He has appeared at all levels of court, including the Supreme Court of Canada and at judicial inquiries and regulatory hearings on behalf of private and public sector clients. Addy also advises on foreign investment matters involving the Investment Canada Act and related sectoral control legislation and anti-corruption matters and on the full range of civil and criminal practices governed by the Competition Act. He was the head of Canada’s Competition Bureau from 1993 to 1995 and its merger review branch from 1989 to 1993. Addy was also a senior executive in the telecom sector.

Melanie L. Aitken
Law firm: Bennett Jones LLP
Year called to the bar: 1991
City: Toronto

Melanie L. Aitken is the co-chair at Bennett Jones LLP’s competition, antitrust and foreign investment practice. She specializes in global antitrust and competition law and litigation. Aitken is also the firm’s managing principal, practising Canadian law in Toronto and Washington, D.C. She served as Canada's competition commissioner from 2009 to 2012. In this role, Aitken led many high-profile civil and criminal matters and worked extensively with leaders of antitrust authorities around the world on enforcement and policy cases. Since returning to practice, she has represented clients in a broad range of industries in merger, conduct and criminal investigations, including financial services, large retail, telecommunications, pharmaceutical, airlines, oil and gas, consumer products and organized sport. Aitken has taught as an adjunct professor at Osgoode Hall and Queen’s Law Schools. She is a fellow of the American Bar Foundation, sits on the advisory boards of the Global Antitrust Institute (DC) and Schulich School of Business (Toronto) and is a member of CD Howe Institute’s Competition Policy Council (Toronto).

Anita Banicevic
Law firm: Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP
Year called to the bar: 2000
City: Toronto

Anita Banicevic is a partner at Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP’s competition, antitrust and foreign investment practice. She advises on all aspects of Canadian competition and foreign investment review law, with a particular emphasis on complex multinational mergers, criminal price-fixing investigations, and advertising-related investigations and general compliance issues. Banicevic has been involved in several major competition cases in Canada. She assists clients with contested proceedings before the courts and the Competition Tribunal and negotiated resolutions and consent agreements. Banicevic has held leadership positions within the Canadian Bar Association and American Bar Association. Most recently, she served as chair of the National Competition Law Section of the CBA from 2017 to 2018. She is currently the vice-chair of the ABA Antitrust Section’s mergers and acquisitions committee.

John D. Bodrug
Law firm: Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP
Year called to the bar: 1987
City: Toronto

John D. Bodrug is a partner Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP. He devotes his practice to competition law and foreign investment review, including mergers, price-fixing investigations and other pricing, distribution and advertising matters. Bodrug has acted for Canadian, US and international corporations across a wide range of industries, including energy and resources, transportation, agriculture, manufacturing, financial services and consumer products. He has obtained Competition Act and Investment Canada Act clearances for numerous transactions. Bodrug also has extensive expertise in advising companies on the criminal provisions of Canada’s Competition Act. He is regularly consulted on contested matters, immunity or leniency agreements and resolutions prior to formal proceedings. Bodrug is a member of the CBA’s anti-corruption team and a past chair of its National Competition Law Section. He currently co-chair of the editorial board of The Antitrust Source, a bi-monthly publication of the ABA’s antitrust law section.

Oliver J. Borgers
Law firm: McCarthy Tétrault LLP
Year called to the bar: 1988 (ON); 1995 (England & Wales)
City: Toronto

Oliver J. Borgers is a partner at McCarthy Tétrault LLP’s Toronto office. He specializes in antitrust and foreign investment law and national security review. Borgers boasts extensive experience in mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, notifications and market conduct. He is also a specialist in foreign investment merger review issues arising under Investment Canada Act. Borgers has extensive dealings with the Canadian government on investment and national security matters. He had successfully handled numerous high-profile mergers and led a team that obtained Competition Act and Investment Canada Act clearance for Canada’s largest transaction to date. Borgers regularly speaks on competition law, foreign investment, national security and merger-related topics to audiences in Canada and abroad. He teaches competition law and sits on the editorial board of Practical Law Canada’s Competition Law Handbook.

A. Neil Campbell
Law firm: McMillan LLP
Year called to the bar: 1991
City: Toronto

A. Neil Campbell is the co-chair of the competition and international trade groups and a partner at the energy group at McMillan LLP. His competition law practice focuses on merger clearances under the Competition Act and Investment Canada Act, representation in cartel or follow-on, abuse of dominance and other proceedings and advising on distribution and joint venture issues. Campbell’s experience includes over 300 merger clearances, dozens of domestic or international cartel cases and class actions and major unilateral conduct cases. He is a former co-chair of the IBA Antitrust Section and the current secretary of the CBA competition law section. Campbell was also the chair of the OEB Market Surveillance Panel from 2007 to 2012.

Paul Collins
Law firm: Stikeman Elliott LLP
Year called to the bar: 1994
City: Toronto

Paul Collins is a senior counsel and the former head of the competition and foreign investment group at Stikeman Elliott LLP’s Toronto office. He practises corporate and commercial law, specializing in competition law. Collins provides advice on transactional and general compliance and marketing and advertising law. He is also a leading advisor for foreign investors in connection with the Investment Canada Act. His practice puts him in constant contact with the federal Competition Bureau and the Investment Review Division of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada. Collins is a past chair of the executive committee of the CBA Competition Law Section. From May 2010 to May 2012, he served as senior deputy commissioner with the Competition Bureau where, as the head of the mergers branch, he was instrumental in the bureau’s review of high-profile corporate transactions and the development of key bureau policies arising from the significant amendments to the Competition Act introduced in 2009.

Brian A. Facey
Law firm: Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP
Year called to the bar: 1993
City: Toronto

Brian A. Facey is the chair of the competition, antitrust and foreign investment group at Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP, where he also serves as partner. He is also a member of the firm’s executive committee. Facey advises clients on regulatory matters, including multijurisdictional and domestic strategic merger transactions, criminal cartel cases, dominance matters, class actions and distribution and advertising matters under the Competition Act. He also advises foreign investors, companies and states under the provisions of the Investment Canada Act and the State-Owned Enterprise Guidelines, which regulate the acquisition of control of Canadian businesses by non-Canadians. Facey is a leading authority on the Investment Canada Act and co-author of the Investment Canada Act: Commentary and Annotation. His treatises have been cited by all levels of courts in Canada, including the Supreme Court of Canada for his work on efficiencies and strategic mergers. He has also appeared on behalf of clients before the Competition Bureau, the Competition Tribunal, the Federal Court, the Federal Court of Appeal and various levels of Ontario courts.

Sandra A. Forbes
Law firm: Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP
Year called to the bar: 1992
City: Toronto

Sandra A. Forbes is a partner at Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP. She specializes in corporate, class action, securities and competition litigation. A significant portion of her practice involves defending clients in national and cross-border class actions. Forbes acts for clients before all levels of court and various administrative tribunals in Canada, including the Competition Tribunal. She has achieved successful results for clients on diverse issues, including class actions alleging anti-competitive conduct or collusion and competition matters such as abuse of dominance. Forbes is highly experienced in defending litigation for directors and audit committees. She is the past president of The Advocates’ Society, a regent of the American College of Trial Lawyers and a fellow of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers. Forbes was a law clerk to Justice Peter Cory of the Supreme Court of Canada from 1990 to 1991.

Jason L. Gudofsky
Law firm: McCarthy Tétrault LLP
Year called to the bar: 1998
City: Toronto

Jason L. Gudofsky is the chair at the competition, antitrust and foreign investment group at McCarthy Tétrault LLP, where he also serves as partner. He advises domestic and international clients on transactions and investigations under the Competition Act and Investment Canada Act, including some of the highest profile, complex and industry transformational matters. His practice covers all aspects of competition law, including mergers, strategic alliances, joint ventures, unilateral conduct, cartel investigations and compliance. In addition to competition, Gudofsky advises foreign purchasers and Canadian vendors under the Investment Canada Act, including obtaining net benefit approvals and navigating the national security review process. He is considered one of the top competition lawyers in Canada and regularly speaks at conferences. Gudofsky has worked on various cartel and conduct investigations undertaken by the Competition Bureau and has appeared before the Competition Tribunal.

Randall J. Hofley
Partner at Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP
Year called to the bar: 1991 (ON); 1992 (QC)
City: Toronto

Randall J. Hofley is a partner at Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP’s competition, antitrust and foreign investment and litigation groups. He is a trusted advisor on competition law and the federal regulation of business, with a focus on contentious matters before the Canadian Competition Bureau and Competition Tribunal and all levels of Canadian courts and federal administrative tribunals. Hofley brings private- and public-sector experience, most recently serving as general counsel and senior enforcement advisor at the Competition Bureau Legal Services. He has litigated high-profile Competition Act cases, including the first abuse of dominance case to reach the Supreme Court of Canada, the only Federal Court of Appeal decision to address patents under the Act, the only civil price maintenance case, the first case considering the Act’s competitor collaboration provisions and cases developing standards for cartel prosecutions and class-action certification and defences in the cartel context.

Donald B. Houston
Law firm: McCarthy Tétrault LLP
Year called to the bar: 1981
City: Toronto

Donald B. Houston is a partner at McCarthy Tétrault LLP’s Toronto office. His competition law and litigation practice includes defending criminal prosecutions, competition tribunal proceedings and private actions. Houston has frequently represented the Commissioner of Competition. He also counsels clients on mergers and other business practices. Houston boasts significant cartel and merger practice, both domestic and international. He is an adjunct professor at the University of Western Ontario Faculty of Law and has lectured on several legal conferences. Houston is a past chair of the CBA National Competition Law Section Executive.

Randal T. Hughes
Law firm: Bennett Jones LLP
Year called to the bar: 1982
City: Toronto

Randy T. Hughes is a partner and co-chair at the competition and antitrust practice group at Bennett Jones LLP. Hughes has successfully handled the competition law and Investment Canada aspects of domestic and international mergers and acquisitions. He has represented clients before the courts in criminal proceedings under the Competition Act and before the Competition Tribunal in reviewable matters. Hughes represents clients in domestic and international conspiracy investigations and prosecutions involving the Competition Bureau in Canada and other competition authorities around the world. He also represents clients in substantial civil and class actions in competition matters. Hughes has acted as counsel for the Commissioner of Competition and for private sector clients in leading merger and abuse of dominance cases before the Competition Tribunal. He is currently an officer of the IBA's antitrust committee.

Lawson A.W. Hunter
Law firm: Stikeman Elliott LLP
Year called to the bar: 1971 (NB); 1986 (ON)
City: Ottawa

Lawson A.W. Hunter serves as senior counsel at Stikeman Elliott LLP. He is a renowned regulatory and government relations counsel, drawing on a wide range of experience in business, government and private practice. Formerly Canada’s senior civil servant in charge of competition policy and enforcement, Hunter was primarily responsible for the drafting of the federal Competition Act. From 1993 to 2003, he was a partner at Stikeman Elliott and head of the firm’s competition and antitrust group. He also served as executive vice-president and chief corporate officer of Bell Canada and BCE Inc., where he was responsible for overseeing regulatory, governmental relations and corporate affairs from 2003 to 2008. Hunter joined Stikeman Elliott in September 2008. From April 2010 to May 2012, he assumed the role of head of the competition and foreign investment group and recently returned to his role as counsel. Hunter advises a wide variety of Canadian and multinational corporations on all aspects of federal regulatory law and policy.

Katherine L. Kay
Law firm: Stikeman Elliott LLP
Year called to the bar: 1988
City: Toronto

Katherine L. Kay is a litigation partner and head of the Stikeman Elliott LLP’s competition litigation practice. She is also a past member of the firm’s partnership board, executive committee and Toronto management committee. Her practice concentrates on complex commercial litigation, often involving the interplay between regulatory, civil and criminal law regimes across multiple jurisdictions. Kay’s areas of focus include competition, product liability, securities, corruption and other white-collar cases.

David W. Kent
Law firm: McMillan LLP
Year called to the bar: 1983
City: Toronto

David W. Kent is a senior partner at McMillan LLP’s litigation, competition and antitrust and intellectual property groups. He also serves as national co-chair of the firm’s dispute resolution and class action practices. Kent specializes in complex litigation involving competition, IP, commercial, regulatory and securities and governance disputes in a range of industries. He boasts extensive experience in international, cross-border and domestic cartels, conspiracies and class actions. Kent has been defence counsel in some of the largest Canadian criminal cartel prosecutions and in many of the major Canadian civil cartel cases. His class action experience arises from over 60 Canadian cases and includes precedent-setting decisions on a wide range of issues including conspiracy, securities law, cartel jurisdiction, cross-border discovery and class action certification and settlement. Kent has also advised on and litigated copyright issues for domestic and international broadcasters, cable networks and online streaming and social media services, including issues arising from the use of music on the internet.

Michael Kilby
Law firm: Stikeman Elliott LLP
Year called to the bar: 2006
City: Toronto

Michael Kilby is a partner and the head of the competition and foreign investment group at Stikeman Elliott LLP. He is a leading advisor on all matters relating to Canadian competition and foreign investment laws. Kilby boasts wide-ranging experience in complex merger reviews, foreign investment approvals, national security reviews, pricing and distribution practices, misleading advertising, anti-corruption and related counseling matters across a broad spectrum of industries. He has been involved in some of the most important, precedent-setting foreign acquisitions in modern Canadian history. Kilby is a member of the Law Society of Ontario and a former chair of the marketing practices committee of the competition law section of the Canadian Bar Association. He is also a member of the mergers and acquisitions committee and pricing conduct committee of the American Bar Association’s section of antitrust law.

Eliot N. Kolers
Law firm: Stikeman Elliott LLP
Year called to the bar: 1996
City: Toronto

Eliot N. Kolers is a partner and the head of the litigation and dispute resolution group at Stikeman Elliott LLP. He is also a member of the firm’s management committee in Toronto office. His practice concentrates on complex corporate commercial, competition and securities litigation. Kolers has represented clients in a wide range of cases, including real-time litigation matters in relation to contested corporate transactions. He has also defended class actions involving competition law, securities and privacy issues. Kolers has represented clients in a broad range of commercial cases involving oppression remedies, proxy contests, takeover bids, shareholder disputes, plans of arrangement and corporate governance matters. He has litigated all manner of competition cases before the courts and Canadian Competition Tribunal. Kolers is a member of the International Bar Association, American Bar Association and Canadian Bar Association and Metropolitan Toronto Lawyers Association. He is also a board member of The Advocates' Society (Ontario), past executive member of the Ontario Bar Association’s Litigation Section and past chair of the CBA’s class actions and private enforcement committee. Kolers writes and speaks extensively in his fields and is editor-in-chief of the LexisNexis publication Class Action Defence Quarterly.

Robert E. Kwinter
Law firm: Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP
Year called to the bar: 1986
City: Toronto

Robert E. Kwinter is a partner at Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP. He has extensive experience in all areas of competition law. Kwinter regularly advises clients on conspiracy, bid-rigging, trade association activities, misleading advertising, mergers and other reviewable trade practices, criminal and non-criminal matters and the misleading advertising provisions of the Competition Act. He also advises clients on regulatory approval under the Competition Act and the Investment Canada Act. Kwinter has acted as litigation counsel in cases under various provisions of the Competition Act and has extensive experience in class actions, including DRAM, air cargo, hydrogen peroxide, EPDM, chocolate, LCD, auto parts and credit cards. He has developed a recognized proficiency in the misleading advertising field and has frequently appeared successfully before the Competition Tribunal and various trial and appellate courts. Kwinter has been an active contributor to the work of the International Competition Network as a non-governmental adviser. He is a member of the American Bar Association’s international developments and comments task force and vice-chair of the competition law and policy committee of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.

Michelle Lally
Law firm: Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP
Year called to the bar: 1992
City: Toronto

Michelle Lally is a senior partner at Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP’s competition law and foreign investment group. She has more than 25 years of extensive experience in all aspects of competition law and foreign investment review, including mergers and acquisitions, strategic alliances, price-fixing and bid-rigging investigations and pricing and distribution matters. Lally has successfully obtained the clearances under the Competition Act, Investment Canada Act and Canada Transportation Act of numerous complex domestic, cross-border and international transactions. She regularly represents parties facing civil investigations by the Competition Bureau or civil cases before the Competition Tribunal relating to the application of the abuse of dominance, price maintenance, refusal to supply, tied selling and exclusive dealing provisions of the Competition Act.

James B. Musgrove
Law firm: McMillan LLP
Year called to the bar: 1986
City: Toronto

James B. Musgrove is partner and co-chair at McMillan LLP’s competition and antitrust practice group. He is also active in the firm’s advertising and consumer protection practice. Musgrove also serves in the leadership of the ABA Section of Antitrust Law. He devotes his practice to competition, antitrust, foreign investment and marketing law. Musgrove advises on cartel, merger, distribution, investment review, foreign corrupt practices and misleading advertising. He also makes regular representations and submissions to the Competition Bureau. Musgrove boasts extensive experience in a range of industries, including financial institutions, oil and gas, electricity, telecommunications, broadcasting, consumer products, retail and automotive.

Linda M. Plumpton
Law firm: Torys LLP
Year called to the bar: 1996
City: Toronto

Linda M. Plumpton is the chair of the litigation and dispute resolution, and competition and antitrust practices at Torys LLP, where she is also a partner. Plumpton focuses on competition litigation, class action defence, corporate and commercial disputes and securities litigation. She also practises public, constitutional and employment law. Plumpton has appeared as counsel in the Supreme Court of Canada, all levels of court in Ontario, the Federal Court and before the Competition Tribunal and the Ontario Securities Commission. Plumpton is a member of the Antirust Section of the American Bar Association, the Canadian Bar Association and The Advocates’ Society. She has taught advocacy and lectured on class actions and competition law issues at the Osgoode Hall Law School, University of Ottawa Faculty of Law, University of Toronto Faculty of Law and at programs run by The Advocates’ Society and the National Institute for Trial Advocacy.
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John F. Rook
Law firm: Bennett Jones LLP
Year called to the Bar: 1973
City: Toronto

John F. Rook is a partner at Bennett Jones LLP. He specializes in commercial, administrative and competition law litigation. Rook appears at all levels of the federal and provincial trial and appellate courts throughout Canada. He also appears before the Competition Tribunal and in the courts in matters relating to price fixing, mergers and reviewable practices, including claims for abuse of dominance. Rook acts for the Commissioner of Competition and numerous private sector clients in various competition, commercial and administrative law matters. He writes extensively and is a frequent speaker in his areas of expertise.

Omar K. Wakil
Law firm: Torys LLP
Year called to the Bar: 1996
City: Toronto

Omar K. Wakil is a partner at Torys LLP. He advises domestic and international clients on all aspects of competition law. Wakil provides strategic advice to firms involved in mergers, cartel and abuse of dominance investigations under the Competition Act. He also advises clients on net benefit and national security reviews under the Investment Canada Act. Wakil has represented numerous foreign investors, including state-owned enterprises and domestic targets in acquisition transactions. He has authored the Annotated Competition Act and the Annotated Investment Canada Act. Wakil is a member of executive committee of Canadian Bar Association’s National Competition Law Section and the CD Howe Institute’s competition policy council. He is also a private sector adviser to the International Competition Network.

Firm(s)

Bennett Jones LLP Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP McCarthy Tétrault LLP McMillan LLP Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP Stikeman Elliott LLP Torys LLP