These are Toronto’s leading advertising and marketing lawyers based on the results of Lexpert’s comprehensive annual peer review. The full list of Canada’s most recommended lawyers and law firms in the field can be accessed on our practice area rankings.
Advertising and marketing law is the branch of the legal profession that governs matters on how businesses communicate information about their products or services to the public. These include promotion, sponsorship, distributorship, merchandising and licensing.
Most frequently recommended advertising and marketing lawyers
Anita Banicevic
Law firm: Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP
Year called to the bar: 2000
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.
Brian R. Fraser
Law firm: Gowling WLG
Year called to the bar: 1984
Brian R. Fraser is a senior partner at Gowling WLG’s advertising and product regulatory practice group in Toronto. He advises on all aspects of advertising and marketing law, including ad copy review, promotional contests, social media, packaging and labelling requirements, comparative advertising and claims support. Fraser also represents clients in trade dispute proceedings administered by Ad Standards Canada. His clients include global advertising and promotion agencies and some of Canada’s leading consumer product companies, retailers and service providers. Fraser is a co-author of the Canadian Advertising and Marketing Law published by Thomson Reuters and has published numerous articles and papers on advertising and marketing law issues. He is also a frequent speaker at industry conferences.
James B. Musgrove
Law firm: McMillan LLP
Year called to the bar: 1986
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.
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Consistently recommended advertising and marketing lawyers
Daniel Cole
Law firm: Gowling WLG
Year called to the bar: 2008
Daniel Cole is a partner in Gowling WLG’s Toronto office and leader of the firm’s advertising and regulatory group. He practises exclusively in the areas of advertising, marketing and regulatory law. His practice focuses on contest design and review, automotive advertising, packaging and labelling, e-commerce law and promotional copy review. Cole also advises clients on consumer protection law and the legal logistics of developing e-commerce platforms. A large part of his practice involves advising on social media legal issues, including the design of targeted social media programs, drafting social media policies and managing public relations concerns. Cole regularly works with clients’ legal and executive teams to manage risk and streamline processes related to their advertising and marketing procedures. He is a frequent speaker on social media and advertising law and was previously adjunct faculty at Osgoode Hall Law School.
Antonio Di Domenico
Law firm: Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP
Year called to the bar: 2006
Antonio Di Domenico is a partner at Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP. He is also the co-Leader of the firm’s antitrust, competition and marketing group. As former counsel to Canada’s Commissioner of Competition (Department of Justice Canada) and having served as counsel in many of the country’s most significant competition matters, Di Domenico is widely recognized as one of Canada’s leading practitioners in competition law and litigation. He 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. Di Domenico also represents parties in criminal and civil investigations and class action litigation and has litigated proceedings before Canada’s Competition Tribunal. He has extensive trial and appellate experience, having appeared as counsel before Canada’s Competition Tribunal, all levels of court in Ontario, Federal Court of Canada, Federal Court of Appeal and Supreme Court of Canada.
Daniel G. Edmondstone
Law firm: McMillan LLP
Year called to the bar: 1991
Daniel G. Edmondstone is a partner McMillan LLP, where he is co-chair of the advertising group and a member of the competition and marketing law groups. Edmondstone specializes in competition law, including marketing and advertising related matters. He handles all aspects of marketing law, including Ad Standards Canada advertiser dispute hearings and consumer complaints. Edmondstone also advises on advertising campaigns, competitive claims and substantiation, promotion contest and the risk assessment issues arising therefrom. He negotiates agreements for agency and related services. Edmonstone also practises in the area of privacy and anti-spam compliance and related litigation. He regularly represents clients in mergers under the Competition Act and foreign investments in the Investment Canada Act. Edmonstone has represented numerous defendants in class action matters. He advises on pricing and distribution issues under the Competition Act. Edmondstone has served as chair of the marketing law committee of the Canadian Bar Association’s competition law section and consumer law committee of the Ontario Bar Association. He is also a co-author of Canadian Advertising and Marketing Law and co-editor of the advertising chapter of O’Brien’s Forms.
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Kelly Harris
Law firm: Miller Thomson LLP
Year called to the bar: 2011
Kelly Harris is a partner at Miller Thomson LLP. She specializes in marketing, advertising and consumer product regulatory law. Harris advises retailers, manufacturers and distributors on a wide variety of advertising issues, including claim review and substantiation, contests and sweepstakes, consumer promotions, sponsorship, influencer agreements, competitor challenges, charitable promotions, loyalty programs and new media. She also advises on marketing matters, including pricing and sales substantiation, e-commerce, packaging and labelling, telemarketing, consumer contracting, consumer protection, website terms of use and sale and agency and client services agreements. On the regulatory side, Harris represents clients on product classification, licensing, regulatory notifications, technical specification and standards compliance, formulation review and assessment, regulatory investigations and challenges, recalls and compliance with restrictions on regulated product claims and advertising. She also advises on privacy, information protection and anti-spam matters involving the private sector, charities, privacy policies and SMS and email marketing.
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Kelly L. Moffatt
Law firm: Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP
Year called to the bar: 1992
Kelly L. Moffatt is a partner and the head of the marketing and distribution practice group at Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP. Her commercial practice focuses on consumer protection, marketing, distribution and intellectual property matters. Moffatt works extensively with retailers, manufacturers, distributors, marketers and advertising and promotional agencies. She advises domestic and foreign clients on various aspects of doing business in Canada, including consumer protection legislation, advertising and promotions, French language issues, coupons, packaging and labelling, e-commerce and distribution and pricing matters. Moffatt’s practice also extends to various aspects of intellectual property law, including the protection, registration and licensing of intellectual property rights and the protection of confidential information. She regularly provides transaction and litigation support in marketing, trade practice, distribution and intellectual property matters.
David M.W. Young
Law firm: David Young Law
Year called to the bar: 1977
David M.W. Young is the principal at David Young Law. He has been advising clients on privacy issues since prior to the enactment of Canada’s private sector privacy laws. Young advises private and public sector clients on all aspects of privacy law, including compliance procedures, data sharing, employee privacy, personal health information, security, consent, de-identification and access to information. He also advises on marketing matters, including digital advertising, anti-spam, social media and food and drug law. Young’s practice also includes corporate regulatory compliance. He is a co-author of Canadian Advertising and Marketing Law and Marketing Communications Services Agreement - Commentary and Model Agreement 5th edition. Young is the 2015 recipient of the Ontario Bar Association’s Karen Spector Memorial Award for Excellence in Privacy Law. He is also an executive member of the CBA’s national privacy and access law section and a member of the Canadian Marketing Association’s ethics and standards committee. Young is also a director of the Canadian Helen Keller Centre.