These were the best advertising and marketing lawyers in Toronto based on the results of Lexpert’s 2021 annual peer review. The full list of Canada’s current best advertising and marketing law laywers can be found at the link.
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 an 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 and 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.
Consistently recommended advertising and marketing lawyers
Daniel Cole
Law firm: Gowling WLG
Year called to the Bar: 2008
Daniel Cole is a partner at Gowling WLG’s intellectual property group. He specializes in advertising and marketing law. Cole’s practice focuses on contest design and review, automotive advertising, packaging and labelling and advertising copy review. He advises clients on consumer protection law and the legal logistics of developing e-commerce platforms. A large part of his practice also 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 has extensive experience in social media and marketing. He regularly works with clients’ legal and executive teams to manage risk and streamline processes related to their advertising and marketing procedures. Cole is a frequent speaker and author on social media and advertising law and was previously an adjunct faculty at Osgoode Hall Law School.
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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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James B. Musgrove
Law firm: McMillan LLP
Year called to the Bar: 1986
James B. Musgrove is a 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 devotes his practice to competition, antitrust, foreign investment and marketing law. He advises clients on cartel, mergers, distribution, investment review, foreign corrupt practices and misleading advertising. Musgrove also makes regular representations and submissions to the Competition Bureau. He boasts extensive experience in a range of industries, including financial institutions, oil and gas, electricity, telecommunications, broadcasting, consumer products, retail and automotive. Musgrove also serves in the leadership committee of the ABA Section of antitrust law.
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.
Repeatedly recommended advertising and marketing lawyers
Danielle M. Bush
Law firm: Miller Thomson LLP
Year called to the Bar: 1990
Danielle M. Bush is a partner at Miller Thomson LLP. She devotes her practice to regulatory, technology and commercial law. Bush boasts decades of experience in advising industries regulated by the federal Food and Drug Act, including the manufacturers and distributors of over-the-counter pharmaceutical products, medical devices, foods and alcoholic beverages. She routinely advises on regulatory issues affecting the testing, categorization, approval, compliance, advertising and correction, withdrawal and recall of such products in Canada. Bush also advises on the classification of products, product and company websites, claims for therapeutic food products, agreements relating to production, distribution and marketing and advertising complaints and disputes. She also has significant experience in advising domestic and foreign gaming companies and regulators. While her area of expertise is online gaming, Bush also acts for a wide variety of companies and government organizations involved directly or indirectly in the land-based gaming industry. Bush is a registered trademark agent.
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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, where he is also the regional leader of the antitrust, competition and marketing group. Di Domenico represents and counsels clients on domestic and multijurisdictional competition matters, including mergers, criminal cartel cases, class actions, advertising and marketing practices and abuse of dominance. He advises on all aspects of Canadian competition law and represents parties in criminal and civil investigations, litigated proceedings before Canada’s Competition Tribunal and class action litigation. Di Domenico has represented parties in many of Canada’s most significant competition and consumer matters. He has extensive trial and appellate experience, appearing 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. Di Domenico has served as counsel to Canada’s commissioner of competition from 2014 to 2016. He has represented the commissioner in complaints and investigations, enforcement matters, the review of mergers, major litigated proceedings and the negotiation of remedies and orders. Di Domenico has also secured numerous production orders and advised on Competition Bureau enforcement guidelines and competition policy matters.
Adam G. Kardash
Law firm: Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP
Year called to the Bar: 1994
Adam G. Kardash serves as a partner at Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, where he heads the national privacy and data management practice. Kardash boasts extensive experience in Canadian privacy and data management law. He provides advice on business-critical data-protection issues, data governance matters, privacy regulatory investigations, data security incident readiness and response, privacy compliance initiatives and complex service provider and information sharing arrangements. Kardash has acted on high-profile Canadian privacy regulatory investigations and security incidents.
Elisa K. Kearney
Law firm: Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP
Year called to the Bar: 2004
Elisa K. Kearney is a partner at Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP. She advises technology and media companies, retailers, airlines and consumer product manufacturers on Canadian law and policy relating to mergers and business ventures, marketing and branding, pricing and distribution, e-commerce and consumer protection, privacy and ethics and regulatory compliance. Kearney is considered a thought leader on issues of law and policy relating to innovation, including the digital economy, big data and cannabis. She counsels clients on foreign ownership and control restrictions in regulated sectors. Kearney regularly appears before the Competition Bureau and has acted as external counsel to the Commissioner of Competition and the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission.
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Michael Kilby
Law firm: Stikeman Elliott LLP
Year called to the Bar: 2006
Michael Kilby is a partner and co-head of the competition and foreign investment group at Stikeman Elliott LLP. He advises clients on all matters relating to Canadian competition and foreign investment laws. Kilby 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. He has been involved in some of the most important and precedent-setting foreign acquisitions in modern Canadian history, including securing approvals in the CNOOC-Nexen, Zayo-Allstream, Petrochina-Athabasca Oil Sands and Vale-Inco transactions and the successful defence by Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan of the hostile bid from BHP Billiton. Kilby also 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. 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.
Janine MacNeil
Law firm: McMillan LLP
Year called to the Bar: 2002
Janine MacNeil is a partner at McMillan LLP. She advises leading consumer products and services brands and advertising and marketing agencies on all aspects of marketing, advertising and consumer product compliance and regulatory matters. MacNeil’s practice includes legal compliance reviews of advertising campaigns for brand marketers and agencies, packaging and labelling review and compliance, compliance review for new product launches and consumer protection compliance. She advises on promotional marketing programs, negotiating and drafting industry-related agreements – including sponsorship and talent agreements – and counselling on sweepstakes, games and contests. MacNeil also advises on the legal risks associated with privacy, telemarketing and anti-spam compliance.
Wendy Mee
Law firm: Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP
Year called to the Bar: 2005
Wendy Mee is a partner at Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP, where she co-chairs the privacy group. She also serves as the national privacy officer for the firm. Mee provides privacy advice to clients in a wide range of industries including technology, financial services, insurance, life sciences, education, retail and consumer goods. She also advises clients on privacy requirements relating to new and innovative technologies and business models, including privacy considerations in connection with big data, artificial intelligence, blockchain technology and machine learning. Mee helps clients operationalize privacy law requirements through the development of privacy related policies and procedures, incident response plans, privacy training and tabletop exercises. She also helps clients manage and respond to data breaches and other privacy-related incidents. Mee is frequently involved in global privacy compliance projects, providing Canadian privacy law input into global privacy policies, consent frameworks, data protection agreements and internal privacy policies and procedures. She also advises clients on the requirements of Canada's anti-spam law, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission’s Do Not Call rules, misleading advertising, contests and promotions.
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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.
Christopher Oates
Law firm: Gowling WLG
Year called to the Bar: 2010
Christopher Oates is a Toronto-based partner at Gowling WLG, practising in the advertising and product regulatory group. He specializes in matters related to privacy and e-commerce. Oates advises clients on privacy and consumer protection law, including drafting and reviewing privacy policies and advising on privacy in the context of financial institutions, social media, consumer marketing campaigns, e-commerce and Canada's anti-spam legislation. He also advises organizations on the collection, use and disclosure of consumer information, including credit reporting, risk management and behavioural advertising and tracking. Oates has significant experience in reviewing the adoption of new website analytics tools and tracking programs and the attendant privacy obligations and reviewing and revising data transfer and processing agreements. He also advises on all matters pertaining to direct-to-consumer marketing, including advertising, packaging and labelling review, contest design and review, advertising in social media, drafting and reviewing talent, media and sponsorship agreements and regulatory law pertaining to foods, alcoholic beverages, cosmetics and drug products.
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Alice Tseng
Law firm: Smart & Biggar
Year called to the Bar: 1998
Alice Tseng serves as partner at Smart & Biggar. She specializes in regulatory, marketing and advertising matters, particularly in the area of life sciences. As both a pharmacist and a regulatory lawyer, Tseng counsels clients in highly regulated industries, including pharmaceutical, cannabis, medical devices, food and cosmetics. She helps her clients navigate a myriad of regulatory regimes and industry codes to maximize commercial objectives while minimizing risk. Tseng also specializes in federal and provincial regulatory, advertising and marketing, privacy, health care compliance, reimbursement, access to information and product safety matters. She is a registered pharmacist and patent agent.