These are Ontario’s best competition law firms based on the results of Lexpert’s extensive annual peer review. Check out the full list 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.
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 law firms
Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP
Year established: 1856
Number of lawyers: 20+ (Competition, Antitrust & Foreign Investment)
Number of ranked lawyers: 4
Partners: Cassandra Brown, Brian A. Facey, Nicole Henderson, Randall Hofley, Navin Joneja, Robert E. Kwinter, Andrea Laing, Kevin MacDonald, Wendy Mee, Julie Soloway, Craig C. Thorburn, Laura Wienrib, Micah Wood
Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP (Blakes) is one of Canada’s largest full-service law firms, providing legal advice to leading domestic and international businesses. It has offices in Toronto, Ottawa, Vancouver, Calgary and Montréal, and international headquarters in New York in the US, London in the UK and Beijing in China. The firm handles transactions of all sizes and levels of complexity, whether an issue is local or multi-jurisdictional, or practice-area specific or interdisciplinary.
Blakes’ competition, antitrust and foreign investment group works collaboratively with clients to secure approvals for transactions and facilitate other strategic objectives in compliance with Canada’s antitrust and foreign investment regime under the Competition Act, the Investment Canada Act, and other pertinent laws and regulations. The team also boasts many of the strongest women lawyers in competition law. The firm’s highly skilled and experienced competition lawyers have a proven track record of success in acting for clients on high-stakes transactions and investigations, many of which involve multinational coordination among counsel and agencies in the US, Europe and other jurisdictions.
Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP
Year established: 1961
Number of lawyers: 10+ (Competition, Antitrust & Foreign Investment)
Number of ranked lawyers: 8
Partners: Anita Banicevic, John Bodrug, Jim Dinning, Mark C. Katz, Elisa K. Kearney, Derek D. Ricci, Charles Tingley
Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP (Davies) is among Canada’s leading full-service business law firms. It specializes in high-stakes and complex matters. The firm’s clients include businesses and financial institutions in North America and abroad. Davies has offices in Toronto, Montréal and New York.
Davies’ competition, antitrust and foreign investment group handles the most demanding merger, cartel and antitrust cases in Canada, including the Monsanto Company’s US$66-billion acquisition by Bayer AG and Rogers Communications’ premium text services case. The team is at the forefront of developments in Canada’s competition landscape and provides clients indispensable insight into the Competition Bureau’s enforcement approach. When disputes arise, the firm’s top litigators bring extensive experience before the Competition Tribunal and at all levels of courts to win a case.
Read more about Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP on renewable energy sources
Stikeman Elliott LLP
Year established: 1952
Number of lawyers: 10+ (Competition & Foreign Investment)
Number of ranked lawyers: 8
Partners: Susan M. Hutton, Katherine L. Kay, Michael Kilby, Eloit N. Kolers, Michael Laskey, Shawn C.D. Neylan, Danielle K. Royal
Stikeman Elliott LLP specializes in business law and represents clients within Canada and across the globe. The firm provides counsel and advise through its offices in Toronto, Ottawa, Montréal, Calgary and Vancouver, and international headquarters in New York in the US, London in the UK and Sydney in Australia.
Stikeman Elliott’s competition and foreign investment group provides advice on major national and international transactions, as well as day-to-day compliance across all industries. On the litigation side, the team handles high stakes exposures in the criminal, regulatory and class action spheres. Stikeman Elliott is one of the most active transactional law firms in Canada, with a deep understanding of the competitive dynamics of Canada’s major industrial and commercial sectors. The firm can effectively evaluate and structure transactions to manage the risk of regulatory intervention by the Commissioner of Competition and other governmental agencies. It has also acted on the most noteworthy foreign investment transactions in recent years, representing both Canadian targets and foreign purchasers.
Read more about Stikeman Elliott LLP on recognizing Canada’s stake in leading the energy transition
Consistently recommended competition law firms
Bennett Jones LLP
Year established: 1989 (Toronto)
Number of lawyers: 10+ (Competition/Antitrust)
Number of ranked lawyers: 4
Partners: Ganon G. Beaulne, Emrys Davis, Randal T. Hughes, Adam Klabfleisch, Jeffrey S. Leon, John F. Rook, Elad Travis, Maureen M. Ward
Bennett Jones LLP has a roster of more than 400 lawyers and business advisors in its offices in Toronto, Ottawa, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver. It is among Canada’s largest full-service business law firms. The firm also has international headquarters in New York and Beijing. Bennett Jones specializes in complex cross-border and international transactions and litigation. It advises foreign businesses and investors on Canadian ventures and investments and connects Canadian businesses and investors with opportunities across the globe.
Bennett Jones’ competition/antitrust group includes the most recent former Commissioner of the Competition Bureau and several former Bureau and Department of Justice officials. The team’s lawyers regularly appear before the Bureau. As the only Canadian law firm with competition law capability in Washington, DC, it advises US and international clients and law firms on the Canadian aspects of North American and global competition regulation and antitrust enforcement, reviews under the Investment Canada Act and litigation matters. The firm also guides clients on complex merger and foreign investment review processes.
Read more about Bennett Jones LLP on looming increase in fraud cases amid pandemic
McCarthy Tétrault LLP
Year established: 1855
Number of lawyers: 10+ (Competition/Antitrust & Foreign Investment)
Number of ranked lawyers: 6
Partners: Jonathan Bitran, Oliver J. Borgers, Jason Gudofsky, Nikiforos Iatrou, Casey Halladay, Donald B. Houston, Rick Pawluk, Debbie Salzberger
McCarthy Tétrault LLP is one of Canada’s largest full-service law firms, offering expert legal services to clients in Canada and around the world. The firm delivers integrated business, litigation, tax, real estate and labour and employment offerings through its offices in Toronto, Montréal, Québec City, Calgary, Vancouver, New York in the US and in London, UK.
McCarthy Tétrault’s competition/antitrust and foreign investment group advises clients and foreign law firms on critical competition, foreign investment and national security matters. The team acts both as advisors and litigators. It represents clients on the full range of competition and foreign investment issues, including merger review, competition litigation, cartels and criminal investigations, compliance and counselling, advertising and marketing, foreign investment and national security reviews.
McMillan LLP
Year established: 2005
Number of lawyers: 20+ (Competition and Antitrust)
Number of ranked lawyers: 6
Partners: A. Neil Campbell, Adam D.H. Chisholm, John Clifford, Daniel G. Edmondstone, David W. Kent, Joshua Krane, Janine MacNeil, James B. Musgrove, Mark Opashinov, Lisa Parliament, Guy Pinsonnault, Christopher Purdon, Jeffrey B. Simpson, Robert Wisner
McMillan LLP is a full-service law firm with offices in Toronto, Ottawa, Montréal, Calgary and Vancouver. The firm serves public, private and not-for-profit clients across key industries in Canada, the US and internationally. It is also the only Canadian law firm with an office in Hong Kong. The firm advises Canadian clients on a broad range of capital markets transactions with Chinese state-owned enterprises from outright acquisitions to complex strategic partnership arrangements. It also acts for major global investment banks and Canadian companies in connection with initial public offerings and listings on the Hong Kong and Toronto stock exchanges. McMillan's competition and antitrust group represents clients on the full range of competition and foreign investment issues, including cartels, class actions, competition policy advocacy, foreign investment review, marketing and advertising, mergers, and unilateral conduct and distribution practices.
Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP
Year established: 1862
Number of lawyers: 10+ (Competition and Foreign Investment)
Number of ranked lawyers: 4
Partners: Peter Glossop, Kaeleigh Kuzma, Michelle Lally, Shuli Rodal
Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP one of Canada’s largest full-service firms with offices in Toronto, Ottawa, Montréal, Calgary, Vancouver and New York in the US. It boasts a roster of more than 400 lawyers that provide expert legal services to both domestic and international clients. The firm is recognized for its extensive expertise in business. It specializes in a wide range of industries, including agribusiness, clean tech, energy, fintech, food products, gaming, health, hospitality and leisure, infrastructure, life sciences, mining, real estate investment trusts, retail and venture capital.
Osler’s competition and foreign investment group assists Canadian, US and international businesses with their most challenging and innovative initiatives. The team consists of seasoned professionals who give clients advice on every stage of a transaction from inception through to completion while navigating the relevant regulatory processes and the evolving Canadian competition environment. The team also specializes in providing practical guidance to clients facing a Competition Bureau investigation or potential prosecution.
Torys LLP
Year established: 1941
Number of lawyers: 10+ (Competition and Foreign Investment Review)
Number of ranked lawyers: 3
Partners: Dany H. Assaf, Don Bell, Andrew Bernstein, William McNamara, Jeremy Opolsky, Linda Plumpton, Sylvie Rodrigue, Omar Wakil
Torys LLP is one of Canada’s largest full-service business law firms with offices in Toronto, Montréal, Halifax, Calgary and New York in the US. It advises clients on a wide range of transactions, including banking and debt finance, board advisory and governance, capital markets, competition and foreign investment, consumer protection, corporate restructuring, intellectual property, litigation and dispute resolution, mergers and acquisitions, private equity and tax.
Torys’ competition and foreign investment review team specializes in complex Canadian and international merger transactions, cartel investigations and class actions, and abuse of dominance investigations. The group consists of lawyers with deep expertise in handling the challenges of a complex regulatory enforcement environment. The team’s lawyers have also been active in development of competition law and policy. They have written leading texts and scholarly articles and have been involved in the consultation process preceding each round of amendments to the Competition Act since 1986. The firm has played a similarly active role in the development of international competition policy as non-governmental advisers to Canadian Competition Bureau in the International Competition Network (ICN).
Read more about Torys LLP on Indigenous consultation standards