Professional notice
The Bennett Jones Competition/Antitrust Group has an outstanding reputation for both merger review and competition litigation, with Melanie Aitken, a former Commissioner of the Competition Bureau co-chairing the group, along with esteemed senior competition lawyer Randy Hughes. The firm regularly appears before—and is retained to litigate on behalf of—the Bureau. The team's unparalleled experience and credibility with the Bureau provides a deep, seasoned understanding of the Bureau's priorities, concerns and enforcement orientation, and unique insights into how the Bureau conducts its investigations.
As the only Canadian law firm with competition law capability in Washington, DC and New York, Bennett Jones advises U.S. 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 including class action proceedings. Clients rely on the group's anticipatory and pragmatic approach to guide them through complex merger and foreign investment review processes.
Bennett Jones is a leading firm, if not the leading firm, with respect to national security reviews under the Investment Canada Act. The team has represented non-Canadian investors in nine national security reviews under the Investment Canada Act over the last few years.
The firm has one of Canada's top competition litigation practices, which include: John Rook QC, recognized as among the most sought-after competition litigators in Canada with over 40 years' experience; Randy Hughes who specializes in cartel investigations/prosecutions and class actions, as well as merger reviews and reviewable matters; Emrys Davis who is recognized as an up and coming star in competition class actions; and Melanie Aitken who has litigated cases both for and against the Bureau, including the first successful merger efficiencies defence.
Bennett Jones advises on a broad spectrum of antitrust matters for clients in industries including high-tech, e-commerce, telecommunications, retail, mining, pharmaceuticals, health care, broadcasting, publishing, film entertainment, sports and entertainment, hotel and leisure, government, chemicals and financial services.
The group has been involved in virtually all significant Competition Bureau investigations and/or competition class actions in Canada involving products such as cathode ray tubes, optical disc drives, compressors, chocolate, polyurethane foam, concrete forming, lithium ion batteries, E-books, air cargo, credit cards, retail gasoline, foreign exchange, airline capacity, transportation, and a number of products in the wide-ranging auto parts investigation, as well as leading marketing practices cases.
Members of the team were retained for three separate defendant group’s defending the $2.75 billion class action related to generic pharmaceuticals, which began in Canada in mid-2020 following the extensive US investigations and related civil litigation (led by Randy Hughes). The team advised on several significant mergers such as Allergan plc, a global pharmaceutical company on its US$63 billion proposed acquisition by Abbvie Inc., including in connection with the divestiture of certain assets to Nestle and AstraZeneca, resulting from regulators' competition concerns (led by Melanie Aitken) and Cenovus Energy in its US$23.6 billion acquisition of Husky Energy (led by Beth Riley).
Website: www.bennettjones.com