The Competition Law Section held its 3rd annual Young Lawyers Half-Day Symposium on April 15 at the Shaw Centre in Ottawa. The symposium was well-attended by a wide variety of competition practitioners (of all vintages), representing private practice, federal clerkship, and government.
Keynote speaker Justice Denis Gascon described the changes he has seen in the competition bar since he started practicing, and forecast some changes he hoped to see in his time at the Competition Tribunal. He also provided practical advice relevant to members of the competition bar old and new – including advising lawyers to follow Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s advice that “a designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away,” when considering their submissions.
Sunjay Nath provided an energetic workshop for participants on how to efficiently allocate resources using the “10-80-10 Principle” to achieve goals in their careers and other areas of their lives (which a careful listener could hear conference attendees beginning to apply at the cocktail reception and after). Kevin MacDonald of Blakes, Nikiforos Iatrou of WeirFoulds, Omar Wakil of Torys and Jonathan Chaplan of Competition Bureau Legal Services, kept the energy up during a panel on antitrust litigation by engaging in a feisty debate over the use of mediation in litigation before the Tribunal – an emerging issue that most in the bar are following with great interest.
Finally, Peter Flynn of Blakes led a panel on career development, in which Andrew Little of Bennett Jones, Toni DiDomenico of Competition Bureau Legal Services, Majid Charania of Competition Bureau Legal Services and Marisa Muchnik of Nestle Canada, discussed their unique career paths and advised on ways to seize opportunities to develop a broad-based competition practice. Conference participants then mingled over wine and nosh to discuss the program.
The Young Lawyers Symposium was organized by the Young Lawyers Committee of the CBA Competition Law Section, chaired by Kyle Donnelly, Katherine Rydel and Kate McNeece. Members of the symposium organizing committee included Marina Chernenko, Peter Flynn, Julia Potter and Kat Zoricic. The 4th Annual Young Lawyers Symposium will take place in spring 2017. Stay tuned!
Award Opportunity
The Section is accepting submissions for the 2016 James H. Bocking Memorial Award. Submission deadline: June 30, 2016.
The award consists of a monetary prize of $2,500 and more!
The James H. Bocking Memorial Award was established to provide an opportunity for full-time students or lawyers within three years of their call to the Bar to expand their knowledge of Canadian competition law and policy and to build their profile within the Canadian competition law bar early in their career.
How to Get Involved
Interested CBA members can join any of the Competition Law Section’s 12 active Committees (at no additional cost) by enrolling online or by contacting staff liaison Joyanne Hyman.