Biography: Competition

Lawson Hunter is competition, regulatory and government relations counsel at Stikeman Elliott, and head of the competition/antitrust group. He was formerly Canada's senior civil servant in charge of competition policy and enforcement, and primarily responsible for drafting the federal Competition Act. He previously served as executive vice president and chief corporate officer of Bell Canada and BCE Inc, responsible for overseeing regulatory, governmental relations and corporate affairs.

Mr Hunter advises corporations on all aspects of federal regulatory law and policy, including competition and antitrust matters, foreign investment legislation, anti-dumping and international trade, telecommunications law and Heritage Canada issues. He is particularly noted for his experience as an adviser on regulatory aspects of mergers and acquisitions. Recent mergers include Transcontinental's proposed acquisition of the Canadian business of Quad/Graphics, Johnson & Johnson's proposed acquisition of Synthes, Canadian Tire/Forzani Group, PotashCorp/BHP Billiton, Ticketmaster/Live Nation, United/Continental Airlines, Panasonic/Sanyo and Wyeth/Pfizer.

Mr Hunter has consistently ranked in surveys as one of Canada's and the world's leading counsel on regulatory matters. He is described as 'the jewel in this leading practice's crown' and the 'pre-eminent competition lawyer in Canada' and as the 'first choice for competition law in Canada', noting his 'important political connections'. He was named one of the world's top 20 competition and antitrust lawyers by The Best of the Best and ranked in the Guide to the Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada and Guide to the World's Leading Competition and Antitrust Lawyers.