Biography: Competition

Adam Fanaki is a partner in the competition and foreign investment review group and litigation group at Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP. Adam previously acted as the senior deputy commissioner of competition, in charge of the Canadian Competition Bureau's Mergers Branch, and, previously, as the special counsel to the commissioner of competition. He obtained an LLB (with distinction) from the University of Western Ontario and a Masters degree in European Competition Law from King's College London. Adam was admitted to the Ontario Bar in 1996. Adam held primary responsibility for reviewing mergers under the newly enacted merger regime and advising on strategic policy, including the design and implementation of significant amendments to the Competition Act, enacted in 2009. As the special counsel to the commissioner of competition, he represented the commissioner in respect of major enforcement matters and litigated proceedings.

Adam has extensive experience in advising on all aspects of competition law including international and domestic mergers, pricing and distribution matters, advertising and marketing law, criminal and civil investigations and compliance. Adam has appeared before civil courts on competition law matters and has litigated cases before several courts and tribunals, including acting as counsel before the Competition Tribunal, Federal Court of Canada, Ontario Superior Court of Justice and Ontario Court of Appeal. In addition to acting for private clients, Adam frequently acts as counsel to the commissioner of competition, the head of the Canadian Competition Bureau.

Adam is a past chair of the legislation and competition policy committee and vice chair of the reviewable matters committee of the Canadian Bar Association, competition law section. He has testified before parliamentary committees on competition issues and has frequently been selected as a non-governmental adviser to the International Competition Network (ICN). Adam has authored numerous papers on the subject of competition law, and has been an adjunct faculty member at Osgoode Hall Law School and York University, and a lecturer at the faculties of law at the University of Western Ontario, University of Toronto and Queen's University.

Adam has consistently been recognised as one of Canada's leading competition lawyers in various international and domestic publications, including in the Lexpert/American Lawyer Guide to the Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada, Chambers Global: The World's Leading Lawyers for Business, The Best Lawyers in Canada, Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory, and the PLC Which Lawyer? Yearbook. In addition, Adam was recognised as one of the top competition law litigators in the 2007 Lexpert Guide to the Leading US/Canada Cross-border Litigation Lawyers in Canada, and as one of Canada's Top 40 Lawyers Under 40 in both 2006 and 2008.