Biography

I am a Toronto based competition/antitrust, advertising/marketing, CASL, contest and regulatory lawyer with 20 years experience advising companies, trade and professional associations, advertising and communications agencies, governments and other organizations in Toronto, Canada and the United States in relation to Canadian competition and advertising laws.  My experience includes working on hundreds of matters in the competition law, advertising law, association compliance, anti-spam law (CASL), contest and regulatory law areas.

My practice experience includes working at some of the leading business law firms in Toronto (Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg), Vancouver (Lang Michener, now McMillan) and London, U.K. (Linklaters).  I also served as in-house competition counsel for The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) in Ottawa, one of Canada’s largest trade associations.

My academic experience includes four years as adjunct professor of competition law at the University of British Columbia, Faculty of Law and publishing widely in the competition and advertising law areas.  I frequently speak at industry and other events and am regularly contacted by the media for views on Canadian competition, advertising and regulatory law developments.

Key publications: Lawyer Editor for Practical Law Canada, Competition (Thomson Reuters), columnist for Canadian Lawyer, co-author of The Competition Law Guide for Trade Associations in Canada (Thomson Reuters), author of Competition Law and REALTORS (a national competition compliance course for REALTORS), subject matter expert and advisor for Competition Law for REALTORs (a national online competition compliance course for REALTORS) and subject matter expert and author for the advertising law section of the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College’s course Ethics in Clinical Practice and Advertising.

WHO ARE OUR CLIENTS?

We practice federal Canadian and Ontario law. As such, we frequently act for companies, trade and professional associations, not-for-profit organizations, governments, advertising agencies, communications firms and individuals in Toronto and across Canada and the United States in relation to federal and Ontario competition, advertising and regulatory laws. Over the past 20 years we have provided competition, advertising and regulatory law advice to clients in Toronto and across Canada, as well as U.S. clients seeking Canadian legal advice for Canadian operations and projects.

COMPETITION AND ADVERTISING LAW SERVICES

For more information about my competition, advertising and contest law services, please see: here, here and here.

REPRESENTATIVE WORK

Some of my recent competition/antitrust, advertising/marketing and contest law work includes:

Association competition law compliance, including in-person and online compliance programs for some of Canada’s largest associations; competition compliance for a major global construction products company; competition law compliance programs for small and large companies; advertising and marketing law advice (including for several of the world’s largest consumer products companies, local Canadian governments and several international governments); submissions to the Competition Bureau; filing Competition Bureau complaints; competition and advertising law related memoranda, applications for Competition Bureau advisory opinions; Canadian price-fixing cases; immunity applications to the Competition Bureau; contest law advice including for several local and international governments; competition law seminars and presentations for industry groups; drafting contest rules/forms; and assisting litigation counsel with competition law theory and strategies.

EDUCATION

B.A. – University of Toronto
M.A. – University of Toronto
LL.B. – Dalhousie University

CONTACT

Steve Szentesi Law Professional Corporation
4005 – 8 The Esplanade
Toronto, ON
M5E 0A6

If you would like to discuss a potential competition or advertising law matter or schedule a video conference call, please send us an e-mail at: steve@szentesilaw.com.