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Page 12 September 18, 2017 • Law timeS www.lawtimesnews.com FOCUS Medico/Legal Your case is too important. You deserve the right EXPERT WITNESS. We offer unparallelled expertise for your most catastrophic injury cases. Direct access to hundreds of specialists from all areas of healthcare expertise. A top provider of cost of care reports for your most catastrophically injured clients. More than 2,000 malpractice, personal injury and class action cases. More than 300 lawyer clients assisted. Serving lawyers across Canada. Also, the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and Caribbean. LEARN MORE: CONNECTMLX.COM EXPERTS@CONNECTMLX.COM TOLL FREE: 855-278-9273 Since 2001, we've become a leader in Expert Witness Services in Canada. onnect Medical_LT_June12_17.indd 1 2017-06-06 1:07 PM which would seem to be in the public interest." Rosenthal says more private causes of action would allow the better development of case law, which is in everyone's interest. "I would think that there's some benefit to spreading the consideration around, so you get to have as broad a group of judges considering these issues," says Rosenthal. "That's really how our law de- velops best — when you get cases that develop in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island and in the west and Ontario, where the judges all cross-pollinate with their different areas of expertise and their different perspectives to bear, and that ultimately gives you the best chance of develop- ing a robust and coherent case law." Iatrou says that, currently, the bureau occupies an im- portant spot when it comes to shaping jurisprudence in com- petition law because it usually decides what cases to bring for- ward or not and which cases it is willing to take a risk on in order to develop case law. "If you think about other economic cases, like economic torts or interference with con- tractual relations or a conspir- acy to injure, you've got dozens of cases that have interpreted how the law should develop," says Iatrou. The Competition Act, in comparison, might have one or two cases on any given section, which is why Iatrou believes it would make sense to allow more private cases to go forward. That way, more robust inter- pretations of the act could be developed, bypassing the gate- keeping role of the bureau. "When you look at small numbers of cases that the bu- reau brings, it's very hard to ad- vise a client that they even have a great chance of convincing the bureau that they should bring a case," says Iatrou. LT dictions don't contain any hidden surprises that could lead to an in- vestigation down the road. "I've been involved in situ- ations where information that has been provided to the Com- petition Bureau or other regula- tors has subsequently been relied upon by that regulator, often in an unrelated investigation or prosecution," says D. Michael Brown, partner with Norton Rose Fulbright in Toronto. "One of the first things you should be doing in the context of any major merger transactions, when you're thinking about any of the regulatory filings that you're going to have to make, that might be a good time to do some due diligence to see if there is any conduct of concern," says Brown. He says that while the firm would advise its clients to ensure they have fulsome compliance programs in place ahead of any merger, any time there is a notifi- able transaction with regulators in one or more jurisdictions, it's a good time to ensure there isn't something that could come to light during the review that could get the client into trouble later. Brown says it can also mean ensuring that you're not over- producing. "It can be seen sometimes as more convenient to give the same thing to every regulator," says Brown, citing an example of taking the package of docu- ments prepared for the broad- est request by one regulator and giving those same documents to all other regulators, thereby increasing the risk of a collateral investigation or proceeding. Rosner says there is also the potential for other jurisdictions to take the advice of another regulator such as the Competi- tion Bureau and start separate investigations for things that don't necessarily make sense in their jurisdiction. "What does that mean for their ability to review quickly and appropriately?" asks Ros- ner, who says the information sharing could lead to sprawling investigations that may not nec- essarily be appropriate. "How do people think about information they receive from foreign agencies in terms of understanding that it's specific to that jurisdiction and may or may not apply to where they're reviewing?," he says. "That's a challenge for the agency to manage, but it's a chal- lenge for the companies because they don't get to participate in that bilateral communication between the agencies." LT Continued from page 10 Few cases proceed Companies must comply Continued from page 11 Melanie Aitken says parties must co- operate with the Competition Bureau as part of international deals. [T]here's some benefit to spreading the consideration around, so you get to have as broad a group of judges considering these issues. Julie Rosenthal Presented by Lexpert, the prestigious Rising Stars Awards Gala honours winners from across Canada and welcomes law firm and in-house leaders and distinguished guests to celebrate and network with others who are at the top of the legal profession. GALA DINNER AND AWARDS PRESENTATION Honouring Canada's Leading Lawyers Under 40 – from law firms and in–house – this event will pay tribute to the rising stars of the legal community EMCEE Jean Cumming, Editor-in-Chief, Lexpert THE FAIRMONT ROYAL YORK HOTEL, TORONTO Thursday, November 16, 2017 5:30 - 7:00 p.m. Cocktail Reception 7:00 p.m. Gala Dinner and Awards Presentation 9:30 p.m. After Party Dress: Business attire LEXPERT.CA/RISING-STARS To purchase tickets or to sponsor the event, contact: MediaSolutions.Sales@thomsonreuters.com Founding Partner Bronze Sponsor Hosted in Partnership with Untitled-4 1 2017-09-14 2:49 PM www.twitter.com/lawtimes Follow on

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