January 16, 2020 – William Robson, President and CEO of the C.D. Howe Institute, announces the re-appointment of Lawson Hunter as a Senior Fellow.
“Lawson’s combination of analytical and practical knowledge of competition policy make him a go-to person for insights and advice about competition-related regulation,” said Robson. “We at the C.D. Howe Institute have long benefited from his input into our research program, and we are delighted at the prospect of further collaboration.”
Formerly Canada’s senior civil servant in charge of competition policy and enforcement, Hunter was primarily responsible for the drafting of the federal Competition Act. From 1993 to 2003, he was a partner of Stikeman Elliott and head of the firm’s Competition and Foreign Investment Group. From 2003 to 2008, he served as executive vice-president and chief corporate officer of Bell Canada and BCE Inc., where he was responsible for overseeing regulatory, governmental relations and corporate affairs. In September 2008, he rejoined the Ottawa office of Stikeman Elliott as counsel. From April 2010 to May 2012, Mr. Hunter assumed the role of head of the Competition and Foreign Investment Group and recently returned to his role as counsel.
Hunter was recently honoured with Lexpert’s Zenith Award: Celebrating Leadership Through Change, recognizing lawyers who have been change-agents in their profession for forty or more years. He was recently granted an Honorary Doctorate of Laws Degree (L.L.D.) from the University of New Brunswick. With respect to his service as chair of Stikeman Elliott’s competition practice, Chambers Global described him 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.” Mr. Hunter was also named one of the World’s Top 20 competition and antitrust lawyers by The Best of the Best. And, with his vast knowledge of policy and regulation, he is recognized as a “pre-eminent” figure in the competition bar by Who’s Who Legal 100.
Hunter attended Harvard University (LL.M. 1971) and the University of New Brunswick (LL.B. 1970, B.Sc. 1967).
For more information please contact: C.D. Howe Institute at 416-865-1904; email: media@cdhowe.org.
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