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mnicholson@casselsbrock.com

Telephone: 416 860 6513
Fax: 416 642 7168

Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP
2100 Scotia Plaza
40 King Street West
Toronto, ON M5H 3C2
Canada

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Mark Nicholson

Mark is a partner in our Competition, Antitrust & Foreign Investment Group.

Mark joined Cassels Brock after practising competition law at another major Toronto-based firm. During his career, Mark has gained extensive experience across the broad range of competition law, from mergers to abuse of dominance cases to criminal matters and misleading advertising.

Some of the highlights of Mark's career in competition law include:

Working, on an ongoing basis, with a number of major corporations and industry associations to ensure that their activities comply with the Competition Act.
Making numerous appearances before the Competition Tribunal in contested cases (e.g., Tele-Direct, Southam (variation)) and consent orders/consent agreements (e.g., Waste Management, Canadian Waste, Southam, Interac).
Working on numerous multinational legal teams to coordinate merger filings and submissions in respect of all sorts or types of transactions, from simple transactions to complex, contentious ones.
Quarter-backing the legal response to numerous section 11 orders and section 15 "dawn raids" on clients. This process often involved an active co-ordination with lawyers in the US, EU and/or Japan to respond to multinational investigations.
Playing a central role in many of the leading abuse of dominance cases and inquiries including NutraSweet (the first case); Tele-Direct (the longest and most complex case), CANYPS, Interac, Waste Management, and the motion pictures theatres inquiry. In each case, Mark's clients were well satisfied with the outcome.
Negotiating the settlement of an inquiry under criminal provisions of the Competition Act. For the first time, the resolution included a voluntary payment to charity, but no finding or admission of guilt and no payment of fine.
Acting as the competition law component of a civil defence team, both on class actions and on individual claims.

In addition to his law practice, Mark is a frequent conference speaker and has written a number of articles in the area of competition law.

Mark has been recognized internationally as a leading lawyer in Canadian competition law. Chambers Global, a leading independent ranking firm, has named Mark in Chambers Global - The World's Leading Lawyers, 2005-2010 Editions. Chambers observes:

Mark Nicholson joined this year as head of competition and wins a place in the table, having attracted impressive client feedback. Above all, he was praised for his ability to "introduce an interesting perspective on competition law, helping us to live with it rather than constantly panic about it." A "highly responsive and sophisticated practitioner," Nicholson boasts experience in an array of M&A-related issues, not to mention abuse of dominance cases and criminal matters.

In addition, he has received a BV Distinguished™ rating from Martindale-Hubbell.

Mark is an adjunct professor of law at the University of Western Ontario and taught Competition Law in the spring semester. He is also an adjunct professor in the LL.M. program at Osgoode Hall Law School. He has served on the Faculty of Law, University of Illinois as a Visiting Instructor, teaching legal research (U.S.), legal writing and appellate advocacy.

Education

LL.M., University of Illinois, 1989
LL.B. (with Distinction), University of Western Ontario, 1987
M. Div. (magna cum laude), London Baptist Seminary
B.A., University of Western Ontario