Blakes increases its leadership in competition law and litigation

Randall Hofley to join Canada's largest and most experienced competition practice

Photograph available upon request

TORONTO , Jan. 11 /CNW/ - Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP (Blakes), one of Canada's leading business law firms, today announced that Randall Hofley is joining its leading Competition, Antitrust & Foreign Investment Group and its Litigation & Dispute Resolution Group as a Partner.

"Our competition practice is experiencing unprecedented levels of activity," said Brock Gibson , the Firm's Chair. "Randall has extensive expertise and experience in all aspects of competition law and litigation and will add strength to this group, which is already recognized as the leading competition law practice in Canada ."

Randall Hofley, who is ranked as a leading lawyer in competition law and competition litigation by Chambers Global: The World's Leading Lawyers for Business, is a former Special Counsel to the Commissioner of Competition and a senior federal law litigator and counsel, notably in the competition law area. Among other things, he was the successful lead litigation counsel for the Commissioner of Competition before the Federal Court of Appeal and Supreme Court of Canada in the Canada Pipe case, a precedent-setting Canadian antitrust decision.

As Special Counsel to the Commissioner of Competition, Mr. Hofley also played a significant role in legislative and policy reform in the areas of mergers, cartels and abuse of dominance, as well as advising on major Bureau enforcement matters. He was also a key architect of a number of the new changes to the Competition Act.

In private practice spanning almost 20 years, Mr. Hofley has represented clients before the Competition Bureau in numerous merger, cartel and abuse of dominance cases and has developed an extensive regulatory litigation practice before federal tribunals such as the Competition Tribunal, the Canadian International Trade Tribunal, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission and the Copyright Board, as well as Canada's Federal and Supreme Courts. At the outset of his career, Mr. Hofley served as Law Clerk to (now) Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, Beverley McLachlin.

Cal Goldman, who chairs the Competition Group at Blakes, and who formerly was head of the Competition Bureau, says, "Randall's successful track record in contested competition litigation speaks for itself. We see him as a strategic complement to our group's continued delivery of best-in-class representation in challenging Competition Act cases, including high-profile mergers."

    
    About the Blakes Competition, Antitrust & Foreign Investment Group
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The Blakes Competition, Antitrust & Foreign Investment Group is headed by Calvin S. Goldman, Q.C. who is the Chair, and Brian A. Facey, who is the Practice Group Leader. The group is top ranked in Canada by publications such as The Best Lawyers in Canada 2010, Chambers Global: The World's Leading Lawyers for Business 2009, The 2009 Lexpert Guide to the Leading US/Canada Cross-border Litigation Lawyers in Canada , Law Business Research's Global Competition Review Canada Country Survey 2009, Law Business Research's The International Who's Who of Competition Lawyers 2009, Law Business Research's The GCR 100 (9th edition), PLC Which Lawyer? Yearbook 2009, The 2009 Lexpert/American Lawyer Guide to the Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada and The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory 2009. According to the Global Competition Review 2009, "...the firm's competition department is both the largest and the busiest in the country, by all accounts handling more mergers, cartel investigations and class actions than any other firm in Canada ."

    
    About the Litigation & Dispute Resolution Practice Group
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Blakes has one of the largest and most successful litigation and dispute resolution practices in Canada . The group has represented national and international clients in complex commercial disputes in virtually every forum across the country. This includes the Supreme Court of Canada , where Blakes litigators regularly appear on cases at the forefront of developments in Canadian law. Because of the depth of our litigation practice, the Firm is well positioned to serve clients operating across multiple jurisdictions and industry sectors. The group and its members are consistently recognized as leaders in publications such as The Best Lawyers in Canada 2010, PLC Which Lawyer? Yearbook 2009, The 2009 Lexpert Guide to the Leading US/Canada Cross-border Litigation Lawyers in Canada and The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory 2009. Chambers Global: The World's Leading Lawyers for Business 2009 includes comments such as "this group has everything a client could want in terms of expertise and service: the lawyers display excellent instincts and impressive strategy" and "wide-ranging strengths and an abundance of great attorneys...."

    
    About Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP
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Blakes has more than 550 lawyers with offices across Canada and in New York, Chicago , London , Bahrain , Beijing and associated offices in Al-Khobar and Shanghai . In January 2010 , Bloomberg ranked Blakes the ninth busiest law firm in Global Announced Deals for 2009 - Counsel to Principals by deal value. Blakes is the only Canadian firm on this top 10 list. In 2009, Blakes was named "Canada's Law Firm of the Year" by Who's Who Legal and, for the second year running, "Law Firm of the Year: Canada " in the PLC Which Lawyer? Awards. On December 16, 2009 , the Financial Times and mergermarket awarded Blakes the Legal Advisor of the Year Award and, for the second year in a row, the Mid Market Legal Advisor of the Year Canada Award. In 2007, 2008 and 2009, Blakes was Canada's busiest M&A law firm, according to rankings in the Bloomberg, Thomson and mergermarket league tables. More information on Blakes is available by visiting the Firm's website at www.blakes.com.

For further information: Celia Bobkin, Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP, [phone], [email protected]