Steve Szentesi

• Toronto, ON
• steve@szentesilaw.com
• Contact

Steve is 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, advertising and regulatory laws. He has worked on hundreds of matters in the competition law, advertising law, trade and professional association compliance, anti-spam law (CASL), contest and regulatory law areas.

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

His 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 law area. He frequently speaks at industry and other events and is 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 (national competition law compliance course for REALTORS), subject matter expert and advisor for Competition Law for REALTORS (national online competition law compliance course for REALTORS) and subject matter expert and author for the Canadian advertising law section of the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College’s course Ethics in Clinical Practice and Advertising.

Clients

Steve practices federal Canadian and Ontario law. He frequently acts for companies, 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 and advertising laws. Over the past 20 years he has provided competition, advertising and regulatory law advice to clients in Toronto, Canada and U.S. clients seeking Canadian legal advice for Canadian operations.

Representative Work

Some of Steve’s recent competition/antitrust, advertising/marketing, CASL 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; CASL (anti-spam law) opinions and compliance advice; and assisting litigation counsel with Canadian competition law theories and strategies.

Education

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