Kevin Wright

Partner

Chair, Canadian International Trade, Regulatory and Government Affairs Group

About

Kevin Wright is an experienced competition law and class action defence lawyer. He is the ‎Chair of the ‎firm’s Canadian International Trade, Regulatory and Government Affairs Group.‎

In his 29 year career, he has covered all aspects of competition law from complex international and ‎‎national cartel (price fixing) investigations and defence of criminal charges: merger clearance, abuse of ‎‎dominance investigations, advice on marketing and distribution practices and compliance programs. He ‎‎has acted in two of the few fully litigated merger cases before the Competition Tribunal, including an ‎‎appearance in the Supreme Court of Canada and the successful defence of vendors against the ‎proposed ‎dissolution of a ‎merger. While on a secondment early in his career, he was involved in ‎significant merger ‎cases before the European Commission and in the United States.‎

Kevin has been lead counsel in the defence of over 30 class actions across the country. His class action ‎‎experience covers a variety of industries, including automotive, technology, manufacturing, electronics, ‎‎transportation services, food and petroleum.  ‎

He has also acted for and advised clients in trade law disputes, including a chapter 11 NAFTA claim filed ‎against the Government of Canada. He has acted in other regulatory proceedings and civil litigation ‎including intellectual property disputes, proceedings under the Canada Transportation Act and ‎appearances before regulatory agencies and a utilities commission.‎

Kevin has been an active member of the Canadian Bar Association National Competition and Foreign ‎Investment Review Section ‎throughout his career. He has ‎served in the past as Chair of its International, ‎Legislation and Policy, Economics and Law, Mergers and Criminal ‎Matters Committees.‎  He was the Chair ‎of the Section’s 2022 Fall Conference, the country’s most significant annual competition law conference.‎

He has spoken and lectured on competition law, class actions and intellectual property law to ‎professional ‎and business audiences on various occasions.‎

For twelve years, Kevin has been an adjunct professor at the University of British Columbia Faculty of ‎Law ‎where he teaches competition law.‎

Kevin received a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree from the University of Western Ontario in 1990, ‎obtaining the gold medal in honours economics. He then studied law at the University of Toronto, where he ‎graduated with honours in 1993.‎

 
Bar admissionsBritish Columbia, 1994

EXPERIENCE

  • Acting for Trulieve Cannabis Corp. (CSE: TRUL) (OTC: TCNNF) in its proposed US$2.1 billion acquisition of Harvest Health & Recreation Inc. (CSE: HARV, OTCQX: HRVSF).
  • Defence counsel in many class actions involving alleged anticompetitive conduct, including in respect ‎of Automobile Parts, Ocean Shipping Services, Bearings, Optical Disc Drives, Ramen Noodles, ‎Capacitors, Resistors, Lithium Ion Batteries, Diesel Engine Emissions, DRAM, SRAM, Flash Memory, ‎‎Smart Card Chips
  • Defence counsel in class actions involving allegations of copyright infringement, breach of fuel supply ‎contracts, and improper collection of excise taxes ‎
  • Counsel to the Vendor Respondents before the Competition Tribunal in CCS/Tervita ‎merger case
  • Counsel to the Competition Bureau in the Southam Newspapers merger case (including appearance ‎before the Supreme Court of Canada) ‎
  • Appearance before the British Columbia Utilities Commission Inquiry into Gasoline and Diesel Prices ‎in British Columbia ‎
  • Acted for Autopro Automation Consultants Ltd. in three-party acquisition transaction with Universal ‎mCloud Corp. and Fulcrum Automation Technologies.‎
  • Acted for CDW Canada Corp. in its acquisition of Scalar Decisions Inc., a leading technology ‎solutions provider in Canada
  • Acted for Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., Ltd. and Sumitomo Corporation in the September 2018 acquisition of the Pogo Gold Mine in Alaska by Northern Star Resources for US$260 million
  • Advised Nippon Paper Industries Co., Ltd., Marubeni Corporation and Daishowa North America Corporation in the $465 million acquisition of Daishowa-Marubeni International Ltd. by Mercer International Inc.
  • Defence of patent infringement litigation involving oil and gas drilling operations, safety-system devices, sawmills, and helicopter logging
Languages
  • English
Education
  • J.D., (Honours), University of Toronto, 1993
  • B.A., (Honours), University of Western Ontario, 1990

Awards

  • Best Lawyers in Canada (Competition / Antitrust Law), 2021-2024
  • Expert Guides: Guide to Competition and Antitrust, 2014, 2021
  • Canadian Legal Lexpert® Directory (Competition Law), 2010-2024
  • Lexpert® ALM 500 Directory (Competition Law), 2022-2024
  • Lexpert® Special Edition: Litigation 2023
  • Chambers Canada (Competition/Antitrust: Litigators), 2016-2024
  • Chambers Global (Competition Law), 2015; (Competition and Antitrust), 2018-2022, 2024
  • The Legal 500 Canada (Competition and Antitrust), 2016-2024; (Dispute Resolution), 2018-2019
  • The International Who’s Who of Business Lawyers (Competition Lawyers & Economists), 2013-2017
  • Lexpert® Guide to the Leading US/Canada Cross-border Litigation Lawyers in Canada, Competition Law, 2012, 2014, 2017
  • Lexpert Canada’s Leading Litigation Lawyers, 2020
  • Who's Who Legal Canada - Competition, 2016-2023
  • Who's Who Legal Competition: Lawyers, 2016-2023

Publications

Other Activities

  • Adjunct Professor, University of British Columbia Faculty of Law, 2011-2024
  • Lecturer, British Columbia Institute of Technology, New Media Course, 2010

Memberships And Affiliations

  • Member, Editorial Board of the Canadian Competition Law Review
  • Member, Law Society of British Columbia
  • Member, Canadian Bar Association, Competition Law, Administrative Law and Civil Litigation Subsections
  • Past Chair, International Committee, Canadian Bar Association National Competition Law Section
  • Past Chair, Economics and Law Committee, Canadian Bar Association National Competition Law Section
  • Past Chair, Mergers Committee, Canadian Bar Association National Competition Law Section
  • Past Chair, Criminal Matters Committee, Canadian Bar Association National Competition Law Section
  • Past Chair, Legislation and Policy Committee, Canadian Bar Association National Competition Law Section

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