Randall is a trusted advisor and advocate for leading Canadian and global companies on competition law and the federal regulation of business. His practice is focused on contentious matters before the Canadian Competition Bureau (Bureau) and Competition Tribunal (Tribunal), as well as before all levels of Canadian courts and federal administrative tribunals.
Randall is one of the most sought-after and experienced competition lawyers in Canada, bringing both his private-sector and public-sector experience to Blakes clients.
From 2018 to 2019, Randall served as General Counsel and Senior Enforcement Advisor in the Bureau. In this role, he led numerous high-profile enforcement matters related to mergers, abuse of dominance, deceptive marketing and cartel matters. Randall also served as a member of the Bureau’s Senior Management and its Policy and Procedures Committees, where he played an active role in the development of the Bureau’s strategic plans and priorities, external policies related to merger efficiencies, immunity and leniency, market studies, abuse of dominance, legislative amendments, and internal policies related to public interest privilege, expert witnesses, documentary discovery and subpoenas. Randall was also lead counsel in the negotiation of numerous memoranda of understanding between the Bureau and other Canadian law enforcement or regulatory agencies and with respect to multilateral enforcement cooperation agreements at an international level.
During his time as Special Counsel to the Commissioner of Competition from 2005 to 2006, Randall litigated major cases and was responsible for legislative and policy reform initiatives relating to abuse of dominance, cartels, intellectual property, price maintenance, regulated conduct and litigation procedures. Some of these initiatives resulted in major amendments to the Competition Act (Act), Bureau policies and Tribunal procedures.
Randall has litigated many of Canada’s most high-profile cases under the Act. These include the first abuse of dominance case to reach the Supreme Court of Canada, the only Federal Court of Appeal decision to address patents under the Act, the only (civil) price maintenance case, the first case considering the Act’s competitor collaboration provisions, the only appellate level case on the application of the Act’s cartel provisions to agreements between purchasers of goods or services, the only Tribunal case to address the Regulated Conduct Doctrine, and numerous cases developing standards for cartel prosecutions and class-action certification and defences in the cartel context.
Randall’s experience spans a number of industries, including aluminum and steel, animal health, automotive parts, chemicals, digital platforms, energy, financial services, food and consumer products, information technology, industrial machinery, life sciences, music, petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, real estate, telecommunications, transportation (rail, air and pipelines), travel (hotels and rental cars), and waste management.