STEVE SZENTESI
I am a Toronto based competition, advertising, CASL, contest and regulatory lawyer with more than 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. My experience includes working on hundreds of matters in the competition law, advertising law, association compliance, anti-spam law (CASL), contest and regulatory law areas.
My practice experience includes working at some of the leading business law firms in Toronto (Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg), Vancouver (Lang Michener, now McMillan) and London, U.K. (Linklaters). I also served as in-house competition counsel for The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) in Ottawa, one of Canada’s largest trade associations.
My 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 and advertising law areas.
Some of my publications include: Lawyer Editor for Practical Law Canada, Competition (Thomson Reuters), co-author of The Competition Law Guide For Trade Associations in Canada (Thomson Reuters), author of Competition Law and REALTORS (a national competition law compliance course for REALTORS), subject matter expert and advisor for Competition Law for REALTORS (a national online competition law compliance course for REALTORS) and subject matter expert and author for the advertising law section of the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College’s course Ethics in Clinical Practice and Advertising.
CLIENTS
We practice federal Canadian and Ontario law. As such, we frequently act for companies, trade and professional 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, advertising and regulatory laws. Over the past 20 years we have provided competition, advertising and regulatory law advice to clients in Toronto and across Canada, as well as U.S. and international clients seeking legal advice for Canadian operations and projects.
COMPETITION AND ADVERTISING LAW SERVICES
For more information about our competition, advertising and contest law services, see: Competition Law, Advertising Law and Contest Law.
REPRESENTATIVE WORK
Some of our recent competition/antitrust, advertising/marketing and contest law work includes:
Drafting and maintaining Practical Law Canada’s (Thomson Reuters) Canadian online competition law resources for lawyers; trade and professional association competition law compliance, including in-person and online compliance programs for some of Canada’s largest associations; competition law compliance advice for a major global construction products company; preparing competition law compliance programs for companies and associations; advertising and marketing law advice for consumer products companies and advertising agencies; filing complaints and submissions to the Competition Bureau; competition and advertising law related memoranda; applications for Competition Bureau advisory opinions; contest law advice for companies, agencies and local and international governments; competition law seminars and presentations for industry groups; drafting contest rules/forms; CASL (Canadian anti-spam law) advice and compliance; and assisting litigation counsel with competition law theories of harm and strategies.
EDUCATION
B.A. – University of Toronto
M.A. – University of Toronto
LL.B. – Dalhousie University
CONTACT
Steve Szentesi Law Professional Corporation
4005 – 8 The Esplanade
Toronto, ON
M5E 0A6
E-mail: steve@szentesilaw.com
Phone: 647.346.5087
INDUSTRY EXPERIENCE
Industry sectors in which we have worked in the competition and advertising law areas include:
Accounting associations, advertising agencies, agriculture, agricultural manufacturers, airlines, airports, architectural woodworking, architects, associations, automobile dealers, automobile repair, biscuits, broadcasting, car dealerships, cat food, cement, charities, chicken farmers, children’s playgrounds, chiropractors, clothing, clothing manufacturers, computers, computer hardware, consulting, construction associations, construction materials, copper mining, defence procurement, destination marketing, diamonds, digital media, direct marketing, dog food, energy, financial services, float plane airlines, floor plan finance, food, forestry, gaming, gem polishing, gold mining, golf retailers, grain elevators, hedge funds, hotels, insurance, labour unions, LCD monitors, manufacturing, media, mining, news wire services, online contests, online gaming, online search engine ranking, outfitting and hunting expeditions, oil change services, paper, pencils, pet food, pharmacies, plastics, plastic manufacturers, port terminal grain handling facilities, potash, printing, pulp and paper, rail, real estate, real estate self-storage, real estate associations, real estate boards, real estate services, real estate brokerages, recycling, residential high-rise construction, residential home construction, retail, retail books, retail clothing, roofing shingles, satellite communications, silver mining, social media, software, sports broadcasting, stock exchange services, telecommunications, telemarketing, theatre exhibition and film distribution, time shares, tires, tourism, trade associations, trailer leasing, transportation, travel agencies, upstream oil and gas, vacuum cleaner manufacturing, vitamins, window retailers, windows and door manufacturers.
Templates/precedents and checklists to run promotional contests in Canada
Templates/precedents and checklists to comply with Canadian anti-spam law (CASL)
