Speaker details

Biography

Davit Akman (he/him/his) is a partner in the Business Law Group at Cassels and Chair of the firm’s Competition & Foreign Investment Group. A leader in his field, he advises market-leading domestic and international firms on all aspects of Canadian competition and foreign investment review law, including mergers & acquisitions, cartels and other criminal matters, private actions (including class actions), advertising and marketing practices, abuse of dominance and other reviewable trade practices. Davit has cleared major multi-jurisdictional and domestic mergers in a wide array of industry sectors and advises non-Canadian investors (including state owned enterprises (SOEs)) on Canadian foreign investment issues under the Investment Canada Act (ICA) and other federal legislation and policies. He is a market leader in advising Canadian and foreign-owned mining companies as well as SOEs with respect to the Government of Canada’s October 2022 Policy Regarding Foreign Investments from State-Owned Enterprises in Critical Minerals under the ICA. Davit has also served as counsel in a number of Canada’s most important competition litigation cases, including matters before the Supreme Court of Canada and the Canadian Competition Tribunal. He has been described in recent editions of Chambers as a “charismatic and effective advocate,” “extraordinarily smart and practical,” and as having a “really strong reputation at the [Canadian Competition] Bureau.” Davit is an active member of the Canadian and international competition bars. He is a Vice-Chair of both the Global Private Litigation Committee and the AI Task Force of the ABA Antitrust Law Section. He is also the immediate past Chair of the Antitrust Law Committee of the ABA Business Law Section and a former Chair of the Criminal Matters and Legislation & Competition Policy Committees of the CBA National Competition Law Section. A prolific writer, Davit has written extensively on a wide array of competition law-related topics. he also regularly participates as a subject matter expert in domestic and international conferences and events. Davit clerked at the Supreme Court of Canada for Justice Louise Arbour. Prior to joining Cassels, he was a partner at another leading Canadian firm.