PEOPLE
Mark Warner
Mark is a business-oriented, results-driven, senior international business and regulatory expert with private practice, government and academic experience in Canada, the United States, Europe and major emerging markets. He has extensive cutting-edge experience in providing strategic advice to clients on high impact / high profile competition, trade, investment and regulatory matters and providing compliance training to businesses and technical assistance to governments. Mark advises on foreign corrupt practices, foreign asset controls, anti-money laundering, export controls issues and corporate social responsibility and also assists clients in developing compliance programs in these areas.
Career highlights include leading the Government of Ontario's legal team in relation to the restructuring of GM & Chrysler, advising a multinational pharmaceutical company on distributing its HIV/AIDS drugs globally, and leading a team of foreign lawyers to draft the new South African Competition Law, a key framework economic policy for post-Apartheid South Africa.
Mark led Ontario's legal team for trade negotiations (including the Canada-EU Trade Agreement (CETA) and the Canada-U.S. Agreement on Government Procurement), advised on trade disputes (including the Green Energy Act and softwood lumber) and various NAFTA Chapter 11 investor-state disputes (including the Ambassador Bridge, Adam's Mine and St. Mary's Cement claims). At the OECD, Mark participated in the negotiations of the proposed Multilateral Agreement on Investment and represented the OECD at meetings of the WTO Working Groups on Trade and Competition Policies and Trade and Investment Policies. Mark has also provided technical assistance / legislative drafting advice to senior government officials and international institutions relating to law & policy in Africa, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, South America and Central & Eastern Europe. Mark's experience includes a tenure-track teaching position at the University of Baltimore School of Law and serving as Assistant Director of its Center of International & Comparative Law.
In 2015, Mark was elected a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, and has been recognized in Legal Media Group's Expert Guide to the World's Leading Competition Lawyers. Mark was also co-author of a leading Canadian trade law treatise (with the Hon. William C. Graham and Professors Jean-Gabriel Castel and Armand de Mestral). Mark also provides international trade and investment law advice to natural resources clients as a Colleague at Pilot Law, which provides comprehensive legal services for developing resource businesses in the mining, energy and renewables sectors.
ADMISSIONS
- Ontario
- New York State
- Brussels (List B) (2003-2005)
EDUCATION
- LLM, International and Comparative Law, Georgetown University Law Centre, Washington, D.C.
- JD, Osgoode Hall Law School, Toronto
- MA, Economics, University of Toronto, Toronto
- BA, Joint Honours in Economics and Political Science, McGill University, Montréal
LANGUAGES
English and French
Substantive Expertise
- International Antitrust and Competition Policy
- International Trade and Investment
- Government Procurement
- Corporate Compliance
- Corporate Social Responsibility
- Corporate Governance
- Intellectual Property
Industry Expertise
- Pharmaceuticals and Life Sciences
- Petro-chemicals
- Digital Media
- Automotive
- Green Energy
- Natural Resources (Mining & Forestry)
- Telecommunications
- Financial Services
- Dairy and Poultry
Professional Recognition
- Elected Fellow, American Bar Foundation (2015)
- Euromoney / Int'l. Financial Law Review Guide to the World's Leading Competition Lawyers (2006)
- Awarded the Amethyst Award for Outstanding Service by Ontario Public Servants (2009) and three Excelsior Awards from the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General for Outstanding Achievement and Teamwork (2009-2010)
- Chair, ICC Competition Commission Working Party on E-Commerce and Competition Policy (2001-2002)
- Member, ICC Joint Working Party on Trade and Competition (2001-2007)
- Chair, International Antitrust Sub-Committee, ABA Business Section, International Committee (2001-2003)
- Chair, International Committee, ABA Antitrust Section (1997-1999)
- Vice Chair, International Committee, ABA Antitrust Section (1995-1997)
- Vice Chair, Economics Committee, ABA Antitrust Section (1994-1995)
- Member, ABA Antitrust Section, Standing Committee on Antitrust in the Global Economy (1997-1999)
- Member, ABA Antitrust Section Task Force on Competition Policy and NAFTA (1993-1995)
- Member, Prosperity Institute Task Force on Information Exchange and Financial Privacy (2001-2002)
- Member, McGill University Scarlet Key Honour Society (1986 Award recipient)
Prior Law Firm Experience
Toronto, Counsel
Brussels, Partner
New York and Washington, D.C., Counsel
Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle
1993 – 1995Washington, D.C., Associate
Toronto, Articling Clerk
Government Experience
Ontario Ministries of Economic Development & Trade / Research and Innovation
2008 – 2011Director, Legal Services Branch, Toronto. Member of the senior management and audit committees for both Ministries and managed a Branch of 9 counsel and 3 administrative staff providing strategic legal advice with respect to Ontario's investment attraction programs including: grants and loans to, and equity investments in, companies, and memoranda of understanding with foreign governments, academic institutions and companies, and legal support for international trade and investment negotiations and dispute settlement.
Ontario Ministry of Consumer Services
February 2010 – August 2012(Acting) Director, Legal Services Branch, Toronto. Administered a branch of 10 lawyers and 5 administrative staff concurrently with responsibilities as Legal Director for MEDT / MRI Legal Services Branch. Provided strategic legal advice relating to the passage of the Not For Profit Corporations Act (Ontario), the administration of provincial consumer protection laws and the regulation of gaming and the marketing of alcoholic beverages in Ontario.
O.E.C.D. Trade Directorate
1996 – 2000Legal counsel / Administrator, Paris. Counselled and advised Member States and Non-Member Observers on competition policy, trade and investment review issues for WTO negotiations.
Representative Transactions
Corporate / Commercial Law
- Led Ontario's legal team in creating the Ontario Emerging Technologies Fund (OETF), a $250 million co-investment venture capital fund (focused on Life sciences and advanced health technologies, Clean technologies, and Digital media and information and communications technologies).
- Led Ontario's legal team in respect of the restructuring of Chrysler and General Motors.
- Advised the Government of Ontario regarding various grant and loan agreements to leading global companies for jobs, investment, research and manufacturing projects in Ontario.
- As Acting Legal Director of the Ministry of Consumer Services, shepherded the passage of the Not for Profit Corporations Act and advised on legal issues relating to social enterprises and social venture capital.
Corporate Compliance / Corporate Social Responsibility
- Assisted various multinational firms in developing compliance programs related to the implementation of the Patriot Act in the United States.
- Advice on the negotiating of an OECD Multilateral Agreement on Investment and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises.
- Advice concerning the development of the OECD Harmful Tax Competition initiative and the introduction of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes.
- Advised clients in respect of U.S. Treasury Department Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) financial sanctions and related privacy and access to information matters.
Trade and Investment Law
- Led Ontario's legal team in respect of the Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic & Trade Agreement (CETA) negotiations.
- Led Ontario's legal team in response to the Japan WTO challenge to the domestic content provisions of the Green Energy Act.
- Advice to a Japanese wind turbine manufacturer on trade issues related to an agreement with Manitoba.
Competition / Antitrust Law
- Advice to a leading multinational pharmaceutical company on HIV/AIDS drug pricing and distribution globally.
- Advice in the first ever EC notification of a merger, involving two companies from new EU member states in the petro-chemical industry.
- Advice to foreign multinational companies on coordinating antitrust leniency / immunity claims in various jurisdictions.
- Advised a U.S.-based pharmaceutical company and its French and South African reporting subsidiaries in settling a cartel investigation involving 11 leading global pharmaceutical companies in South Africa.
- Advice to Ethiopia and Azerbaijan on drafting / implementing competition laws.
- Advice to Vietnam and Azerbaijan on drafting / implementing trade and investment laws.
- Advice to a former foreign national airline carrier in an abuse of dominance proceeding before its local competition tribunal.
- Represented the OECD at meetings of the WTO Working Groups on Trade and Competition Policies and Trade and Investment Policies.
- Contributed to the development of the OECD Recommendation concerning effective action against hard core cartels and the review of its implementation by Member States.
- Advice on regional competition law to the FTAA Competition Policy Negotiating Group and to the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA).
- Advice to various Eastern European countries on competition policy accession requirements in the context of the EC PHARE program.
- Advice to South Africa, Indonesia, Thailand, Peru, and Brazil on drafting / implementing competition laws.
Intellectual Property
- Arbitrator, ICANN domain names dispute resolution, WIPO (2002 – 2004) and eResolution (1999 – 2001).
- Rapporteur, Hague Conference on Private International Law Commission on Jurisdiction for Torts in Electronic Commerce.
Past Consulting Assignments
By Region
- Africa (South Africa, Ethiopia, COMESA)
- Asia (Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam)
- Latin America & the Caribbean (Bahamas, Peru, Colombia, Brazil, UNECLAC)
By Organization
- World Bank
- Asian Development Bank (ADB)
- Inter-American Development Bank (IADB)
- World Trade Organization (WTO)
- Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)
- United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID)
- European Union
- United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
- United Nations Development Program (UNDP)
- United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America & the Caribbean (UNECLAC)
- United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)
Teaching Experience
Full Time
- University of Baltimore School of Law / Center for International & Comparative Law — Assistant Professor and Assistant Director, Baltimore (1995 – 1996). Taught courses in International Business Transactions, Corporate Law / Corporate Governance, and a seminar on Problems of Globalization in Tax, Securities and Antitrust Law Enforcement.
Part Time
- Mowat Centre for Policy Innovation — Executive Fellow, Toronto (2012 – Present).
- Osgoode Hall Law School, York University — Visiting Scholar, Toronto (2012). Taught courses in International Competition Law, Trade Law and Telecommunications, Trade Law and Financial Services, and Regional Integration.
Guest Teaching Engagements
- Addis Ababa University, Faculty of Business and Economics — Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (December 2009)
- World Trade Institute — Berne, Switzerland (2003)
- International Institute of Management in Telecoms — Fribourg, Switzerland (2003)
- International Law Institute, African Centre of Excellence — Kampala, Uganda (August 2000)
- University of Leiden, Faculty of Law — Leiden, Netherlands (1998 – 2001)
- Howard University School of Law / University of the Western Cape — Cape Town, South Africa (Summer 1996)