Communications Law in Canada

Dr. Sunny Handa, B. Comm., LL.B., LL.M., D.C.L., is a partner and head of Blake Cassels & Graydon LLP’s Technology Group and head of Blakes’ Communications Group. Sunny represents clients dealing with technology and communications (telecommunications, broadcasting and radiocommunication) issues and advises clients on related corporate/commercial transactions. He has a substantial practice in mergers and acquisitions and has worked on a number of Canada’s largest transactions in the communications field. In addition, Sunny acts as a senior breach coach and works with a large team of lawyers assisting clients in responding to data breaches and other cybersecurity incidents. He advises clients on developing and implementing strategies to minimize cyber threats and data breaches, including legal risk assessments, compliance, due diligence and data breach preparedness. Sunny is one of Canada’s best known technology lawyers and is consistently ranked as a leading lawyer by many legal ranking organizations.

Sunny is an adjunct professor of law at McGill University and currently teaches communications regulatory law; he has taught complex legal transactions (advanced corporate law), information technology law, copyright and trademark theory, copyright and information technology law, and mergers and acquisitions law over the past 28 years. Sunny has published widely in legal literature and has also authored and co-authored a number of books on information technology, communications law, copyright law and business; a number of his writings have been quoted with approval or cited by many Canadian courts, including the Supreme Court of Canada. He is a co-author of the Communications Law in Canada looseleaf service, published by LexisNexis Canada.

Richard Janda, B.A., LL.B., B.C.L., LL.M., is a Professor of Law at McGill University, where he teaches extra-contractual obligations, administrative law, competition law, economic regulation, and air transport regulation. He was Law Clerk to Justices Le Dain and Cory of the Supreme Court of Canada and is a past Director of the Centre for the Study of Regulated Industries at McGill University. His main current research areas are the legal basis of domestic and global corporate social responsibility and the regulatory regimes governing domestic and global public goods. He has published a Report for the Suzuki and McConnell Foundations on corporate purpose and corporate law reform. He is a co-author of Corporate Social Responsibility: A Legal Analysis and Communications Law in Canada.

His Excellency, the Right Honourable David Johnston, B.A., LL.B., C.C., served as the 28th Governor General since Confederation from 2010 to 2017. He began his professional career as an assistant professor in the Faculty of Law at Queen's University in 1966, moving to the University of Toronto's Faculty of Law in 1968. He became dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Western Ontario in 1974. In 1979, he was named principal and vice-chancellor of McGill University, and in July 1994, he returned to teaching as a full-time professor in the McGill Faculty of Law. In June 1999, he became the fifth president of the University of Waterloo. Mr. Johnston has served on many provincial and federal task forces and committees, and has also served on the boards of two dozen public companies. He was president of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada and of the Conférence des recteurs et des principaux des universités du Québec. He was the founding chair of the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy, and chaired the federal government's Information Highway Advisory Council. His academic specializations include securities regulation, information technology and corporate law. Mr. Johnston holds an LL.B. from Queen's University (1966); an LL.B. from the University of Cambridge (1965); and a B.A. from Harvard University (1963). While at Harvard, he was twice selected for the All-American hockey team and was named to Harvard's Athletic Hall of Fame. He was the first non-American to chair Harvard's Board of Overseers. He is the author or co-author of three dozen books (including new editions), holds honorary doctorates or fellowships from three dozen universities or institutions, and is a Companion of the Order of Canada. He is a co-author of Communications Law in Canada.

Charles Morgan, B.A., Maitrise, LL.B., B.C.L., is the national co-leader of the Cyber/Data group at McCarthy Tétrault and the former leader of the firm’s technology law group. His practice takes a 360-degree approach to data, helping clients extract the tremendous value inherent in data, while at the same time managing the associated risks. He is a recognized thought-leader on the responsible deployment of artificial intelligence. He regularly serves as breach coach in the context of responding to cybersecurity incidents. Mr. Morgan's practice focuses on the areas of outsourcing, systems integration, licensing, fintech, privacy, cybersecurity and telecommunications. He has considerable international experience, particularly in the realm of telecommunications. Charles is consistently ranked as a leading technology and data protection lawyer by the following directories: Chambers Global: The Guide to the World’s Leading Lawyers for Business, The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory, The Best Lawyers in Canada, and Lexpert/American Lawyer Guide to the Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada. In the 2023 edition of The Best Lawyers in Canada, Mr. Morgan was chosen by his peers as Montreal-based "Technology Lawyer of the Year". He is a co-author of Communications Law in Canada.

Paul Lomic, B.Sc., M.Sc., Ph.D., LL.B., is an intellectual property and social media lawyer at Lomic Law. Paul's practice is focused on resolving intellectual property and commercial disputes, including matters involving trademarks, copyright, patents, social media, Internet and confidential information. As a registered trademark agent, Paul conducts opposition and cancellation proceedings and assists his clients with managing and protecting their trademark portfolios. Paul is a Fellow of the Intellectual Property Institute of Canada (IPIC) and served three terms as an elected Council member for the Ontario Bar Association. Paul is a frequent contributor to legal education seminars and legal publications. Paul is the editor and an author of two books and the general editor for Communications Law in Canada [LexisNexis].