Student receives national award for competition law paper

Award recipient Robert Mysicka (right), Law '11, with co-recipient Aaron Levenstadt and presenter Vicky Eatrides at the CBA's 2010 Annual Fall Competition Law Conference in Gatineau, Quebec.

Robert Mysicka, Law '11, received the James H. Bocking Memorial Award from the Canadian Bar Association (CBA) for his paper on competition law. The award, recognizing the best scholarly paper on the subject, was presented at the annual conference of the CBA’s National Competition Law section on September 30, 2010, at the Hilton Lac Leamy in Gatineau, Quebec. A panel of judges and legal scholars decided the winners of this year’s award.

“The history of competition law is really interesting, as it gives us a perspective on where we were, and where we are going.” Robert says. “We are in a completely different environment in the 21st century, when it comes to competition law.”

Robert first wrote the paper, entitled “Regulated Conduct Doctrine: Canadian Competition Law and the Politics of Undueness,” for the competition law course taught by sessional instructor Vicky Eatrides, an Assistant Deputy Commissioner of the Competition Bureau. The paper is an analysis of industries that are immunized from the application of the conspiracy provisions in the Competition Act through the regulated conduct doctrine. This is a defence created through judicial interpretation of the “undueness” requirement that had previously existed in Canadian competition legislation.

“Robert’s paper was thoughtful, well-researched and raised interesting and topical issues about the regulated conduct doctrine,” Eatrides says. “I am pleased that Robert received recognition for his contribution. I think that the committee made an excellent choice.”

She and Bryan Facey, a partner and Co-Chair of the Blakes Competition, Antitrust and Foreign Investment Group, presented the award.  Due to the number of excellent submissions for the 2010 competition, Robert shared the award with Aaron Levenstadt of the University of Toronto.

The James H. Bocking Memorial Award was established to recognize his contributions to Canadian competition law and policy, and accepts submissions from law students, as well as lawyers called to the Bar less than three years prior. Bocking (1947-1999) was the former Assistant Deputy Director of Investigation and Research at the Competition bureau.

“I was very excited to receive the award, as I had spent a lot of time on both the legal and economic aspects of the paper,” Robert says. “It was great to see that my efforts had paid off.”