Overview
Michael Koch is a partner in a business law group and the Competition and Foreign Investment Group at Goodmans.
His practice focuses on federal regulatory matters, including competition, communications, foreign investment and copyright law, in both transactions and litigation.
Michael assists financial and strategic investors - both domestic and foreign - in completing mergers and acquisitions, advises and represents telecommunications and media companies in navigating Canada’s regulatory framework and before tribunals (e.g., the CRTC, Copyright Board of Canada and Competition Tribunal), and advocates on behalf of targets of government-initiated investigations and proceedings brought by the Competition Bureau. Michael also appears before the courts on reviews of, and appeals from, decisions of these bodies.
Michael is recognized as a leading lawyer in Canada in the areas of telecommunications by Chambers Global, Chambers Canada, The Legal 500 Canada, The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory, the Lexpert Special Edition: Technology and Health Sciences and Best Lawyers in Canada.
Featured Work
Michael’s representative work includes acting for:
Competition Litigation
- Vancouver Airport Authority in the defense of a landmark abuse of dominance application before the Competition Tribunal
- Trader Corp. in private litigation before the Competition Tribunal
- Comwave Networks Inc. in the defence of a deceptive marketing inquiry concerning advertising claims of their Internet and home phone services
Investment Canada Act Approvals
- Vista Equity Partners in its agreement to acquire DH Corporation and combine D+H with its portfolio company, Misys for $4.8 billion
- Leadon Investment Inc. in its acquisition of British Columbia Investment Management Corp.’s Canadian hotel portfolio, SilverBirch Hotels & Resorts, for over $1 billion
- OMERS Private Equity, the private equity arm of OMERS, in the sale of its portfolio company, Give & Go Prepared Foods Corp. to an affiliate of US private equity firm Thomas H. Lee Partners, L.P.
- Match.com Canada Ltd., a subsidiary of The Match Group, in its US$575 million cash acquisition of PlentyOfFish Media Inc.
Competition Act Clearances
- Postmedia Network Inc. in connection with its acquisition of the Sun Media English language newspapers and digital properties from Quebecor Media Inc. for $305 million
- 7-Eleven Canada Inc. in its acquisition of 144 retail gasoline sites from Imperial Oil
Awards & Recognition
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Chambers Global Band 3, Telecommunications and Broadcasting 2023
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The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory Most Frequently Recommended, Telecommunications 2023
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Chambers Canada Band 3, Telecommunications and Broadcasting 2023
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The Legal 500 Canada Leading Individual, Telecoms 2023
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Best Lawyers in Canada Recognized: Administrative and Public Law, Communications Law 2023
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The Legal 500 Canada Recommended, Competition and Antitrust 2022
Credentials
Professional Involvement
Michael writes and speaks frequently for the Law Society of Ontario, the Ontario Bar Association and University of Toronto on competition law, administrative law, communications regulation and copyright law, and is a past Chair of the Canada Bar Association’s Competition Section’s Unilateral Practices Committee.
Community Involvement
Michael is a proud kidney donor and serves as an ambassador for Renewal to promote live kidney donation.
Education
- University of Toronto, LL.B., 1986
Professional Affiliations
- Law Society of Ontario
- Canada Bar Association
- American Bar Association
Call to Bar
- Ontario
Insights
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Competition and Foreign Investment
Canadian Guidance on Wage-Fixing and No-Poaching Agreements
The Competition Act has been amended to include a new criminal offence for employers that enter into agreements to fix wages, or that agree not to solicit or hire each other’s employees. The amendment… -
Competition and Foreign Investment
Government of Canada to Overhaul National Security Rules of the Investment Canada Act
The Government of Canada has introduced amendments to the Investment Canada Act (ICA) that propose to enhance the government’s ability to review, block or modify foreign investments in Canada on the… -
Competition and Foreign Investment
The Public Competition Enforcement Review 14th Edition - Canada Chapter
Michael Koch, David Rosner, Devin Persaud and Josh Zelikovitz co-authored the Canada Chapter of The Public Competition Enforcement Review 14th Edition. The Public Competition Enforcement Review is an… -
Competition and Foreign Investment
The Foreign Investment Regulatory Review, 9th Edition - Canada Chapter
David Rosner, Michael Koch and Joshua Zelikovitz co-authored the Canada Chapter of The Foreign Investment Regulatory Review, 9th edition. The ninth edition is an in-depth guide to the laws… -
Competition and Foreign Investment
The Public Competition Enforcement Review, 13th Edition - Canada Chapter
Michael Koch and David Rosner have co-authored the Canada chapter of The Public Competition Enforcement Review, 13th Edition.There continues to be international overlap among the public competition… -
Competition and Foreign Investment
"Failing Firm" Claims in Merger Review - New Canadian Developments
The Canadian Competition Bureau provided important new guidance for how it assesses failing firm claims in merger reviews under the Competition Act following its review of two recent mergers…
News & Events
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Banking and Financial Services
The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory 2023 Continues to Recognize Goodmans
We are proud to announce we have once again been recognized in The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory 2023.85 Goodmans lawyers have been recognized as top-tier in their fields and leaders across… -
Banking and Financial Services
Chambers and Partners Continues to Honour Goodmans with Global Recognition
We are proud to announce Goodmans LLP has once again received top tier recognition from Chambers and Partners in the Chambers Global 2023 Guide released today. Recognition from Chambers and… -
Banking and Financial Services
The Legal 500 Canada Continues to Recognize Goodmans with Top Tier Rankings
We are pleased to announce Goodmans LLP has once again received top tier recognition from The Legal 500 Canada in their 2023 Guide released today. Recognition from The Legal 500 is based on…