Canadian Lawyer

w w w . c a n a d i a n l a w y e r m a g . c o m J U N E / J U LY 2 0 1 9 3 F or this issue, we made an unusual decision. Vivek Narayanadas, the lawyer we featured on our cover, is not a Canadian lawyer. He went to law school in the United States and works there still. But we chose him because he represents something very important about Canada and about the theme of this issue: data protection and privacy. Narayanadas works for Shopify, which is one of Canada's current leaders in high tech. Shopify is playing in the big leagues and that means hiring a top privacy and data protection lawyer like Narayanadas to keep up with the ever-shifting legal landscape in this area. "We have 800,000 merchants and each of them have interpretations of GDPR or maybe in a different vertical that has additional requirements," Narayanadas told us (p. 26), "and it is our job to build a platform that they can use out of the box and be compliant with however aggressively or conservatively they are approaching the law." California, where Narayanadas is located, is the most recent jurisdiction to create a privacy legal regime that global businesses need to be aware of. And with all the digital innovation occurring in Canada, that is a lot of Canadian businesses, too. And they all need good legal advice. Canadian law is just one part of that, of course. Canada is currently lagging in privacy protection, but the GDPR in Europe and California's impending legal regime is keeping many Canadian businesses up at night. The Liberals have just released their "Digital Charter" that may eventually mean that Canada will also be enforcing strict rules on data protection. And as Commissioner of Competition Matthew Boswell told us (p. 24), "at the end of the five years . . . I would like us to be recognized as one of the leading competition law enforcement agencies in the world — particularly with respect to the enforcement of competition laws in the digital economy." In the United States, it is not just Californian legislators who are creating a headache for tech companies in what used to be the digital Wild West. The New York Times recently reported that the U.S. federal government is stepping up its scrutiny of the world's biggest tech companies, leaving them vulnerable to new rules and federal lawsuits. "Regulators are divvying up antitrust oversight of the Silicon Valley giants and lawmakers are investigating whether they have stifled competition and hurt consumers," the Times reports. While Canadian companies are not on these regulators' radar like the Facebooks, Googles and Amazons of the world, companies such as Shopify should not be complacent. Narayanadas will be closely following what these regulators are up to. And as Canada's new crop of tech innovators comes up, they should have no hesitation to hire top U.S. lawyers like Narayanadas to advise them as well. But Canadian lawyers shouldn't fret that they are losing the work. Once the Canadian authorities start to crack down on privacy and data protection, the U.S. companies will no doubt be calling north of the border for legal advice, too. E D I T O R ' S D E S K CANADIAN GLOBAL LEADERSHIP ON DATA PROTECTION By Tim Wilbur President: Tim Duce Editor-in-Chief: Tim Wilbur tim.wilbur@habpress.ca Acting Associate Editor: Aidan Macnab aidan.macnab@habpress.ca Copy Editor: Patricia Cancilla Art Director: Dave Escuadro Lead, Media Production Coordinator: Catherine Giles catherine.giles@habpress.ca Contributors: Elizabeth Thompson, Anthony Davis, donalee Moulton, Mark Cardwell, Anita Balakrishnan, Marg. Bruineman, Elizabeth Raymer, Jean Sorensen Canadian Lawyer is published 10 times a year by HAB Press. All rights reserved. Contents may not be reprinted without written permission. The opinions expressed in articles are not necessarily those of the publisher. Information presented is compiled from sources believed to be accurate, however, the publisher assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions. Canadian Lawyer disclaims any warranty as to the accuracy, completeness or currency of the contents of this publication and disclaims all liability in respect of the results of any action taken or not taken in reliance upon information in this publication. Sales and Business Development Head of Sales - HAB Press Paul Burton E-mail: paul.burton@habpress.ca Tel: 416-649-9928 Consultant, Strategy and Business Development: Ivan Ivanovitch E-mail: ivan.ivanovitch@habpress.ca Tel: 416-887-4300 Account Executive: Steffanie Munroe E-mail: steffanie.munroe@habpress.ca Tel: 416-315-5879 Canadian Lawyer HAB Press 312 Adelaide Street West, Suite 800 Toronto, ON, M5V 1R2 Tel: (416) 298-5141 Fax: (416) 649-7870 Web: canadianlawyermag.com Linkedin: linkedin.com/company/19094862 Twitter: @canlawmag Facebook: facebook.com/CanLawMag Publications Mail Agreement #40766500 ISSN 0703-2129 © 2019 HST Registration #703184911RT0001 RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESS TO: CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT 312 Adelaide Street West, Suite 800, Toronto, ON, M5V 1R2 RETOURNER TOUTE CORRESPONDANCE NE POUVANT ÊTRE LIVRÉE AU CANADA AU SERVICE DES PUBLICATIONS 312 Adelaide Street West, Suite 800, Toronto, ON, M5V 1R2 Circulation/Address Changes/ Subscriptions Keith Fulford Tel: (416) 649-9585 Fax: (416) 649-7870 E-mail: keith.fulford@habpress.ca Subscription rates: Canada1 year print and digital $99 plus HST, 1 year digital only $99. Outside Canada 1 year print & digital $99 USD, 1 year digital only $99. For all circulation inquiries and address changes send a copy of your mailing label or labels along with your request in writing to Canadian Lawyer, 312 Adelaide Street West, Suite 800, Toronto, ON, M5V 1R2 @canlawmag tim.wilbur@habpress.ca Correction In our May 2019 issue's Top 10 Personal Injury Boutiques article, McLeish Orlando LLP was incorrectly described as McLeish Orlando Mara. As well, the article entitled "Construction lien reform" in the same issue should have read that while Ontario includes bonding provisions as part of its prompt payment legislation, bonding isn't being included in Saskatchewan. Canadian Lawyer apologizes for the errors.

• Cover