The Honourable Konrad W. von Finckenstein, Q.C. joins ARA as Counsel to the firm, and is available to advise on all matters that ARA undertakes.

 

He is a member of JAMS, the resolution experts, working primarily as an independent  arbitrator.

 

Over the course of a career in the public service that began in 1973, Konrad has held a number of senior positions and acquired broad experience in the areas of trade, commercial, competition and communications law. Before becoming an arbitrator, he served as Assistant Deputy Minister , Business law in the Department of Justice,  Commissioner of Competition, Judge of the Federal Court and Chair of the Canadian Radio-Television and Communications Commission (CRTC).

 

As ADM Business Law, he was responsible for all commercial law activity of the Government of Canada. He also negotiated the dispute settlement provisions of the Canada-US  Free Trade Agreement and was responsible for implementation of NAFTA into Canadian Law.

 

As Commissioner of Competition, Konrad oversaw the merger of Air Canada and Canadian Airlines, the attempted merger of Canada’s four largest banks and was the founding Chairman of the International Competition Network. He also imposed the largest fine in Canadian criminal history for price collusion. In addition to ensuring a competitive marketplace for Canadian businesses and consumers, he led the drive to create of the International Competition Network (an umbrella organization encompassing all the competition agencies of the world) in order to harmonize competition regimes worldwide and served as the Founding Chairman.

 

As judge of the Federal Court of Canada, Konrad rendered over 200 written judgments in administrative law, intellectual property and human rights. He also served as Chairman of a NAFTA chapter 19 Extraordinary Challenge Committee on Magnesium Dumping

 

As Chair of the CRTC, he led the commission largely deregulating the telecom sector. Among the major decisions was adopting policies on net neutrality, diversity of voices in broadcasting, vertical integration of communication companies and group licensing for broadcasters.  In addition, he introduced arbitration under the auspices of the CRTC for disputes between broadcasters and distributors.

 

For Konrad’s full history, please visit: www.finckenstein.ca