Background

Mark Fecenko is a partner at our Toronto office and is National Director of our IT Industry Focus Group. Mark has authored four books in the information technology and biotechnology fields. His book, "Biotechnology Law: Corporate-Commercial Practice" was the first Canadian book on biotechnology law. He also authors the biotechnology chapter to the looseleaf service, "Canadian Health Law Practice Manual". Mark was admitted to the Ontario Bar in 1989. He graduated from York University / Osgoode Hall Law School with a joint LLB/MBA degree (Dean's List) in 1987 and from York University / Osgoode Hall Law School with an LLM in Intellectual Property in 1999. Prior to that, he majored in Physiology and received a B.Sc. from McGill University in 1983. He also completed the Canadian Armed Forces RESO program and received his commission as a combat engineering officer.

Areas of Practice

Mark is a corporate/commercial lawyer with extensive experience in providing pragmatic counsel on competitive procurement, outsourcing and technology matters, including in the information technology, biotechnology and life sciences practice sectors. Mark has extensive experience acting for clients in the broader public sector, including in the health care and electrical utility sectors.

Rankings and Recognitions

• Selected by peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in Canada® 2012 (Information Technology Law)
• Recognized by The 2011 Canadian Legal Lexpert® Directory (Biotechnology; Computer & IT Law; Technology Transactions)
• Recognized by the 2011 edition of PLC Which Lawyer? (Technology)

Professional Experience

• Mark has a comprehensive technology law practice encompassing the breadth of corporate/commercial matters.
• Mark regularly advises over thirty hospitals and other health care-related institutions on competitive procurement, outsourcing and technology matters, including advising on:
  • Province-wide initiatives in Ontario, including in respect of eMPI-WTIS and the Provincial Critical Care Information System;
  • Significant IT outsourcing arrangements for both teaching and community-based hospitals;
  • Multi-institutional collaboration arrangements; and
  • Supplier arrangements, including in respect of PACS.
• Mark has acted for the Ministry of Energy and regularly acts for a variety of the largest electrical utilities on technology-related acquisitions, including in respect of AMI/smart meter procurement, CIS procurement and SCADA system procurement. In this context, Mark has gained a strong appreciation of the terminology and business environment in which electrical utilities operate.
• Mark is regularly involved in the negotiation of biotechnology and life science-related joint ventures and investments with both the broader public sector and private sector including in respect of the production of human proteins using transgenic animals, the investigation of intracellular protein interactions, the provision and operation of automated laboratory facilities, the distribution of medical devices, and in the development and exploitation of bioinformatics databases.
• He was involved in the spin-off of a medical imaging company from a large Ontario hospital and regularly negotiates arrangements with the providers of medical imaging technology. He assisted a global publicly traded imaging company in the development of their distribution and end user arrangements for their FDA-approved medical devices.
• Mark frequently speaks before business and legal audiences on corporate commercial issues in the technology area.

Professional and Community Activities

• Member, Toronto Biotechnology Initiative
• Member, Licensing Executives Society
• Member, Canadian Bar Association
• Member, COACH (Canadian Organization for the Advancement of Computers in Health)

Publications

• M.J. Fecenko & D.J. Faye, Canadian Export Controls and Information Technology in Electronic Commerce: A Practitioner's Guide (A. Gahtan et al., eds.), looseleaf (Toronto: Thomson Carswell, 2003).
• E-Commerce Law: Corporate-Commercial Practice, (Butterworths, Toronto, Fall 2003), co-authored with Anita M. Huntley
• Biotechnology Law: Corporate-Commercial Practice, (Butterworths, Toronto, 2002).
• "Biotechnology Primer for Health Care Institutions: Assessing, Protecting and Licensing Biotechnological Innovations", Canadian Health Law Practice Manual (Butterworths, Toronto, Looseleaf)
• Kyer and Fecenko on Computer-Related Agreements: A Practical Guide, (2nd ed.) (Butterworths, Toronto, 1997)
• Intellectual Property in Secured Transactions, LL.M. Thesis, Osgoode Hall Law School, 1999

Selected Recent Articles, Papers and Lectures

• "E-Health Public Procurement in Turbulent Times", Health Informatics (COACH) Magazine, Toronto, Ontario 2009
• "Success Factors for Selection, Implementation and Management", Smart Metering, Toronto, Ontario 2009
• "Managing Transition and Reducing Risks on the EHR Journey: Tools and Rules of Thumb", COACH Fall Forum, Toronto, Ontario 2008
• "Drafting a Wireless Vendor Contract", Wireless Healthcare Technology, Strategy Institute, Toronto, Ontario 2003, 2004 and 2008).
• 'Hospital Procurement of IT Products and Services', Government Procurement III: Headlining Issues, OBA, Toronto, Ontario 2008.
• 'The AMI Procurement Process', Smart Meter Forum Presentation, Annual Smart Meters in Ontario, Insight, Toronto, Ontario 2007.
• 'The AMI Procurement Process', Smart Meter Workshop, Ministry of Energy, Toronto, Ontario 2007.
• 'The AMI Procurement Process', 2006 Smart Metering Conference & Expo, Toronto, Ontario 2006.
• "Smart Meter Procurement", Smart Meter Initiative and Conservation and Demand Management Workshop" with Michael Shadbolt, Toronto, Ontario 2006.
• "Procurement in Health IT: Allocating Risk and Liability Responsibility", University of Waterloo School of Health Informatics, Toronto, Ontario 2006.
• 'Complex IT Transactions and Outsourcing by the Healthcare Institution: Allocating Risks and Liability Responsibility', Healthcare Technology Strategies Summit, Strategy Institute, Toronto, Ontario 2005.
• "Cutting the Deal with the IT Vendor", e-Health Annual Conference 2005: Realizing The Vision, co-authored with Leon Liffmann, Claudia Den Boer Grima and Glen Kearns, Toronto, Ontario 2005.
• "The Conduct of IT-Related Transactions by Health Care Institutions: Allocating Risk and Liability Responsibility", Annual HIROC Risk Management Symposium, Toronto, Ontario 2005.
• "The Conduct of IT-Related Transactions by Health Care Institutions: Allocating Risk and Liability Responsibility", Healthcare Information Management & Communications Canada, February 2005.
• Conference Chair, "Effectively Doing Information Technology (IT) Deals: A Practical Workshop From Licensing to Outsourcing to the Spin-Off Technology", Ontario Hospital Association, Toronto, Ontario
• "Exploitation of Intellectual Property Rights in a Hospital Context", Ontario Hospital Association Convention 2002 Exhibition, Toronto, Ontario
• "Canadian Intellectual Property Law: The 20-Minute Primer", BIO 2002, Toronto, Ontario
• "Thinking Outside the Box: Leveraging a Hospital's Innovations". Co-authored with Catherine McCallum and Matthew Anderson
• "E-Commerce Law Update", COSEC - Corporate Secretaries Congress, Toronto, Ontario
• "Challenges in Launching a Technology Business: High Risks, but High Rewards", Ontario Bar Association, Toronto, Ontario
• "Biotechnology Contracts", Canadian Bar Association-Ontario, Toronto
• "Strategic Alliances In Biotechnology", Financing and Business Issues for New Technology Industries, Osgoode Hall Law School, Toronto
• "Contractual Issues", FCG Conference, Toronto
• "Partnering Arrangements with the Health Care Sector", Outsourcing Conference, Federated Press, Toronto
• "A Professor's Primer To Biotechnology Transactions", addressed to Faculty of University of Guelph. In conjunction with Catherine L. Eckenswiller and Alex Pankratz
• "Problematic Clauses in Negotiating Licence Arrangements", Advanced Licensing Course, Licensing Executive Society, Vancouver
• "The Strategic Alliance Agreement: A Tool For Success", Strategic Alliances in the Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Industries, Insight, Toronto