Peter Joseph Gregory Dillon

Licensed in both Canada and the United States, Peter provides legal services to start-ups and established national and international businesses. Peter heads the firm’s technology, franchise and privacy law groups.

Peter Dillon advises Canadian, U.S., and international businesses on how to structure and execute decisions that carry material legal and economic risk.

His practice is focused on situations where the consequences of getting it wrong are disproportionate—cross-border expansion, franchise system design, technology transactions, and regulatory exposure in areas such as privacy and cybersecurity. He is most often engaged before commitments are made, when structure, sequencing, and risk allocation determine whether a strategy will succeed or fail.

Peter is widely recognized for his work with foreign franchisors entering Canada. He advises on the design and implementation of franchise systems that comply with Canada’s fragmented disclosure regime, manage statutory rescission risk, and address the personal liability exposure of directors and officers. His work in this area is not limited to documentation; it centers on building legally and commercially coherent systems that can withstand regulatory scrutiny and operational stress.

In addition to his franchise practice, Peter advises on mergers and acquisitions, technology licensing, distribution structures, and enterprise-level risk management. He acts regularly for founders, CEOs, and boards on matters that affect enterprise viability, including data protection, cybersecurity preparedness, and cross-border regulatory compliance under regimes such as PIPEDA and GDPR.

Peter is the author of Franchise Legislation in Canada (Thomson Reuters), the leading annotated text on Canadian franchise law. He has served as the Canadian governmental expert to UNIDROIT in connection with the development of a model international franchise law, and as the only Canadian member of the Franchise Advisory Board of the North American Securities Administrators Association.