Justin Gravel Partner, Lawyer

Justin Gravel Partner, Lawyer

Bureau

  • Sherbrooke

Phone number

819 346-2543

Fax

819 346-5007

Bar Admission

  • Québec, 2007

Languages

  • English
  • French

Profile

Partner

Justin Gravel joined Lavery in 2014 and is a partner in the Civil and Commercial Litigation group. He focuses his practice mainly on bankruptcy and insolvency, construction law and intellectual property law, pleading before all courts in the province.

He has been called upon to represent trustees in bankruptcy, banks and creditors in bankruptcy, proposal and receiver appointment cases, among others. In this capacity, he has acted in many high-profile cases challenging the validity of fraudulent transactions—or obtaining compensation for such—and has acquired considerable expertise in this area.

He also represents private sector companies in intellectual property disputes (infringement, misleading marketing, unfair and/or parasitic competition, etc.) and contractual obligations arising from commercial agreements. This aspect of his practice leads him to frequently move to obtain the imposition of urgent and provisional measures such as injunctions and safeguard orders.

From 2012 to 2019, he was in charge of the Université de Sherbrooke’s Faculty of Law team competing in the Pierre-Basile-Mignault Moot Court Competition, in which all of the country’s civil law faculties face off.

Prior to joining Lavery, Mr. Gravel practised with another national firm for over seven years.

Representative mandates

Bankruptcy, insolvency and recovery

 Representation of banks to obtain compensation for undervalued or reviewable transactions:

  • In the bankruptcy case of 9231-9375 Québec inc. et al. c. Banque Laurentienne du Canada:
    • Court of Appeal (2021 QCCA 975, 2020 QCCA 955, 2018 QCCA 1859, 2018 QCCA 1054, 2016 QCCA 1621)
    • Superior Court (2021 QCCS 1546, 2020 QCCS 34, 2019 QCCS 4623, 2019 QCCS 3677, 2018 QCCS 3962, 2018 QCCS 1739, 2016 QCCS 4353, 2016 QCCS 3308, 2016 QCCS 1400)
  •  HSBC Bank Canada c. Hébert et al:
    • Superior Court (2014 QCCS 3888, 2014 QCCS 2332, 2014 QCCS 309, 2013 QCCS 2605)
  •  In the bankruptcy case of Nutrition-Gem inc. et al. c. Caisse Populaire Desjardins des Verts-Sommets de l’Estrie:
    • Superior Court (2014 QCCS 6884 QCCS 2013 QCCS 2248, 2013 QCCS 1306)

Intellectual property

Representation of private sector companies in intellectual property and competition law cases:

  • 9020-5758 Québec inc. (Avril Supermarché Santé) c. Roy et al:
    • Superior Court (2017 QCCS 3970)
  • Candock inc. c. Stegen et al.:
    • Superior Court (2016 QCCS 5762, 2016 QCCS 2297, 2015 QCCS 3193, 2014 QCCS 4824)
  • Groupe Anderson inc. c. CGAO:
    • Superior Court (2018 QCCS 3458)
  • Axara c. 4021487 Canada inc.:
    • Superior Court (2017 QCCS 5589, 2017 QCCS 5588)
  • 9210-6194 Québec inc. (S. Automation inc.) c. Cirrus Automation inc. et al.:
    • Superior Court (2016 QCCS 120, 2015 QCCS 5128)

Contractual

 Representation of private sector companies in contractual obligation cases:

  • Vachon c. Xérox Canada ltée:
    • Superior Court (2017 QCCS 1947, 2017 QCCS 1333)
    • Court of Québec (2017 QCCQ 14932)
  • Brasserie Labatt limitée c. 3227553 Canada inc.:
    • Superior Court (2019 QCCS 5437)
  • Sanexen Services environnementaux inc. c. Englobe Corp:
    • Court of Appeal (2021 QCCA 1284, 2021 QCCA 479)

Other areas

Publications

« Séquestre intérimaire et séquestre de la partie XI de la Loi sur la faillite et l’insolvabilité », in JurisClasseur Québec, fascicule 9, vol. « Faillite, insolvabilité et restructuration », Montréal, Lexis Nexis, 2010 (feuilles mobiles, mise à jour no 21, décembre 2021)

Education

  • LL.B., Université de Sherbrooke, 2006
  1. Lavery appoints five new Partners

    Lavery is pleased to announce that Audrey Gibeaut, Justin Gravel, Myriam Lavallée, Marilyn Paré and Virginie Simard have been appointed Partners of the firm.   Audrey Gibeault is a member of the firm’s Business Law group and practices tax law. From family-owned businesses to multinationals, she provides companies with advice in connection with reorganizations, corporate acquisitions and sales, but also in regards to developing several private investment funds, including the legal structures to be put in place in order to welcome investors to Canada who are residents and non-residents alike.   Justin Gravel is part of the firm’s Litigation and Conflict Resolution group and he practices primarily in the bankruptcy and insolvency, bank law and construction law sectors. He is frequently called on to represent bankruptcy trustees, financial institutions and various construction sector stakeholders before all of the province’s law courts.   Myriam Lavallée focuses her practice on labour and employment law, administrative law as well as human rights law. She advises and represents numerous companies in a variety of sectors in connection with individual working relations and collective labour relations. She has specific expertise in the childcare services sector.   Marilyn Paré is a member of Lavery’s Business Law group and practices in the areas of transactional law, commercial law, financing as well as corporate reorganizations. She frequently advises companies in drafting and negotiating numerous types of commercial or corporate agreements, such as sales agreements and shareholder agreements.   Virginie Simard works with Lavery’s Litigation and Conflict Resolution group. Virginie focuses her practice primarily in the areas of hospital liability, civil and professional liability, director and officer liability, as well as insurance law. Virginie represents insurers, hospital centres, clinics and youth centres before civil courts, in arbitration matters, as well as in connection with coroners’ inquests.

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  2. The Pierre-Basile-Mignault Moot Court Competition: five prizes for a team supervised by Lavery

    On February 16 and 17, 2018, the 40th edition of the Pierre-Basile-Mignault moot court competition was held between students from six Canadian civil law faculties. Lavery has been involved for several years, alongside students of the competition. This year, Justin Gravel supervised students of the Université de Sherbrooke, while Myriam Brixi and Dominique Vallières supervised students of the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM).  The UQAM team, which included Valérie Dupont, Vincent Grondin, Emmanuelle Arcand and Gabriel Sévigny-Ferland, set themselves apart by winning five of the nine prizes awarded in the competition: best team, best factum, tandem finalist of the finale (2nd best tandem), 2nd best litigator and best tandem of non-finalist litigators. The Lavery Cup for the 3rd best litigator was presented by Loïc Berdnikoff to Chloé Boisvenue of the University of Ottawa. For more information on the Pierre-Basile-Mignault Moot Court Competition, click here.

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  3. Lavery represents Lexis Média during the acquisition of 12 regional newspapers from Transcontinental

             A Lavery team advised the Groupe Lexis Media in connection with the acquisition of 12 regional newspapers from Transcontinental. The Groupe Lexis Media, which already publishes Homme, Mieux-Être, Moi Parent and  Maternité, now owns the following newspapers:  Le Citoyen Rouyn-Noranda, Le Citoyen de la Vallée-de-l'Or, L'Écho Abitibien and La Frontière, distributed in Abitibi Témiscamingue; L’Action d'Autray, L’Action - édition de mercredi, L’Action - édition du week-end, L’Express Montcalm and Hebdo Rive-Nord, in Lanaudière; and Le Bulletin, La Petite-Nation and La Revue, in Outaouais. The Lavery team was led by Eric Lavallée and included Laurent Bellemare-Proulx, Mylène Boisvert and Justin Gravel.

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  4. Lavery supports the Université de Sherbrooke’s Faculty of Law and its students

    On March 9, 2017, several members of the firm attended the official opening of the new library of the Faculty of Law at the Université de Sherbrooke. The rebuilding of the Faculty library was made possible by a substantial financial contribution by Lavery and other partners. With the upgrading completed, the library will now provide law students with high quality work spaces, equipped with cutting edge technology and arranged to facilitate teamwork. We would note that on March 22, 2016, following Lavery’s financial contribution, the Faculty named a new multimedia room after the firm. Upper row : Marie-Claude Lacaille,  Nicolas Thibault-Bernier, Marilyn Paré, Christian Dumoulin, Loïc Berdnikoff, Cynthia Fortin, Isabelle P. Mercure Middle row : Jean Hébert, Alain Heyne, Danielle Gauthier, Letta Wellinger, Marika Couture-Houle, Justin Gravel, Laurent Bellemare-Proulx Bottom row : Kay-Sandra Boyer, Mylène Boisvert

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