News

On May 26, the Régie du bâtiment du Québec appointed François Bélanger, a partner in Lavery’s Litigation and Conflict Resolution group, to the Board of Directors of Garantie de construction résidentielle, a neutral, independent nonprofit organization mandated to administer Quebec’s Guarantee Plan for New Residential Buildings. His understanding of the complex, technical issues that arise in construction enables him to effectively support his clients in the industry by establishing sound risk management for their building projects.

Lavery held two conferences, at its Montréal and Québec City offices respectively on June 1 and 8, 2017, on the latest developments, trends, and issues in construction law. Over one hundred participants attended the conferences. Marie-Claude Cantin moderated the Montréal conference, during which construction arbitration (Emil Vidrascu), the principle of fair treatment of bidders (Julie Grondin), and certain types of construction project financing (Étienne Brassard) were discussed. Marie Cossette moderated the Québec City conference, during which the legal distinction between the principal contract and sub-contract (François Bélanger), the decision in Buesco c. Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosement (Simon Rainville), and the essential due diligence principles with respect to licences, regulations, and authorization certificates (Pier-Olivier Fradette) were addressed.

Lavery is pleased to announce that François Bélanger and Zeïneb Mellouli have been named partners of the firm. François Bélanger works with the Litigation and Conflict Resolution group. He appears before the courts in commercial, real estate and construction matters. Due to his expertise in these converging fields of law, Me Bélanger acts as advisor to a large variety of small and medium sized companies in order to ensure their legal affairs are effectively managed. Zeïneb Mellouli’s practice is focused on labour and employment law, the application of the Canadian and Quebec Charters and pay equity. She advises and represents small, medium and large private and public companies and regularly appears before both the administrative and civil courts. Me Mellouli has been actively involved in the legal community since the start of her career. She received the L’Expert Zenith Award in June 2016and was appointed to a labour standards, equity and health and safety advisory board in 2017. “The expertise and competence demonstrated over the years by François and Zeïneb in their respective practices has not only helped the firm develop, but has consolidated their position as major assets in its strategic positioning. Their appointments as partners rightfully acknowledge the quality of their work,” commented Anik Trudel, Lavery’s Chief Executive Officer.

On March 21, 2016, François Bélanger, a partner in Lavery’s Litigation group who acts as litigation counsel in the areas of commercial, real estate, and construction law, led a round-table discussion organized by Futurpreneur on the topic of “The importance of having a shareholder agreement”. The event took place at the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec Price building before young entrepreneurs mainly from the Quebec City and Levis region whose business has been up and running for two to five years. Mr. Bélanger’s role was to guide and provide added-value to exchanges between participants.  Futurpreneur is a national not-for-profit organization that offers financing, mentoring and support tools to young and new entrepreneurs (18 to 39 years of age). 

On February 20, five lawyers from Lavery’s Quebec City office participated in the Pentathlon des neiges Corporate Challenge on Quebec City’s Plains of Abraham. Profits from the event will go to the “À l’école, moi j’bouge” project, which enables youngsters from low-income families to participate in after-school activities. Bernard Roy began the event on bike, followed by Chloé Fauchon on foot, Anthonie Vézina-Crawford on cross-country skis, François Bélanger on skates, and Sylvain Pierrard on snowshoes. Despite the rain, our athletes turned in a star performance! Bernard Roy, Chloé Fauchon, Anthonie Vézina-Crawford, François Bélanger and Sylvain Pierrard