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On June 18, 2021, Avril Supermarché, an independent, Quebec-based health food store chain, announced the closing of a transaction under which Desjardins Capital became a minority shareholder in order to support the chain’s growth in Quebec. The financing obtained will support Avril’s development plan, which includes opening a dozen more supermarkets over the next five years. The transaction was preceded by a major corporate reorganization. Lavery Lawyers feels privileged that Avril Supermarché, a long-standing client, reaffirmed its confidence in the firm by allowing it to contribute to Avril’s growth and support its founders and managers, Sylvie Senay and Rolland Tanguay, in all stages of the transaction. The Lavery team that worked with Avril Supermarché was led by Christian Dumoulin and composed of Jean-François Bilodeau, Dave Bouchard, Sophie Goulet, Katy Pelletier and Catherine Voyer.

Lavery is pleased to announce that it has hired nine of its articling students as lawyers.   Marc-Antoine Bigras joins the Administrative Law group. Before beginning his legal studies, Marc-Antoine completed a Bachelor’s degree in History and a Certificate in German, which allowed him to study in Germany and Austria. During his legal studies, Marc-Antoine developed a passion for constitutional and administrative law. As part of his professional training, Marc-Antoine had the opportunity to work at the Mile End Legal Clinic as an articling student.   Frédéric Boivin Couillard joins the Business Law group. He also holds a Bachelor of Commerce with a specialization in Finance from the John Molson School of Business at Concordia University. Upon completing this degree, he participated in an academic exchange at the University of New South Wales in Australia. As a student, he worked in portfolio management for an independent firm in Montréal. Frédéric passed all three levels of the CFA Program and may be awarded the charter upon completion of the required work experience.   Laurence Clavet joins the Business Law group. During her law studies, Laurence was involved as an articling student at the Mile End Legal Clinic. Prior to her legal studies, Laurence developed expertise in communication and worked in a post-production studio specializing in advertising, dubbing and original music composition.   Renaud Gravel joins the Litigation and Conflict Resolution group. During these studies, he also worked as a clinician at the Clinique juridique corporative de l’UQAM. Being committed to diversity and inclusion, Renaud served for over two years on the executive committee of Fier Départ/Start Proud as chair of the Montréal chapter.   Emma-Sophie Hall joins the Labour and Employment Law group. Concurrently with her university studies, Emma-Sophie was coordinator of the Centre d’entraide à l'étude in the Sherbrooke law faculty. In the fall of 2017, she conducted a clinical activity at the Court of Québec in Sherbrooke with the Honourable Justice Aubé.   Étienne Laplante joins our Taxation group. The research he participated in during his studies and the passion he developed for tax policy issues have led him to give a lecture at the graduate level in law, since 2018, on the Quebec refundable tax credit system.   Solveig Ménard-Castonguay joins the Administrative Law group. She also holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science with a concentration in international relations and foreign policy from Université Laval. During her law studies, she had the opportunity to volunteer with the national Pro Bono Network. Solveig has also been a speaker for the SEUR project, which promotes student retention among high school students.   Louis Morin joins the Litigation and Conflict Resolution group. Before beginning his legal studies, he completed a Bachelor’s degree in Applied Political Studies, which allowed him to complete a semester of study at the University of Vilnius in Lithuania.   Catherine Voyer joins the Business Law group. She joined Lavery’s team in 2018 for her second co-op placement. In the fall of 2019, she conducted a clinical activity at the Court of Québec in Sherbrooke with the Honourable Justice Gagnon.