This section keeps you up-to-date on the latest news and upcoming public appearances of Lavery professionals.
News
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Denis Michaud appointed Vice-President of the Commission municipale du Québec
Mr. Denis Michaud, who practised in the area of municipal law at Lavery, de Billy from 2006 to 2014, was appointed member and Vice-President of the Commission municipale du Québec on January 6, 2014.Mr. Michaud has more than 20 years of expertise in the municipal sector, including as a private practice lawyer and as City Manager and Clerk of the City of Beauharnois. He has taught municipal law and urban law at the Université Laval Faculty of Law as well as environmental law at the Centre universitaire de formation en environnement et développement durable of the Université de Sherbrooke.The appointment of Mr. Michaud is one of many for Lavery Alumni. For more information, consult the page Lavery Graduates Make Their Mark.
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Emmanuel Sala, a lawyer specializing in Tax law, joins Lavery
Lavery is pleased to announce that Mr. Emmanuel Sala has joined the firm as a Business Law partner.Mr. Sala’s practice focuses on mergers and acquisitions, reorganizations and financing transactions on behalf of Canadian and foreign corporations that are involved in various sectors, particularly renewable energy and natural resources. Mr. Sala is also very active in tax dispute resolution and voluntary disclosures.Emmanuel Sala holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Finance from HEC Montréal and is a member of the Ordre des comptables professionnels agréés du Québec. He advises his clients on various issues of interest and currently acts as a lecturer with regards to the master of laws (taxation option) program jointly sponsored by HEC Montréal and the Faculty of Law of the Université de Montréal. A highly sought-after speaker, Mr. Sala has also written many articles that were published in several magazines, including the Mining Journal, The Northern Miner and Global Business Reports."Lavery is very pleased to welcome Emmanuel Sala in our firm’s Business Law Group. Emmanuel brings to Lavery a solid and wide-ranging experience that will reinforce our business law expertise for the benefit of our clients", said Don McCarty, Managing Partner of the firm.
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Opération Père Noël at Lavery: A successful initiative
The Opération Père Noël 2013 at Lavery was a successful initiative. Thanks to the generosity of Lavery employees, more than 80 children from disadvantaged families and orphans will receive a gift during the Holidays.Chaired by Mr. Jonathan Lacoste-Jobin, a Litigation associate at Lavery, this yearly activity was organized by a dedicated team comprising Ms. Michèle Gamache, a Business Law associate at Lavery, Ms. Marie-Ève Gauthier, Ms. Line Grandmaison, Ms. Chantal Verreault as well as Ms. Marie-Claude Galarneau and her son, Julien.This initiative shows the extent of Lavery’s community involvement which is also expressed through pro bono activities or the Centraide Campaign. Established in 1995, Opération Père Noël is a non-profit organization that allows children to experience the magic of Christmas on December 25 by receiving the gift they wanted. Opération Père Noël acknowledges Lavery’s sustained community presence since the firm is a “corporate contributor” of this organization.
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Jean Saint-Onge recognized as a leading US-Canada cross-border lawyer in the area of class actions
Mr. Jean Saint-Onge, Ad. E., a Litigation partner at Lavery, was named a leading cross-border lawyer in the area of class actions in the 2013 edition of the directory Lexpert Guide to the Leading US/Canada Cross-border Litigation Lawyers in Canada. Mr. Saint-Onge has been involved in numerous precedent-setting cases and has represented major corporations in multijurisdictional and cross border class actions, more particularly in the areas of competition law and consumer law.He is listed among the leading practitioners in the fields of Class Actions, Litigation - Commercial Insurance and Litigation - Product Liability in The Canadian Legal Lexpert® Directory 2013. The expertise of Mr. Saint-Onge is also recognized in the category Dispute Resolution: Class Action (Defence) Canada in the 2013 edition of the prestigious legal directory Chambers Global as well as in the 2014 edition of Best Lawyers in Canada in the area of class actions.
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Brittany Carson and Raphaël Bacal join Lavery as associates
Lavery is pleased to announce that Ms. Brittany Carson and Mr. Raphaël Bacal recently joined the firm as associates after completing their articles with Lavery. A graduate of McGill University in political science and law, Ms. Carson will be practising in the Labour and Employment Law Group.A graduate of McGill University’s Faculty of Law, Mr. Bacal will be practising in the Business Law Group, particularly in the areas of business transactions and securities law.
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Josiane L’Heureux and Valérie Korozs of Lavery, speakers at the Conférence sur le congédiement au Québec
Ms. Josiane L’Heureux, a Labour and Employment Law partner at Lavery, and Ms. Valérie Korozs, a Labour and Employment Law associate at Lavery, acted as conference speakers at the 4th edition of the Conférence sur le congédiement au Québec that took place in Montreal on December 9-10, 2013.Entitled “Contrat d’emploi ou contrat de services ? Tout ce qu’un employeur devrait savoir”, the conference of Ms. L’Heureux focused on the differences between a contract of employment and a service contract, the applicable case law and the process of entering into a contract. In her conference, entitled “Le congédiement déguisé : développements récents et considérations pratiques”, Ms. Korozs examined various issues such as the recent case law with respect to constructive dismissal, an employee’s right to give a notice of modification and an employee’s right to keep his/her job by invoking constructive dismissal.
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Daniel Bouchard of Lavery, speaker on Quebec’s housing stock management at the 2013 UDI/SMI Conference
On December 3, 2013, Mr. Daniel Bouchard, Managing Partner of Lavery’s Quebec City office, gave a presentation entitled “Ce que tout gestionnaire d’immeuble doit savoir aujourd’hui … en plus de tout le reste !” at a conference jointly organized by the Urban Development Institute of Québec and the S.M. Group International Inc. under the theme “La nouvelle législation quant à la sécurité et la vétusté des bâtiments”.The presentation of Mr. Bouchard focused on the management of Quebec’s housing stock following the coming into force of new regulations pertaining to façades, multistorey garages, building safety and water cooling towers. Mr. Bouchard also made reference to Bill 49 that was introduced recently in the National Assembly and includes provisions that will impose additional obligations upon building owners with respect to housing stock management. Mr Bouchard discussed these various issues from a municipal standpoint, particularly by mentioning the growing role that municipalities will play over the coming years with regards to building safety.
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Véronique Morin of Lavery leads a webinar on last chance agreements in the workplace
On December 5, 2013, Ms. Véronique Morin, CIRC, a Labour and Employment Law associate at Lavery, led a webinar focused on last chance agreements in the workplace, as part of the professional development activities organized by the Ordre des conseillers en ressources humaines agréés (CRHA).During this webinar, which was intended for human resources management professionals, Ms. Morin discussed various issues of interest, such as the negotiation and content of a last chance agreement, the administrative and disciplinary sanctions related to last chance agreements as well as the recent case law in that regard.For more information about the webinar (in French), click here.
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Jean-Simon Deschênes of Lavery appointed Bid Director for Quebec City’s bid as host city of 2016 JCI World Congress
Mr. Jean-Simon Deschênes, a Business Law partner at Lavery, was recently appointed Bid Director for Quebec City’s bid as host city of the 2016 Junior Chamber International (JCI) World Congress. As such, he will be leading the Organizing Committee that will officially submit Quebec City’s candidacy to host the 2016 JCI World Congress.If Quebec City were to win the bid, more than 3,500 young leaders from about 150 member countries would gather in the Capital during this congress. The mission of JCI is to represent the interests of young businesspeople by promoting entrepreneurship, leadership, management and training.
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Guillaume Lavoie of Lavery gives a one-day training session to the laureates of the Fondation Montréal inc.
Mr. Guillaume Lavoie, a Business Law associate at Lavery, gave a one-day training session to the laureates of the Fondation Montréal inc. on November 28, 2013. Entitled “The respective duties of business partners and investors”, Mr. Lavoie’s training workshop focused mainly on the duties of the officers, shareholders and directors of a corporation as well as on the level of involvement and the different investment products that can be offered to a potential investor.As part of such training, Mr. Robert Brouillette, President of Anges Québec, was invited by Mr. Lavoie to share with the participants his different experiences as an investor.The Fondation Montréal inc.’s mission is to facilitate the start-up of new businesses in Montreal, promote Montreal’s economic development and provide young business people with professional advice offered by business volunteers. This organization offers among other things training sessions in the form of practical workshops that allow the laureates of the Fondation to acquire knowledge and develop skills alongside other entrepreneurs experiencing the same challenges.
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Lavery’s expertise in mining law is recognized in a special issue of the Engineering and Mining Journal
Ms. Katia Opalka, Mr. René Branchaud and Mr. Sébastien Vézina, partners at Lavery, are mentioned for their mining law expertise in the November 2013 special issue of the Engineering and Mining Journal, which is entitled “Mining in Québec, Newfoundland and Labrador”. The E & MJ is an international publication with two-thirds of subscribers working for multinational mining companies in more than 120 countries.In an article entitled “Mine (pronoun)”, Ms. Opalka examines a few provisions contained in Bill 43, which proposed a new Mining Act for Quebec and was voted down by the Official Opposition at the National Assembly on October 30, 2013. The provisions included extending environmental requirements, consulting the public with regards to mining projects and filing ore processing feasibility studies to enter into a mining lease.On this latter issue, Mr. Branchaud points out that the obligation for mining firms to conduct feasibility studies for the transformation of minerals would prove unnecessarily costly for mining corporations. Mr. Vézina mentions that Lavery is seeing the rise of market practices wherein some assets, which might have been core assets a couple of months ago, are monetized in order to get additional liquidities.To consult this special issue, click here.
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Four Lavery partners featured in Who’s Who Legal 100 2013 issue
In its 2013 issue, the renowned legal directory Who’s Who Legal 100 has acknowledged the expertise of four Lavery partners in their respective areas of practice: Mr. Pierre-L. Baribeau – Management Labour and Employment Mr. Yvan Biron – Environment Mr. René Branchaud – Mining Mr. Ian Rose – Insurance & ReinsuranceSince 1996 Who's Who Legal has identified the foremost legal practitioners in 34 areas of practice. Drawing on an independent and thorough research that includes thousands of hours of interviews with leading lawyers and their clients, this publication features about 16,000 of the world’s leading private practice lawyers in over 100 countries, including Canada.For more information, click here.