This section keeps you up-to-date on the latest news and upcoming public appearances of Lavery professionals.
News
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Lavery hires five of its articling students
Lavery is pleased to announce that it has hired five of its articling students as associates. Alexandra Belley-McKinnon has joined the Litigation and Conflict Resolution group. She holds degrees in common law and civil law from McGill University as well as an LL.M. in International Law at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, Switzerland. Céleste Brouillard-Ross has joined the Litigation and Conflict Resolution group. Prior to law school, Céleste studied History and Women’s Studies at McGill University. Félix Germek-Michaud has joined the Labour and Employment Law group. He completed a Bachelor in Business Administration and a Bachelor of Law with honours from the Université du Québec à Montréal. Pierre-Olivier Valiquette has joined the Business Law group. He holds a Bachelor of Civil Law (B.C.L.) and a Bachelor of Law (LL.B.) from McGill University. Felicia Yifan Jin has joined the Business Law group. She completed her bachelor’s degree in civil law at the Université de Montréal and two internships in the Chinese legal system, one within the firm Tiantong & Partners, and the other at Guangdong International Business Law Firm. “We are very proud to welcome talent like Daphnée, Charles, Chantal, Yaoqi and Andrée-Anne into the Lavery family. They have distinguished themselves by their quality of work, dedication and ongoing pursuit of excellence,” commented Loïc Berdnikoff, Director of Professional Development.
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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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Lavery hires five of its articling students
Lavery is pleased to announce that it has hired five of its articling students as associates. Daphnée Anctil and Charles Ceelen-Brasseur have joined the Business Law group with the Montréal office; Chantal Saint-Onge and Yaoqi Wang have joined the Litigation and Conflict Resolution group with the Montréal office; Andrée-Anne Perras-Fortin has joined the Business Law group with the Sherbrooke office and will also practise with the Lavery Legal Lab on Artificial Intelligence (L3AI); “We are very proud to welcome talent like Daphnée, Charles, Chantal, Yaoqi and Andrée-Anne into the Lavery family. They have distinguished themselves by their quality of work, dedication and ongoing pursuit of excellence,” commented Loïc Berdnikoff, Director of Professional Development.
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Me Nathalie Roy, Lawyer Emeritus and former executive director of Éducaloi, chooses Lavery
Lavery is pleased to announce that Nathalie Roy, Ad. E., has been named Project Manager, Training and Skills Development effective December 18. Under the direction of Loïc Berdnikoff, Director of Professional Development, Me Roy will be responsible for developing and implementing training programs within the firm. The core of Lavery’s success is based on retaining exceptional, engaged talent and recruiting highly qualified individuals. Under the leadership of the new chief executive officer and supported by the management team, Lavery aims to become a talent incubator, with a team of experts dedicated to developing its professionals. “Me Roy is a seasoned manager and an engaged leader. She has developed a keen understanding of the skills development needs in our industry”, commented Loïc Berdnikoff. “We are privileged to benefit from her long career to consolidate our offer. Her knowledge of the legal community and its transformation makes her a highly qualified player to define and implement programs to train the talent of today and tomorrow.” Me Roy co-founded Éducaloi, a pioneer in the communication of legal content in Quebec, and is known for her innovative vision and deep desire to do things differently. “A talent-based approach is entirely in keeping with the perception I have of my role and I am delighted to be working with an ambitious team to implement an audacious action plan,” remarked Me Roy. “Professional development is a key condition for ensuring that our resources, at every level, are both happy at work and equipped to be business partners with clients. I am very happy to be using my expertise and past experience to play a key role in developing skills and knowledge transfer at Lavery.” The strategic role that Me Roy will play in professional development is directly in line with the firm’s commitment to support its talent by implementing clear and sustained actions. “To embody its vision of being a key actor in the transformation of legal services in Quebec, Lavery has made it a point of honour to place talent at the core of its business strategy,” stated Anik Trudel, Lavery’s Chief Executive Officer. “The arrival of Me Roy at Lavery is proof that the firm is giving itself the means to implement a concrete action plan to respond to the challenges of today, while planning for the future.”
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Isabelle Duval Named YBM Lawyer of the Year in Family Law
On November 23, Isabelle Duval, an associate in the firm's Family Law Group, was named as YBM lawyer of the year in the category of family law at the 11th edition of the YBM "Leaders of Tomorrow" Gala, held at the St-James Theater. "The naming of Isabelle Duval as YBM lawyer of the year for 2017 reflects the expertise and talent of the firm's next generation of lawyers", said Loïc Berdnikoff, Lavery's Director of Professional Development. "The firm is privileged to be able to count on exceptional professionals such as Isabelle. I would like to congratulate her, both on my own and on the firm's behalf, for this well-deserved distinction!" Note that in choosing the winners, the YBM relies on its Governors Council, consisting, among others, of the deans of three law faculties in Quebec, the Bâtonnier of the Montreal Bar, Brian Mitchell, and the Honourable Justices Nicole Duval Hesler, Lucie Rondeau, Ann-Marie Jones and Bernard Mandeville.
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A Lavery team participates in the 5th edition of Juritour
On September 17, a team of four firm members participated in the 5th edition of the Juritour bike-a-thon that started and finished at the Les Trois Tilleuls inn in Saint-Marc-sur-Richelieu. Composed of Daphnée Anctil, Loïc Berdnikoff, Charles Ceelen-Brasseur and Sonia Rasquinha, the Lavery team pedalled 45 km along the Richelieu shores for the benefit of Cystic Fibrosis Canada and the Fondation l’air d’Aller. The event raised a grand total of over $142,000 for the two organizations that conduct research and offer care to people suffering from cystic fibrosis. Daphnée Anctil and Sonia Rasquinha
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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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Lavery appoints Loïc Berdnikoff as Director of Professional Development
Lavery is proud to announce that Loïc Berdnikoff has been appointed to the position of Director of Professional Development. Me Berdnikoff has been interim director of this key role in the firm since August 2016. “It is with enthusiasm that I decided to devote myself to the duties of Director of Professional Development for the firm. I intend to pursue Lavery’s vision to develop and advance our young lawyers. I will contribute my experience as a lawyer and a partner to support them and offer quality training that corresponds to their expectations and aspirations,” stated Loïc Berdnikoff. “As acting director, Loïc was already successfully handling the position and actively carrying out the various responsibilities associated with the role, so this is a natural progression for both him and the firm. We can count on the expertise and experience of a colleague who knows the workings of the profession and our organization,” commented Jean-Yves Simard, Lavery’s Interim Managing Partner.
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Les Affaires quotes Loïc Berdnikoff in an article on why young lawyers have difficulties to find jobs
Les Affaires quotes Loïc Berdnikoff in an article on why young lawyers have difficulties to find jobs.
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Lavery represents the Conférence des juges de paix magistrats du Québec and its members before the Supreme Court of Canada
On January 18, 2016, Mr. Raymond Doray, Ad.E., and Mr. Loïc Berdnikoff, both of whom are partners in the firm’s Administrative Law and Constitutional Law group, represented the Conférence des juges de paix magistrats du Québec and its members before the Supreme Court of Canada to obtain a declaration of unconstitutionality regarding various provisions of the Act to Amend the Courts of Justice Act and Other Legislative Provisions as regards the Status of Justices of the Peace (“Act regarding the Status of Justices of the Peace”) which allowed the government, notably, to unilaterally determine the starting treatment and work conditions of the justices of the peace, without having recourse to a remuneration commission. In an important judgment rendered on October 14, 2016, the Supreme Court of Canada declared that since sections 27, 30 and 32 of the Act regarding the Status of Justices of the Peace did not provide for a retroactive committee review of the starting treatment of the members of a new judicial office created within a reasonable time, these sections infringe the institutional financial security guarantee of judicial independence, and are thus contrary to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (“Charter”) and to the Constitution Act, 1867. This infringement of judicial independence is not justified under section 1 of the Charter, because there is no evidence of a dire and exceptional financial emergency. Therefore, sections 27, 30 and 32 are unconstitutional. Mes Guillaume Laberge and Laurence Bich-Carrière also assisted in the preparation of this case. To see the judgment of the Supreme Court of Canada, click here.
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Victory for Lavery at the Supreme Court on behalf of the Chambre des notaires du Québec
In an important judgment rendered on June 3, 2016, the Supreme Court of Canada declared certain provisions of the Income Tax Act (ITA), which allowed the Minister of National Revenue to require notaries or lawyers to provide documents or information which could be useful for the application or enforcement of the ITA and which excluded their accounting records from the protection of the duty of professional secrecy of legal advisers, to be unconstitutional. The Court concluded that several deficiencies caused the requirements sent to notaries or lawyers to be unreasonable and contrary to s. 8 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It also concluded that the exception to the professional secrecy set out at s. 232(1) of the ITA is unconstitutional and of no force or effect with respect to notaries and lawyers. Raymond Doray and Loïc Berdnikoff, two partners practising administrative and constitutional law at Lavery, represented the Chambre des notaires du Québec before the country’s highest court. Guillaume Laberge and Laurence Bich-Carrière also assisted in the preparation of this case. To see the judgment of the Supreme Court of Canada, click here.
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Myriam Brixi, Loïc Berdnikoff and Lavery on hand at Legal IT 2016 conference
The 10th anniversary of the Legal IT conference took place March 21, 2016 at the Centre des Sciences de Montréal with over 200 attendees. The event was organized by Myriam Brixi, a lawyer in Lavery’s Litigation group whose practice focuses on class actions, insurance law, and civil liability, in her role as a director and head of the IT Committee of the Young Bar Association of Montreal. Lavery was one of the event’s sponsors, and Loïc Berdnikoff, a partner in the firm’s administrative law team with expertise in the areas of access to information and the protection of personal information, presented a conference entitled “Behavioral Advertising: the New Klondike for Advertisers”. For more information about this event, please click here.