This section keeps you up-to-date on the latest news and upcoming public appearances of Lavery professionals.
News
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Michel Servant invited to preside the Prix Relève d’Excellence 2015 Committee of Réseau HEC Montréal
Michel Servant, a Business Law partner at Lavery, will be the President of the Prix Relève d’Excellence 2015 Committee of Réseau HEC Montréal. This competition recognizes the professional success of HEC’s graduates, aged 35 and under, in four different classes: Large Enterprises, Small and Medium Enterprises (SME), Entrepreneurs and Young Professionals. The prize-winners are selected by a jury of experienced business people. This event will take place as a Gala-Evening on Thursday, May 21, 2015, at the Parquet of Centre CDP Capital. 2015 marks the 30th anniversary of the Prix Relève d’Excellence and Mr. Michael Sabia, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, will be the Honorary President. The Caisse is one of the largest institutional fund managers in Canada and North America. HEC Montréal is a university business school whose reputation as a leader in teaching and research is recognized in Québec, Canada, and around the world.
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Jean Boulet discusses Centraide with Trois-Rivières’ Le Nouvelliste
On April 24, 2015, Jean Boulet, a Labour and Employment partner and manager of the Lavery Trois-Rivières office, gave an interview to Le Nouvelliste where he presented Centraide’s new identity: “We are community”. President of the Board of Directors of Centraide Mauricie, Mr. Boulet explains the importance of the symbolism behind this new signature, emphasizing on community involvement, namely with youth, seniors, immigrants, and people with disabilities or mental illnesses. To read the article, click here (in French only).
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Lavery, proud sponsor of the Pinel Excelle team
Lavery is proud to sponsor the Pinel Excelle team of the Pinel Foundation in the 2015 Banquet Scotia Race which will take place on April 26, 2015 at Parc Jean-Drapeau. Many personnel members of the Philippe-Pinel Institute will take part in this 5K or 21K race to bring support to the Foundation. For over 30 years, the Foundation has supported the only highly specialized legal psychiatry centre in Quebec: the Montreal Philippe-Pinel Institute. Its mission is to push for the development of this centre: patient care and their environment, research in mental health and violence, promoting education and reinforcing prevention. If you wish to make a donation to the foundation or a member of the Pinel Excelle team, please click here.
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Jean Martel, co-lecturer at the 9th Compliance Conference of CFIQ
On April 21, 2015, Jean Martel, Ad. E., a Business Law partner at Lavery, was co-lecturer at the 9th Compliance Conference organized by the Conseil des fonds d’investissement du Québec (CFIQ). His conference, entitled « Régime coopératif en matière de réglementation des marchés capitaux » (Cooperative scheme relating to capital markets regulation), mainly discussed the concepts behind the financial system and the systemic risks, as well as the basis of a cooperative scheme in that field. Other panellists included Mr. Stéphane Rousseau, professor at the Université de Montréal's Faculty of Law where he holds the Chair in Governance and Business Law and Mr. Miville Tremblay, Senior Regional Representative & Director in Montreal (Financial Markets), Bank of Canada.
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Jean-Philippe Latreille, member of the 2014-2015 Incubator Series of the Young Directors of IGOPP
April 9, 2015 marked the conclusion of the 2014-2015 edition of the Incubator Series for Young Directors of the Institute for Governance of Private and Public Organizations (IGOPP), in which Mr. Jean-Philippe Latreille, Business Law lawyer at Lavery, took part. Members of this group were selected based on the quality of their application, their motivation, their professional, academic and social background, and their interest for governance. The Young Directors of IGOPP aim to educate, prepare, and involve the Quebec and Canadian business communities by organizing interesting events and by spreading information through social media with the ultimate goal of sensitizing young professionals to the great challenges in governance facing public and private organizations.
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2015 edition of Lavery’s Major Symposium in Labour and Employment Law– a great success!
Lavery held the 2015 edition of its Major Symposium in Labour and Employment Law and it was a great success. More than 250 people made their way to Centre Mont-Royal on April 15, 2015 to participate in this event hosted by Ms. Catherine Maheu, partner and coordinator of Lavery’s Labour and Employment Law group. On this occasion, attendees got to participate in various workshops presented by Jean Boulet, Zeïneb Mellouli, Michel Gélinas, Josiane L’Heureux, Norman A. Dionne, Nicolas Joubert, Danielle Gauthier, Josée Dumoulin et François Parent. Speakers addressed many different subjects, starting with a retrospective of decisions of interest in that field, as well as presentations regarding a variety of problems that can arise in the workplace.
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Véronique Morin leads a webinar on last chance agreements
On April 9, 2015, Ms. Véronique Morin, CIRC, a Labour and Employment Law associate at Lavery, led a webinar focused on the usefulness of last chance agreements and ways to increase their efficiency. During this webinar, which was held as part of the professional development activities organized by the Ordre des conseillers en ressources humaines agréés (CRHA), Ms. Morin discussed various issues of interest, such as the concept of accommodation short of undue hardship, the content of a last chance agreements and the administrative and disciplinary sanctions related to those very agreements. For more information about the webinar (in French), click here.
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Louis Rochette, honorary copresident of the Leucan Shaved Head Challenge in Quebec City
On May 24, 2015, Louis Rochette, a Business Law and Life Sciences partner at Lavery, will co-chair the 15th edition of the Leucan Shaved Head Challenge in Quebec City with Mr. Germain Lamonde, president of Exfo. On this occasion, he will take on this challenge and have his head shaved as a show of solidarity towards the children who, following chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatments, have lost their hair. The Leucan Shaved Head Challenge is a major fundraiser which aims to engage the community to provide services to families affected by cancer as well as financial support for research. Lavery is proud to highlight the involvement of one of its own with Leucan which, for the past 35 years, has been committed to helping and supporting cancer-stricken children and their families. To participate in the Leucan Shaved Head Challenge or to make a donation, please click here.
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Launch of the Lavery GO inc. Program in Trois-Rivières!
On April 1st, 2015, Lavery organized a cocktail marking the launch of the Lavery GO inc. Program at Trois-Rivières. The event, which took place at the Restaurant Le Poivre Noir, gathered close to 40 guests. During the evening, Ms. Myriam Lavallée presented the features and advantages the program offers, and discussed the importance of cooperation between public sector bodies and private sector businesses in establishing a business and startup-friendly climate. Mr. Jean Boulet also stressed the importance of such a program as part of the economic transformation the regions of Mauricie and Centre-du-Québec are undergoing.
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LAVERY AND ITS GO INC. PROGRAM JOIN FORCES WITH STARTUP NEXT MONTREAL
Providing guidance to startups as they prepare to seek outside financingLavery is pleased to announce that its involvement in the Startup Next Montreal program that will allow selected Quebec entrepreneurs to participate in one of the most renowned pre-acceleration startup program in the world and to also benefit from a special session on the legal issues that startups face, offered by the lawyers of Lavery’s GO inc. Program. The Startup Next Montreal pre-acceleration program runs from February 23 to May 2, 2015 and is aimed at priming four startups for success in their search for financial backing either from seed or accelerator funds. The four selected companies are Makerbloks, led by François Poirier, Logrr, led by Julien Denaes, Elysia, led by Vanessa Cheranfant, and Heddoko, headed by its founder Mazen Elbawab. Startup Next is a global program implemented in 40 cities around the world and backed by Google for Entrepreneurs and the Global Accelerator Network. Lavery is hosting six consecutive and mandatory weekly sessions of three hours each, plus one special session dedicated to the legal issues associated to business startups. During these sessions, entrepreneurs meet with company founders as well as with experts who share their own experiences in growth-company management, get to make their elevator pitch before a panel of mentors who provide feedback and are paired with mentors who help them delve more deeply into strategic issues. The entrepreneurs will discuss namely with Bob Dorf, Startup Trainer and Professor of Entrepreneurship at Columbia Business School, LP Maurice, CEO of Busbud and Partner at Interaction Ventures, Chris Arsenault, Managing Partner of iNovia Capital, and Sean Brownlee, General Partner at Rho Canada Ventures. The best Montreal entrepreneurial teams will be invited to present their start-up companies to investors or accelerator funds like XPND Capital, Interaction Ventures, Real Ventures, to angel investors like Anges Québec, and to decision makers, as well as to the Jeune chambre de commerce de Montréal (JCCM) and the Regroupement des jeunes chambres de commerce du Québec (RJCCQ) business community during Startup Next Montreal’s presentation day at the 48h Entrepreneurs event. “With its GO inc. Program, Lavery targets dynamic and innovative startups that stand out from the crowd. Our partnership agreement with Startup Next Montreal helps us reach out to several of the most promising technology startups in Quebec,” said Don McCarty, the firm’s Managing Partner. “We are very pleased that the Lavery GO inc. Program is partnering with Startup Next Montreal, because it is essential that entrepreneurs understand the main legal issues they will need to manage in order to successfully grow their company. We added a training session to the program specifically to address this topic and provide entrepreneurs with the best tools possible for the challenges that lie before them,” added Sergio A. Escobar, Startup Next Montreal Program Facilitator. “Lavery is delighted to welcome the entrepreneurs selected by Startup Next Montreal. The members of the Lavery GO inc. Program plan will analyze with them the major legal issues related to their startups,” stated Étienne Brassard, lawyer in charge of the Lavery GO inc. Program. The Lavery GO inc. Program provides personalized support to selected businesses over a wide range of legal services needed during the start-up process, including incorporation, trademark and domain registration, service agreements and various internal company policies.
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Valérie Korozs publishes a chapter on economic dismissal for the Quebec Bar
Valérie Korozs, Labour and Employment Law associate at Lavery, in cooperation with Guy Lemay, Labour and Employment law partner at Lavery, and Ms. Émilie Thibault and Léa Pelletier-Marcotte, students at Lavery, is the author of a chapter in the latest volume Développements récents en droit du travail published by the Quebec Bar’s Continuing Education Service at Éditions Yvon Blais, in March 2015. Her article, entitled « Congédiement pour motifs économiques : l’approche de la Commission des relations du travail » [Dismissal for economic reasons : the Commission des relations de travail’s approach] reviews decisions of interest as well as trends before the Commission des relations de travail on matters relating to temrination for economic reasons. She analyses the burden of proof the employer must meet, and explores the CRT’s approach following a substantial decrease in employment conditions for financial considerations. For more information or to order the publication, click here.
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Pierre Marc Johnson delivers keynote address at business luncheon organized by Société de développement économique de Drummondville
On March 31st, 2015 at the new Centrexpo Drummondville, Lavery’s Pierre Marc Johnson delivered a presentation before a capacity audience made up of key actors in the economy of Drummondville. During his remarks, Quebec’s Chief Negotiator for the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement outlined the terms of the agreement, its origins and steps remaining before its entry into force. He also highlighted key provisions and spelled out the advantages of the treaty for Quebec businesses.