During the Holiday Cocktail of the Québec Branch of the Canadian Bar Association (CBA-Québec), which was held on November 15, 2012, the awards were presented to the winners of the 2012 CBA-Québec Legal Essay Writing Contest. This year, the contest was organized in cooperation with Lavery and the Société québécoise d’information juridique (SOQUIJ). The objective of this contest is to recognize and promote the writing skills of law students.
Lavery submitted the following question: "Does the interpretation given by the Court of Appeal of Québec in the case of Groupe Van Houtte inc. -vs.- Les développements industriels et commerciaux de Montréal inc., 2010 QCCA 1970 to the principle of the objective determination of the prestation of the obligation provided in Section 1373 C.c.Q. mean that a clause whereby a party to a contract may unilaterally and in a discretionary manner set or vary an essential element of the contract would be valid under Québec law?"
The jury was made up of four Lavery partners: Ms. Odette-Jobin Laberge, Ad. E., Mr. Emil Vidrascu, Mr. Jean-Yves Simard and Mr. André Vautour. CBA-Québec congratulated them for the quality of their work; the members of the jury analyzed a total of 14 texts in a very short time. The first prize, offered by SOQUIJ and including a cash prize of $1,500, was awarded by Mr. Luc Boulanger-Milot to Mr. Mountagha Sow, from the Université de Montréal. The second prize, offered by CBA-Québec and including a cash prize of $1,000, was awarded by Mr. Emil Vidrascu to Ms. Charlotte Fortin, from Université Laval.