Lavery, de Billy, L.L.P.

With a team of over 200 professionals located in Montreal, Quebec City, Sherbrooke and Trois-Rivieres – including lawyers, notaries, trademark agents, patent agents and paralegals – Lavery is committed to delivering a one-stop legal shop in the province of Quebec – also known as our 360º approach – by offering personalized and innovative solutions in various fields of law: Corporate and Commercial Law, Labour and Employment Law, Litigation and Conflict Resolution, Public and Administrative Law, and Intellectual Property. Our “one-stop legal shop” and our reputation for uncompromisingly applying the highest industry standards are truly a distinctive strength of our firm.

Our role extends to that of a trusted and strategic advisor, which implies a support that goes beyond simply providing a legal opinion. We therefore take a pragmatic and practical approach and collaborate with the law firm and its client, always keeping in mind the business reality and favouring creative, practical and accessible advice.

We can handle complex matters, providing tailored and successful solutions in the required time frames. Our goal is to help all stakeholders involved achieve their respective objectives efficiently, cost effectively and with the right level of expertise. We will ensure that the legal services we deliver are not only aligned with expectations but that they also protect the interests of the key stakeholders.

Lavery has developed strong ties with law firms and other professional firms across Canada, the United States and worldwide, enabling us to assist our clients in developing opportunities outside Quebec.

The following is a brief description of the firm’s main areas of practice.

Artificial Intelligence
Over the years, we have developed a significant interest and experience in supporting customers in their technological shift. On a day-to-day basis, we advise customers on the legal impact of implementing new technologies, particularly in the field of artificial intelligence.

We anticipate that within a few years, all companies, businesses and organizations, in every sector and industry, will use some form of artificial intelligence in their day-to-day operations to improve productivity or efficiency, ensure better quality control, conquer new markets and customers, implement new marketing strategies, as well as improve processes, automation and marketing or the profitability of operations.

Business Transactions
Lavery’s team of lawyers represents a broad range of clients doing business in Canada and abroad. These lawyers handle all types of transactions, including mergers, acquisitions, corporate finance, buy-outs, public-private partnership initiatives and joint ventures.

Class Action Defence
Lavery has been handling class actions for over 30 years. The firm sets itself apart by its multidisciplinary approach, the breadth of its expertise and its thorough understanding of the reality in which its clients carry on business. Our team is often solicited for major cases involving complex issues. We know how to act quickly in response to the media’s interest in any eventual proceedings. We don’t just provide legal services; we provide strategic advice tailored to our client’s needs ensuring that the integrity of its business is properly defended.

Commercial Litigation
The commercial litigation team handles a wide range of issues, including creditors’ rights, banking and financial transactions, bankruptcy and insolvency, franchising, securities litigation and competition law.

Construction Law and Surety Bonds
For more than forty years, our lawyers have been placing their expertise at the service of stakeholders in the construction industry. Should problems arise, we defend their interests either before the courts or via alternative dispute resolution methods (ADRM). The skills and know-how of our construction lawyers are complemented by those of our experts specialized in real estate law, project financing, public-private partnerships, and energy infrastructure.

Energy and Natural Resources
For decades, Lavery has had an enviable reputation in the energy and natural resources sector. We have developed an in-depth understanding of the many/ issues and challenges facing projects in this sector.

From a legal perspective, projects of this nature require the collaboration of teams specialized in several of Lavery’s areas of expertise such as mergers and acquisitions, commercial law, energy law, project and infrastructure financing, mining law, environmental and real estate law, administrative and municipal law, securities law, construction law, tax law, labour and employment law, land use planning, and aboriginal law.

Debt Financing and Banking
When it comes to Debt Financing and Banking, our highly skilled and multidisciplinary team will be able to address your concerns, whatever they may be, while taking into account all of the intricate rules of this very specific area of law. Our team guides clients through each crucial step of their transaction from negotiations to implementation.

Financial Products and Services
Our team of lawyers in the Financial Products and Services Group advise on all the legal issues relating to the financial products and services industry – particularly the registration of firms and other entities, regulatory compliance of financial products and services, the development of new and innovative products, and the compliance and governance of registrants – while also providing assistance with inspections by the regulatory authorities, compliance reviews, investigations and regulatory procedures.

Health Law
Lavery is the preferred legal advisor to a number of healthcare institutions and healthcare professional bodies. The firm has broad expertise in areas such as the structuring, organizing and financing of healthcare systems, providing advice in respect of the administrative and legal framework governing the operation of healthcare institutions, negotiating and drafting R&D contracts for the healthcare industry, healthcare litigation, including professional malpractice litigation.

Information, Privacy and Defamation
Lavery is one of Quebec’s leading law firms in matters of information and privacy law. Our clients include the provincial government and its departments, large corporations, media organizations and professional associations in respect of such matters as access to information, confidentiality issues, Charter rights, defamation and slander.

Data Protection
The rise in cyberattacks and costs associated with data leaks is well documented. Indeed, the mobility of information in a telecommuting context, the use of cloud storage, process automation and the increased connectivity of organizational systems increase organizations’ vulnerability to cyberattacks. Data leaks can adversely affect not only an organization’s reputation with the public, but also the management and continuity of its day-to-day business.

Infrastructure
Our Infrastructure team is comprised of seasoned professionals working in all relevant aspects of infrastructure projects. Our professionals are renowned for their expertise in areas such as project management, equity or debt financing, construction law and surety-bonds, municipal law, real estate law, tax matters, environmental law or government affairs.

Intellectual Property 
The Intellectual Property team is unique in its depth of experience in intellectual property as well as in its national and international reach. Our professionals have a vast expertise in patent prosecution, trademark prosecution and opposition, IP litigation, IP transactions and IP strategy. 

Labour and Employment
For more than forty years, Lavery’s team has represented the interests of employers, providing a full complement of services in labour and employment law, including negotiating collective agreements, strategic counselling, mediation, arbitration, and occupational health and safety.

Mining Law
Lavery has been very active in the mining industry for over five decades. Our lawyers in this field handle all types of mandates such as helping companies achieve business development objectives, setting up financial structures and implementing strategic alliances.

Restructuring and Insolvency
The restructuring and insolvency team usually represents financial institutions, trustees in bankruptcy, receivers, liquidators, monitors, lenders, borrowers, corporate debtors and financiers in matters related to Canadian and cross-border corporate restructuring and insolvency, commercial interests, security interests, real estate, litigation, and statutory and regulatory schemes created by various acts.

Securities Law
Lavery’s securities law team provides its clients, whether underwriters or issuers, with full range services, including the listing of corporate securities on stock exchanges, handling and assisting with mergers, acquisitions, debt offerings, private placements and takeover bids, drafting and advising on stock option plans, initial public offerings, issuer bids, and preparing shareholders’ meetings.

Taxation 

The firm’s tax practitioners work in multidisciplinary teams with lawyers in other practice areas to address taxation issues related to the purchase and sale of businesses, corporate reorganizations, real estate transactions and other business transactions. Lavery also has an active tax advocacy and litigation practice as well as a personal tax planning practice. 

Private Equity
Lavery Capital is a multidisciplinary team of professionals that provides legal and strategic advice addressing the full spectrum of investment, corporate finance and asset management needs. Among other things, our professionals have in-depth knowledge of the legal aspects – such as corporate and transaction structures, tax issues and regulatory compliance – and the business aspects involved in raising and using capital. We regularly work with managers, investment firms, financial professionals and entrepreneurs.

For further information, please contact the partners listed below or visit our website at lavery.ca.