Québec’s best insolvency and financial restructuring lawyers in 2021

Get to know Québec’s best insolvency and financial restructuring lawyers based on the results of Lexpert’s comprehensive yearly peer review. You can also check out the complete results of our survey, featuring the province’s most recommended lawyers and law firms in the field on our practice area rankings.

The survey covers the practice of restructuring and insolvency litigation, which includes acting for and advising lenders and other creditors, debtors, trustees, receivers and other participants in corporate insolvencies and debt enforcement, collection and recovery. The practice also involves bankruptcy, receivership or similar court-supervised insolvency proceedings or private enforcement remedies.

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Most frequently recommended insolvency and financial restructuring lawyers

Sandra Abitan
Law firm: Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP
Year called to the bar: 1990
City: Montréal

Sandra Abitan is the managing partner at Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP’s Montréal office. Her clientele consists of global companies, financial institutions, equity participants and court officers who have sought her advice on working through reorganizations, recapitalizations, restructurings and strategic acquisitions. Abitan boasts expertise in cross-border and international matters, acting for major private and public corporations in various industries.

Marc Duchesne
Law firm: Borden Ladner Gervais LLP (BLG)
Year called to the bar: 1981
City: Montréal

Marc Duchesne is a partner at Borden Ladner Gervais LLP. He acts as solicitor and litigator in banking, bankruptcy and insolvency matters and corporate restructurings. Duchesne advises financial institutions, creditors, venture capital funds, receivers, monitors and trustees and represents their interests before the courts. He also assists debtors and stakeholders in restructurings and insolvencies and acts in commercial litigation matters, construction matters and commercial disputes. His experience includes national and cross-border insolvencies, complex liquidation and securities-related insolvency situations. Duchesne is a frequent conference speaker on security, bankruptcy and insolvency matters. He is member of the Insolvency Institute of Canada, Canadian Bar Association, INSOL International, American Bankruptcy Institute and Canadian Turnaround Management Association.

Denis Ferland
Law firm: Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP
Year called to the bar: 1984
City: Montréal

Denis Ferland is a partner at Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP. He specializes in bankruptcy, insolvency, financial restructuring, related litigation and commercial litigation. Ferland advises large multinationals, banks and financial institutions, creditors, debtors and court officers. He has acted in many of Québec’s most significant restructuring and insolvency matters, helping to pave the way for countless reorganizations and transactions. Ferland is a frequent speaker on bankruptcy and insolvency issues and has presided over several insolvency and bankruptcy conferences. He is also a long-time instructor for the Chartered Insolvency and Restructuring Professional Qualification Program. Ferland serves as vice-president of the select Insolvency Institute of Canada and a member of the International Insolvency Institute, Canadian Bar Association, American Bar Association, Turnaround Management Association and INSOL International.

Jean Fontaine
Law firm: Stikeman Elliott LLP
Year called to the bar: 1989
City: Montréal

Jean Fontaine is a partner at Stikeman Elliott LLP. He holds membership at the firm’s litigation and dispute resolution and restructuring and insolvency groups. He is also the former head of the Montréal office’s litigation team. Fontaine has built an extensive practice that focuses principally on the areas of commercial litigation, restructuring and insolvency and shareholder disputes. He represents financial institutions, trustees and public companies.

Guy P. Martel
Law firm: Stikeman Elliott LLP
Year called to the bar: 1998
City: Montréal

Guy P. Martel is a partner at Stikeman Elliott LLP’s litigation and dispute resolution group. He specializes in banking and restructuring. Martel practises in the areas of banking, corporate law and mergers and acquisitions, with a focus on bankruptcy, insolvency and reorganization. He has advised clients in major Canadian and cross-border commercial transactions and restructurings. Martel has also actively participates in the representation of lenders, borrowers and investors in Canadian, cross-border or foreign matters. He often acts as legal advisor for lending institutions and companies that specialize in the restructuring and sale of financially troubled businesses.

Luc Morin
Law firm: Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP
Year called to the bar: 2003
City: Montréal

Luc Morin is a partner at Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP. He is also a member of the firm’s commercial litigation group in Montréal. His practice focuses on bankruptcy, insolvency and corporate restructuring. Morin was invited to join the Insolvency Institute of Canada in 2018. He is currently the president of the executive committee of the Québec Chapter of the Canadian Bar Association - Insolvency Section.

Alain Riendeau
Law firm: Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP
Year called to the bar: 1986
City: Montréal

Alain Riendeau is a partner at the commercial litigation section at Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP. He devotes his practice to civil and commercial litigation, with a focus on insolvency and corporate restructuring. He has been involved in many complex financial disputes and large restructurings that have taken place in Québec over the last three decades. Riendeau frequently pleads before both trial and appeal courts.

Consistently recommended insolvency and financial restructuring lawyers

Luc Béliveau
Law firm: Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP
Year called to the bar: 1991
City: Montréal

Luc Béliveau is a partner at Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP. He specializes in the areas of restructuring and banking law. Béliveau regularly represents borrowers, lenders, investors, creditors, receivers and trustees. He defends the interests of clients in restructurings, liquidations, recapitalizations, realizations of security interests and asset recoveries. Béliveau sits on the boards of several private corporations and also serves on the Superior Court Liaison Committee, for both the civil and commercial divisions.

Sébastien Guy
Law firm: Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP
Year called to the bar: 1998
City: Montréal

Sébastien Guy is a partner at Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP. He is an experienced insolvency lawyer who advises clients on all aspects of commercial reorganizations, workout arrangements, receiverships and other enforcement of security. Guy also advises debtor companies, secured and unsecured creditors, purchasers of distressed assets, monitors and trustees and other parties affected by business insolvency issues. He also practises commercial litigation, with an emphasis on corporate and securities litigation, namely corporate arrangements and oppression remedy and complex project finance litigation.

Christian Lachance
Law firm: Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP
Year called to the bar: 2005
City: Montréal

Christian Lachance serves a partner at Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP, where he is a member of the dispute resolution practice and coordinator of the Montréal office’s financial restructuring and insolvency practice. Lachance specializes in financial restructuring and insolvency litigation and corporate and commercial litigation. He advises trustees, receivers, lenders and retailers on some of Canada’s most complex and intricate restructuring cases. He regularly works with companies in difficult financial circumstances. Lachance is the president of the liaison committee of the Superior Court, Commercial Chamber of the Barreau de Montréal. He has also been lecturing at the University of Sherbrooke and McGill University law faculties on bankruptcy and insolvency law since 2013. Lachance is a member of the emerging issues and law reform committee of the Insolvency Institute of Canada.

Jocelyn Perreault
Law firm: McCarthy Tétrault LLP
Year called to the bar: 2007
City: Montréal

Jocelyn Perreault is a partner at McCarthy Tétrault LLP and a member of its bankruptcy and restructuring group in Montréal. His practice involves advising clients on insolvency or potential insolvency matters. He also represents clients in informal workouts, formal restructurings under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act or the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, receiverships, bankruptcies or litigation matters involving insolvency questions. Perreault has represented debtor companies, secured creditors, unsecured creditors, creditor groups, monitors, trustees, receivers, purchasers and investors. He also has appeared in front of first instance and appellate courts in Canada and in France as part of a French insolvency proceeding involving a Canadian client. Perreault has been involved in special mandates for the World Bank consisting of the review of insolvency and creditors’ rights regimes in foreign jurisdictions. He has also been a course lecturer at the Desautels Faculty of Management of McGill University since 2002. Perreault is a certified professional accountant (CPA, CMA) and a member of the Ordre des comptables professionnels agréés du Québec.

Joseph Reynaud
Law firm: Stikeman Elliott LLP
Year called to the bar: 2008 (New York); 2008 (QC)
City: Montréal

Joseph Reynaud is a partner at Stikeman Elliott LLP’s litigation and dispute resolution group. He devotes his practice to restructuring, insolvency and commercial litigation. Reynaud regularly advises and represents debtors, secured lenders, court-appointed officers and purchasers in proceedings under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangements Act and the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act. He is involved in Québec-based, national and cross-border proceedings and has appeared before all levels of courts, including the Supreme Court of Canada. Reynaud has also participated in large-scale restructurings, liquidations, distressed asset sales and the litigation or arbitration of major commercial disputes in several industries, including airlines and aircraft financing, banking, construction, equipment financing, energy, forest products, gaming, hydroelectricity, information technology, manufacturing, real estate and retail. His expertise in dispute resolution and insolvency also leads him to provide strategic advice to clients in commercial transactions.

Sylvain Rigaud
Law firm: Woods LLP
Year called to the Bar: 1990
City: Montréal

Sylvain Rigaud is a partner at Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP. He is highly skilled in commercial insolvency and restructuring matters. Rigaud advises insolvent companies in formal and informal restructurings. He also advises financial institutions, lessors, bondholders, strategic purchasers, trustees, receivers and monitors. Rigaud advises clients regularly on matters ranging from litigation to corporate reorganizations, asset sales and financing. He also speaks regularly on insolvency topics and is a member of the Insolvency Institute of Canada.

Christian B. Roy
Law firm: Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP
Year called to the bar: 1992
City: Québec City

Christian B. Roy is a senior partner at Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP and the local chair of its litigation group in Québec City. He devotes his practice to corporate restructuring, bankruptcy, insolvency and realization of bank guarantees. Roy’s services are often retained by companies with restructuring needs and by court-appointed officers, financial institutions, secured and unsecured creditors and purchasers of assets from distressed companies. He has acted for several financial institutions and companies in connection with informal workouts and debtor-in-possession financings. Roy has participated in major restructurings and receiverships in a broad range of industries, including construction, manufacturing, sawmills, pulp and paper, technology, media, pharmaceutical, mining, retail and real estate. He also acts in cases involving liability of directors and officers.

Alain N. Tardif
Law firm: McCarthy Tétrault LLP
Year called to bar: 1992
City: Montréal

Alain N. Tardif is a partner at McCarthy Tétrault LLP’s Montréal office. He devotes his practice to restructuring and insolvency matters. Tardif has acted in a significant number of restructurings and reorganizations and has advised various corporations, investors, financial advisors, lenders, trustees, monitors and receivers. He frequently assists the World Bank as an insolvency law expert and has participated recently in missions in various countries in the Caribbean and Africa. Tardif lectures at the Université de Montréal Faculty of Law on commercial restructuring. He is a member of the Insolvency Institute of Canada, American Bankruptcy Institute and INSOL International. Tardif previously sat on the committee for the accreditation of bankruptcy trustees and has been president of the Canadian Bar Association bankruptcy and insolvency division in Québec chapter. He speaks frequently at various organizations about insolvency issues and about restructuring strategies tailored to the firm’s clients.

Lawyer(s)

Sandra Abitan Marc Duchesne Denis Ferland Jean Fontaine Guy P. Martel Alain Riendeau Luc Béliveau Sébastien Guy Christian Lachance Jocelyn Perreault Joseph Reynaud Sylvain Rigaud Christian B. Roy Alain N. Tardif

Firm(s)

Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP Borden Ladner Gervais LLP (BLG) Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP McCarthy Tétrault LLP Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP Stikeman Elliott LLP