Borden Ladner Gervais’ Montréal office is home to a team dedicated to work that has been recognized as some of the firm’s key calling cards, such as construction, insurance and labor and employment. The latter practice is particularly deep in Montréal. Justine Laurier is the regional manager for this practice and has been particularly visible as one of its top advocates. Laurier triumphed on behalf of Lightspeed Commerce in May 2024, when the Superior Court of Montréal ruled in the client’s favor in a dispute concerning compensation being sought be a senior executive of the company who allegedly suffered losses in options and equity during his termination period.
Karine Chênevert continues to garner acclaim for her practice that balances a diverse array of class-action matters.
The Montréal office lays claim to a particularly high-profile and multifaceted win in an investor-state arbitral award dispute for shareholders in private India-based entity Devas, who in November 2021, initiated recognition and enforcement proceedings of two such awards mandating the Republic of India to pay over US$110 million before the Superior Court of Quebec. Because of India’s failure to honor the obligations of this award, Devas successfully seized Montréal-based assets valued at US$37.5 million. The case wound its way through a serpentine path of several court proceedings and decisions, before three appeals were heard at the Quebec Court of Appeal in December 2023. A year later, this Court issued a landmark decision in favor of the Devas investors. The case was led by Montréal luminary Mathieu Piché Messier, who remained involved until his judicial appointment in September 2024, after which Montréal future star
Karine Fahmy and Toronto’s Ira Nishisato, a commercial litigator with a noted niche in injunctions, asset freezes and other extraordinary remedies, commandeered the proceedings. “If this isn’t the biggest case in Montréal at the moment, it’s certainly in the Top Three,” ventures one local peer, echoing the sentiment of others.