Alex Dobrota is a partner at Woods LLP whose practice focuses on complex commercial cases, cross-border disputes, insolvency matters (domestic and international) and international arbitration. He has extensive experience pleading before all levels of Quebec courts and participating in commercial arbitrations with strategic and/or reputational risks for Canadian and foreign companies in the province of Quebec. He has successfully represented clients in the context of litigations arising from shareholder disputes, construction and mining projects, international sale of goods and service agreements, product liability and defamation.
Alex is recognised as a leading litigator in several legal directories. In addition, he was listed in the 2020 Benchmark 40 & Under List and won the Young Bar Association of Montreal’s Lawyer of the Year Award in Civil and Commercial Litigation and in 2021 Lexpert’s Rising Star Award. Alex’s publications and reference works - including a chapter in Halsbury’s Laws of Canada on bankruptcy assets and order of distribution - are widely cited by the courts. A McGill University graduate, he maintains strong ties with his alma mater as a lecturer and guest lecturer in several courses, notably the Civil Litigation Workshop.
Prior to practicing law, he wrote for a national newspaper as a parliamentary and foreign correspondent.
Representative cases include:
- Acted for the bondholders of Nemaska Lithium Inc., which had issued US$350M of secured bonds. The company filed arrangement proceedings under the CBCA and then under the CCAA. A settlement was reached whereby the bondholders received the face amount of the bonds plus accrued interest and a lump sum payment.
- Acted for the court-appointed monitor in the cross-border insolvency restructuring proceedings relative to Montreal Main & Atlantic Railway’s train derailment resulting in thousands of claims in excess of $ 1B.
- Obtained a settlement for an automobile parts manufacturer in a $55M class action for unfair competition and price-fixing.
- Successfully represented pop artist Justin Bieber before the Superior Court of Québec, in the context of an international arbitration-related dispute with an event promoter.
- Acted for a multinational mining company and obtained an interlocutory injunction against an Alberta-based service provider and a $1.2M award in damages on the merits.
- Acts for a multinational mining company in the context of a claim in excess of $10M brought against service and equipment providers.
- Successfully defended a professional liability suit against Lippman Leebosh April LLP and obtained the dismissal of the claim brought against the auditors in the context of a corporate take-over transaction.
- Assistant to the Tribunal (ICSID) in InfraRed Environmental Infrastructure GP Ltd. et al. v. Kingdom of Spain.
- Assistant to the Tribunal (ICDR) in an oil and gas multi-million-dollar arbitration dispute.
- Acts for Rothmans, Benson & Hedges Inc. in defense of a $60B claim by the Government of Quebec against various tobacco manufacturers.
Updated March 2023
