Managing partner at Woods LLP, Caroline Biron has been practicing in the field of commercial and corporate litigation since her admission to the Quebec Bar in 1992. She has pleaded before the Supreme Court of Canada, the Superior Court, the Court of Appeal, and the Federal Court, as well as several administrative tribunals. She has also participated in numerous arbitrations. As a litigator she has experience with almost every type of civil claim, across a broad range of industries, including financial services, insurance, investment funds, media, telecommunications, technology, medical, pharmaceuticals, consumer products, real estate, transportation, travel retail, publishing, and professional consulting and accounting.
Caroline has successfully represented Canadian, American and European public and private companies as well as their officers, directors, shareholders and auditors in the context of complex litigation arising out of complex commercial agreements, breach of contract, false advertising and false representations, fraud and cybersecurity breaches, shareholders’ disputes, executive terminations, mergers and acquisitions, professional liability and insurance issues. She regularly provides advice to private corporations and their boards on a number of issues relating to their governance. Caroline also has significant and varied experience in defending against class action proceedings involving product liability, false advertising, competition law, intellectual property, and the manipulation of financial instruments.
For the third year in a row, Benchmark named Caroline one of the Top 50 Women in Litigation in Canada. She is highly regarded both among her peers and clients and is recognized in several reputable legal directories. In 2021, she has been inducted as a Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America.
Representative cases include:
- Successfully defending before the Supreme Court of Canada the dismissal of a $55M claim against an accounting firm by a trust for damages following the bankruptcy of a holding company of which the trust was the sole shareholder. (Brunette v. Legault Joly Thiffault, s.e.n.c.r.l., 2018 SCC 55).
- Successfully obtaining (in arbitration, homologated by the Superior Court) the annulment of an asset purchase agreement, including over $13M in damages, for fraudulent misrepresentations (Hachette Distribution Services (Canada) inc. v. 2295822 Canada inc., 2018 SCQ 1213).
- Legal counsel for several officers of public issuers in the context of inquiries carried out by the AMF or the OSC.
- Represented the former Director and Chief Curator of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Nathalie Bondil, in a lawsuit against her former employer for $2 million.
- Legal counsel for the majority shareholder of a corporation in litigation following a hostile takeover by another corporation.
- Legal counsel for a group of minority shareholders in the context of the privatization of a public corporation.
- Legal counsel for a provincial crown corporation, Loto-Québec, in the defence of a class action claim relating to online lottery.
- Legal counsel for several Canadian and European corporations in class actions involving allegations such as collusion and price-fixing.
Updated March 2023
