This section keeps you up-to-date on the latest news and upcoming public appearances of Lavery professionals.
News
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Lexpert Recognizes Three Partners as Leading Technology and Health Lawyers in Canada
On June 17, 2024, Lexpert recognized the expertise of three of our partners in its 2024 Lexpert Special Edition: Technology and Health. Chantal Desjardins, Isabelle Jomphe, Béatrice T Ngatcha, Selena Lu and André Vautour now rank among Canada’s leaders in the area of Technology and Health. Chantal Desjardins is a partner, lawyer and trade-mark agent in Lavery’s intellectual property group. She contributes actively to the development of her clients’ rights in this field, which includes the protection of trademarks, industrial designs, copyright, trade secrets, domain names and other related forms of intellectual property, in order to promote her clients’ business goals. Isabelle Jomphe is a partner, lawyer and trade-mark agent in Lavery’s intellectual property group. Ms. Jomphe’s expertise includes trademark, industrial design, copyright, domain names, trade secrets, technology transfers, as well as advertising law, labelling and Charter for the French Language regulations. She is known for providing strategic and practical advice in all aspects of IP law, with an emphasis in the field of trademarks. She advises clients in trade-mark clearance searches, filing strategies, opposition proceedings and litigation in Canada and abroad. Béatrice T Ngatcha is a lawyer and patent agent in Lavery’s intellectual property group. She is a patent agent registered to practice in Canada and the United States. She is also a lawyer called to the Ontario Bar and a member of the Quebec Bar (c.j.c). Béatrice holds a doctoral degree in chemistry from Université Laval and has been a post-doctoral fellow at the National Research Council in Ottawa. In addition to a busy patent prosecution practice serving Canadian and foreign clients, Beatrice’s expertise in sought in the areas of intellectual property litigation, trade secrets, due diligence, strategy, portfolio value building, licensing and arbitration. Selena Lu is a partner in the Business Law group and focuses her practice on mergers and acquisitions. She frequently advises clients abroad on commercial law matters relating to investment and expansion in Canada. Over the years, Selena has developed an interest and acquired significant experience in supporting customers in their technological change. On a day-to-day basis, she advises clients on the legal impacts of the introduction of new technologies. Moreover, she oversees the development of the structure and negotiation of mergers and acquisitions along with complex business relationships for developing, marketing and acquiring technologies. André Vautour practices in the fields of corporate and commercial law and is particularly interested in corporate governance, strategic alliances, joint ventures, investment funds and mergers and acquisitions of private corporations. He practises in the field of technology law (drafting technology development and transfer agreements, licensing agreements, distribution agreements, outsourcing agreements, and e-commerce agreements). About Lavery Lavery is the leading independent law firm in Quebec. Its more than 200 professionals, based in Montréal, Quebec, Sherbrooke and Trois-Rivières, work every day to offer a full range of legal services to organizations doing business in Quebec. Recognized by the most prestigious legal directories, Lavery professionals are at the heart of what is happening in the business world and are actively involved in their communities. The firm's expertise is frequently sought after by numerous national and international partners to provide support in cases under Quebec jurisdiction.
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Lavery is developing its own generative AI tool
Lavery, the leading independent law firm in Quebec, is developing its own interface whereby all its members will be able to access different versions of ChatGPTTM, the conversational agent developed by OpenAITM. Becoming familiar and having a good understanding of how this type of tool works is essential for the firm, its members, and its clients. Staying on the cutting edge of AI developments and evolving legal services With the creation of this personalized interface, Lavery is building on its cutting-edge position in the areas of AI and legal services with an emphasis on innovation and security. Integrating the interface, which was developed by the members of Lavery’s Legal Laboratory on Artificial Intelligence (L3AI) in association with IT engineers from the firm’s Intellectual Property team and the members of its IT group, signals Lavery’s desire to be a leader in the adoption of new technologies. In a rapidly evolving industry, Lavery is adopting this technology so its members can learn how to use it and eventually incorporate it into their professional practice. As adapted for Lavery, the tool offers a secure environment and will provide the firm’s members with a practical and powerful hands-on experience. Secure and evolving interface Developing a personalized interface and putting in place a strict framework for the internal use of generative AI means that this technology can be used securely and effectively within the firm while fostering the development of skills that users will need. The conditions of use that Lavery has laid out are not only simple and clear, but also rigorous. The firm’s members will be taking part in various training activities. Dedicated to the firm’s users, the application programming interface (API) logs requests submitted as well as the conversational agent’s responses. Over time, this data will be used to adjust the tool’s behaviour with a view to boosting security, accuracy and performance. “By developing our own platform, we will have access to a personalized product that is specifically designed to meet our needs and offers improved risk management and opportunities to perfect the interface,” said Benoit Yelle, Lavery partner and patent agent. Harnessing Lavery’s client service expertise “We would like to gain familiarity with conversational agents so we can better advise clients who wish to implement this type of business technology on the relevant issues, risks and benefits,” said Anik Trudel, Lavery’s Chief Executive Officer. “The firm’s decision to build its own interface while managing the risks associated with the use of generative AI is a prime example of one of our core values—entrepreneurship—and attests to the fact that our members put this value into practice in their day-to-day lives.” About Lavery Lavery is the leading independent law firm in Quebec. Its more than 200 professionals, based in Montréal, Quebec, Sherbrooke and Trois-Rivières, work every day to offer a full range of legal services to organizations doing business in Quebec. Recognized by the most prestigious legal directories, Lavery professionals are at the heart of what is happening in the business world and are actively involved in their communities. The firm’s expertise is frequently sought after by numerous national and international partners to provide support in cases under Quebec jurisdiction.
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Lavery assists Agendrix in obtaining two ISO certifications for data security and privacy
On February 6, 2023, Agendrix, a workforce management software company, announced that it had achieved certification in two globally recognized data security and privacy standards, ISO/IEC 27001:2013 and ISO/IEC 27701:2019. This made it one of the first staff scheduling and time clock software providers in Canada to obtain these certifications. The company is proactively engaging in all matters related to the security and confidentiality of the data processed by its web and mobile applications. The ISO/IEC 27001:2013 standard is aimed at improving information security systems. For Agendrix’s customers, that means its products comply with the highest information security standards. ISO/IEC 27701:2019 provides a framework for the management and handling of personal information and sensitive data. This certification confirms that Agendrix follows best practices and complies with applicable laws. A Lavery team composed of Eric Lavallée, Dave Bouchard, Ghiles Helli and Catherine Voyer supported Agendrix in obtaining these two certifications. More specifically, our professionals assisted Agendrix in the review of their standard contract with their customers, as well as in the implementation of policies and various internal documents essential to the management of personal information and information security. Agendrix was founded in 2015, and the Sherbrooke-based company now has over 150,000 users in some 13,000 workplaces. Its personnel management software is a leader in Quebec in the field of work schedule management for small and medium-sized businesses. Agendrix’s mission is to make management more human-centred by developing software that simplifies the lives of front-line employees. Today, the company employs more than 45 people.
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Lavery helps NorthStar to close an investment round worth approximately CA$ 47 million
On December 23, 2022, NorthStar Earth & Space Inc. closed a Series C investment round worth approximately CA$ 47 million, with Cartesian Capital Group, LLC, as lead investor through its fund, Pangaea Three Acquisition Holdings III, LLC, Telesystem Space Inc., Luxembourg Future Fund – Co-Investments SA, the Québec Government through its mandatary Investissement Québec, and the Luxembourg Space Sector Development SCSp funded by the world’s leading connectivity solutions provider, SES, and the Luxembourg Government. With this investment, NorthStar will be able to fully finance its Space Situational Awareness (SSA) development project and the launch of its first three monitoring satellites scheduled for mid-2023. Lavery was privileged to represent NorthStar in this important mandate. Our partner, Ms. France Camille De Mers, led the transaction with the support of Mr. Philippe Brassard and Ms. Pamela Cifola, in particular. Our partners Mr. Ali El Haskouri and Mr. André Vautour also helped make the transaction a success. — NorthStar Earth & Space Inc. is the first commercial enterprise to monitor all near-Earth orbits from space and combine data from a variety of ground-based sensors to provide more extensive coverage. Its suite of high-speed information services accurately tracks and predicts the position of space objects to enable safety in spaceflight. With a head office in Montréal, Canada, European subsidiary in Luxembourg and an American subsidiary in McLean, Virginia, NorthStar is solving the ever-growing threat of space collisions, and, ultimately empowering humanity to preserve our planet.