Lavery graduates make their mark

Throughout the practice’s history, Lavery’s offices in Montréal and Québec City, and since 2014, in Sherbrooke and Trois-Rivières, have seen a procession of lawyers make outstanding contributions to the firm’s development and reputation before taking on new challenges, such as joining a major company or being appointed to the bench.

Richard Wagner
Richard Wagner
Chief Justice of Canada
Jacques Chamberland
Jacques Chamberland
Justice of the Court of Appeal

A seedbed of judges

In the legal community, Lavery is considered “a seedbed of judges”, since the 20th century saw the firm recruiting and training a large number of trial lawyers who would later be appointed to the bench. They include Richard Wagner, who was appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada in 2012, and then Chief Justice of Canada in 2017, and Jacques Chamberland, who was appointed to the Court of Appeal in 1993.

Here are some other influential lawyers in the firm’s history who have been appointed to the bench.

Marie-Claude Armstrong, Judge of the Superior Court of Québec

Anthime Bergeron, Justice of the Superior Court of Québec, District of Montréal

Patrick Buchholz, Judge of the Superior Court of Québec, District of Montréal

Michel A. Caron, Justice of the Superior Court of Québec, District of Terrebonne

Paul P. Carrière, Justice of the Superior Court of Québec, District of Montréal

René W. Dionne, Justice and Associate Chief Justice of the Superior Court of Québec

Christian Drolet, administrative judge at the Commission des relations du travail

François P. Duprat, Justice of the Superior Court of Québec, District of Montréal

Joseph Honoré Gérald Fauteux, Justice and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada

Jocelyne Gagné, Justice of the Federal Court

Claude Gagnon, Justice of the Court of Appeal of Québec

Pierre-C. Gagnon, Justice of the Superior Court of Québec, District of Montréal

Marie Gaudreau, Justice of the Superior Court of Québec, District of Montréal

Lorne Giroux, Justice of the Court of Appeal of Québec

Jean-François de Grandpré, Justice of the Superior Court of Québec, District of Montréal

Jean Guibault, Justice of the Superior Court of Québec, District of Montréal

Hélène Langlois, Justice of the Superior Court of Québec, District of Beauharnois

Marc Lesage, Justice of the Superior Court of Québec, District of Québec

Allan Lutfy, Justice and Chief Justice of the Federal Court

Geneviève Marcotte, Justice of the Court of Appeal of Québec

Édouard Martin, Justice of the Superior Court of Québec, District of Québec

Jean-François Michaud, Justice of the Superior Court of Québec, District of Terrebonne

Élise Poisson, Justice of the Superior Court of Québec, District of Montréal

Sylvain Provencher, Justice of the Superior Court of Québec, District of Bedford

Luc Thibaudeau, judge in the Civil Division of the Court of Québec, District of Longueuil

Julie Veilleux, judge at the Court of Québec and Vice-President of the Tribunal des professions

Dominique Vézina, judge at the Court of Québec

Claude Villeneuve, Justice of the Superior Court of Québec, District of Bedford

Michel Yergeau, Justice of the Superior Court of Québec, District of Montréal

From private practice to big business

Throughout our history, some of our lawyers have chosen to join major public or private companies. Their legal skills, knowledge of the business world and thorough understanding of the company’s sector make them prime candidates.

Here are some former Lavery lawyers who are now working in the business world.

François Charette, Vice-President for Legal Affairs and Secretary-General, Commission de la construction du Québec

Marc Dagenais, Vice President, Legal Affairs & Corporate Secretary, Nemaska Lithium

Caroline Ferland, Vice-President, Corporate and Regulatory Affairs, Imperial Tobacco Canada

Sean Finn, Executive Vice-President, Corporate Services and Chief Legal Officer, CN

Stéphane Garon, Director, Legal Services, Société des alcools du Québec

Isabelle Gosselin, Associate General Counsel, Labatt Brewing Company

Hélène Lauzon, President, Conseil patronal de l’environnement du Québec

François Lavallée, Senior Vice-President, Legal Affairs, Financial Markets and Wealth Management, National Bank Financial

Denis Michaud, Vice-President of the Commission municipale du Québec

Janet K. Oh, Legal Counsel, SNC-Lavalin

Anne-Marie Papineau, Senior Legal Counsel, Cirque du Soleil

Catherine Papineau, Director, Legal Affairs, Cascades Tissue Group