Canadian Lawyer

LAVERY DE BILLY (1) LAVERY.CA 1 Total Lawyers: 173 Lawyers by Office: Montreal, 146; Quebec City, 22; Ottawa, 5 Core Practice Areas: Business law; financing and financial servic- es; litigation and dispute resolution; labour and employ- ment law; environment, energy, and natural resources. Key Clients: Hydro-Québec, National Bank of Canada, SNC-Lavalin Group Inc., Caisse de dépôt et place- ment du Québec, Héroux Devteck Inc., Fiera Axium Quebec Court of Appeal; Justice Jacques Chamberland of the Quebec Court of Appeal; Sean Finn, executive vice president, corporate services and chief legal officer of Canadian National Railway; Donald McCarty, vice president, law, general counsel, and secretary of Imperial Tobacco Canada; Pamela McGovern, general counsel of Infrastructure. Notable Mandates: Acted for Industrial Alliance Insurance and Financial Services Inc. in the public offering of 4.75-per-cent fixed/floating subordinated debentures for gross proceeds of $250.1 million; negotiated a $2-billion agreement with the Quebec government for Hydro-Québec to obtain a 500 MW block of energy to allow for the expansion of phase III of Alouette Aluminium Smelter; assisted Stornoway Diamond Corp. in the development of agreements with the Government of Quebec concerning a 243-km extension of Highway 167 to connect the communities of Chibougamau and Mistissini with the Renard Diamond Project. Star Alumni: Justice Richard Wagner of the Quebec Court of Appeal, Justice Lorne Giroux of the Hydro-Québec. Affiliations: World Services Group The Firm: Lavery de Billy traces its roots to 1979, when Montreal firms O'Brien Smyth Guilbault Pryde Courtois and Lavery Johnston O'Donnell Clark Carrière Mason & Associés merged to become Lavery O'Brien. In 1991, the firm joined forces with Quebec City's Gagnon de Billy Cantin Beaudoin Lesage & Associés, adopting the moni- ker Lavery de Billy. More than 30 lawyers from the now defunct Desjardins Ducharme law firm joined Lavery in 2007, bulking up its business law and commercial litiga- tion groups. Voters singled out Lavery for its diversity of expertise and solid client base. "The approach they have with cli- ents is always personal and professional, " dent. For another, the firm's essential quality was its abil- ity to find "timely and cost-effective solutions that fully address the client's situation, without ever compromising excellence. LANGLOIS KRONSTRÖM DESJARDINS LLP (2) LKD.CA Total Lawyers: 93 Lawyers by Office: Quebec City, 50; Montreal, 43 Core Practice Areas: Civil and commercial litigation; class actions; labour and administrative law; public and private real estate law. Key Clients: Fédération des caisses Desjardins du Québec, Intact Compagnie d'assurance, Iron Ore Co. of Canada, Quebec's Provincial Court Judges' Star Alumni: Former Quebec chief justice Michel Robert; Chief Justice Pierre Blais of the Federal Court of Appeal; former Quebec Court of Appeal justices René Dussault and Paul-Arthur Gendreau; Justice Bernard Godbout of the Quebec Superior Association, TELUS Communications Co., WestJet. Notable Mandates: Currently acting for Desjardins in various class actions instituted by credit card hold- ers over the establishment of certain fees and the legality of revolving credit agreements, as well as class actions in B.C. and Ontario over competition complaints by merchants; successfully represented mining firm Canadian Royalties Inc. in a dispute with a joint venture partner in a Plan Nord project at the Quebec Court of Appeal; represented Bastien Estate in its successful appeal at the Supreme Court of Canada in a landmark decision on aboriginal law and taxation. 38 M AY 2012 www. CANADIAN Lawyermag.com Court. Affiliations: IT law network Lexing The Firm: Established following the 2003 merger of Kronström Desjardins in Quebec City and Lévis, and Langlois Gaudreau in Montreal and Quebec City. Langlois Gaudreau dated back to 1916 as the firm of William Morin, who partnered with Léopold Langlois in 1957. Kronström Desjardins, as it became known in 1992, was founded in Lévis in 1936 by Roger Kronström. The firm shuttered its Lévis office in 2010. Voters were impressed by the quality of the firm's mandates, as well as the depth of legal expertise. "Superior quality standards," said one voter, while the "high quality of young partners involved in high profile/complex matters," impressed another. 2 " said one respon-

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