Canadian Lawyer InHouse

MARCH 2017 24 INHOUSE 1) Lavery de Billy LLP lavery.ca Total lawyers: 181 Lawyers by offi ce: Montreal, 126; Quebec City, 24; Sherbrooke, 21; Trois-Rivières, 10 Core practice areas: business transactions/mergers and acquisitions; taxation; litigation and dispute resolution (commercial/restructuring, insolvency and banking/civil); labour and employment; fi nancing and fi nancial services Key clients/categories: Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.; National Bank of Canada; SigmaSanté Affi liations: World Services Group 2) Langlois lawyers LLP langlois.ca Total lawyers: 114 Lawyers by offi ce: Montreal, 62; Quebec City, 48; Lévis, 4 Core practice areas: litigation and arbitration; class actions; employment and labour law; insurance; corporate governance; real estate Key clients: Bombardier Aerospace; Fédération des caisses Desjardins du Québec; Intact Insurance; Maritime Employers Association; Nova Bus and Prévost, divisions of Volvo Group Canada; Professional Liability Insurance Fund of the Ordre des architectes du Québec 3) BCF LLP bcf.ca Total lawyers: 124 Lawyers by offi ce: Montreal, 83; Québec City, 39; Sept-Îles, 2. Total Notaries: 8 (2 partners) Total patent agents: 13 (5 partners) Core practice areas: mergers and acquisitions; domestic and international taxation; real estate; commercial litigation; intellectual property Key clients: n/a Affi liations: Meritas 4) Cain Lamarre LLP clcw.ca Total lawyers : 192 (plus 15 notaries) Lawyers by offi ce: Montreal, 36; Quebec City, 39; Saguenay, 37; Alma, 5; Roberval, 3; Saint-Félicien, 2; Sherbrooke, 9; Drummondville, 7; Plessisville, 1; Rimouski, 9; Rivière-du Loup, 8; Amqui, 1; Sept-Îles, 7; Val-d'Or, 15; Rouyn-Noranda, 6; Amos, 3; Saint-Georges, 3; Lac-Mégantic, 1 Core practice areas: commercial and corporate affairs; banking and fi nance; labour and employment law; native affairs; public administration (health and social services, The following are the top 10 Quebec regional fi rms as determined by Canadian Lawyer magazine REGIONAL REPORT REGIONAL REPOR Quebec and a mutual fund manager. "It is a very highly regulated environment. Regulatory work is and will always be a key focus of this department. It always seems the speed and evolution of regulatory renewal is constant," she says. Dibblee and her team do much of the reg- ulatory work themselves in-house, but they use external counsel and boutique fi rms for certain matters. A number of years ago, Dibblee says IA made the decision to move away from big fi rms and look at who the ex- perts are in the local jurisdictions and take a more boutique fi rm approach. Industrial Alliance continues to grow organically as well as through acquisitions and one area in which it is looking at new growth is via the United States. The provision of insurance products by digital delivery is also part of the strategic plan for development and growth at IA, says Dibblee. "The distribution of insurance is moving to the Internet [and] relationships are becoming more paperless with digital signa- tures, so we have to keep an eye on the un- derlying legal issues that may raise," she says. "I have asked the legal department to con- sider those issues over the coming months and years to make sure we're able to meet those needs and make sure we have the bench strength to make sure we know how we can provide support [so] when the busi- ness wants to do something in a new way we can support them in that regard." Boralex is another Quebec-based com- pany looking to expand in markets outside Canada. The renewable energy company develops, builds and operates renewable energy power facilities in Canada, France and the United States. "What we've been doing in Canada lately is transactional work with other companies," says Sylvain Aird, general counsel of Boralex Inc. "Not com- petitors, but mostly developer operators of existing projects. Some have involved mu- nicipalities in Ontario and Quebec. It's very diversifi ed in terms of the kind of deals we do. We basically follow legislation or regu- lation in the various jurisdictions in Cana- da, which are all different." The Boralex legal team consists of nine people — there is another vice president for North American affairs as well as junior lawyers and two paralegals. Boralex also works extensively with external counsel. continued on Page 29

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