Michel Robert

Expertise

Aboriginal Law

• Indian Act
• Negotiation of Global Territorial Claims
• Negotiation of Overlap Agreements
• Negotiation of Socio-Economic Agreements

Administrative Law

Bankrupty, Insolvency and Restructuring

• Enforcement of Security
• Financing and taking of security in Insolvency Matters (DIP)
• Formal or Informal Reorganizations
• Legal Counsel to Creditors, Debtors and Insolvency Professionals
• Plans of Arrangement Under Corporate Laws
• Procedures and Recourses Under the Insolvency Legislation

Labour and Employment Law

• Labour Law
• Negociation of Collective Agreements
• Occupational Health and Safety
• Pension Plans and Benefits

Litigation

• Banking Litigation
• Civil and Commercial Litigation
• Construction Litigation
• Crisis Management and Media Law
• Environment Litigation
• Insolvency
• Intellectual Property Litigation
• International Arbitration
• Mediation
• Real Estate Assessment and Expropriation Litigation
• Shareholder's Disputes
• Tax Litigation

Strategic Teams

• Aboriginal Law
• Bankruptcy, Insolvency and Restructuring
• Commercial Litigation
• Labour and Employment
• Natural Resources

Professional background

Michel Robert has had a long and hugely successful legal career that includes 33 years of private practice in labour law, administrative law, commercial litigation, and restructuring. Admitted to the Bar in 1962, he is a founding member of the firm Langlois Robert, of which he was managing partner from 1990 to 1995. He was appointed to the Québec Court of Appeal in 1995, then as Chief Justice of Quebec and of the Court of Appeal in 2002. Until 2011, he held the highest judiciary position in Quebec. He was Vice-President of the Canadian Judicial Council from 2009 to 2011.

His numerous accomplishments include his involvement as counsel for the Government of Canada during the 1980 constitutional negotiations leading to repatriation of the Constitution of Canada. He was also Senior Counsel to the Government of Canada before the Keable Commission and the McDonald Commission. The McDonald Commission Report led to the creation of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and the Security Intelligence Review Committee, a committee on which he subsequently sat as a member of the Privy Council. He was a member of the Royal Commission on Economic Union and Development Prospects for Canada (MacDonald Commission), which held public hearings in 22 cities and presented its report in 1985. The implementation of the report's recommendations led to the free trade agreement between Canada and the United States and Mexico.

As a Court of Appeal justice, he wrote some 3,600 opinions. He has authored numerous publications and is involved in several professional associations, including the Barreau du Québec, of which he was President from 1974 to 1975. Michel Robert has two honorary doctorates and is the recipient of a number of other awards and distinctions. He is also a Fellow of the prestigious American College of Trial Lawyers.

Publications

• Various journal article, course packs and case of jurisprudence.

Professional affiliations

• Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers.
• President of the Barreau du Québec
• President of the Federation of Law Societies of Canada
• Member of Privy Council
• Queen's counsel

Representative work

He was involved in a number of important Court of Appeal decisions in public law, constitutional law, and fundamental rights, including the following:

• Hôpital général de Lachine (ministerial discretion)
• Vigi Santé (standard of review applicable to judicial review)
• Louise Gosselin (age discrimination with regard to income security)
• Mount Sinai (promissory estoppel and legitimate expectation).
• Vigeant v. Syndicat de professionnelles et professionnels du gouvernement du Québec (judicial review)
• Canadian Broadcasting Corp. v. Quebec (Attorney General) (freedom of the press)
• Quebec (Attorney General) v. Conférence des juges du Québec (judicial independence and remuneration)
• Quebec (Attorney General) v. Canada (Attorney General), reference re Bill C-7, the Youth Criminal Justice Act
• Communauté urbaine de Montréal v. Commission des droits de la personne (discriminatory hiring process involving a female applicant for the position of police officer)
• Finney v. Barreau du Québec (damages resulting from negligence in failure to take action with regard to disciplinary offenses)
• Denver-Lambert v. Q. (language rights of the accused)
• Jehovah's Witnesses v. Lafontaine (Village) (freedom of religion and municipal zoning by-laws) action with regard to disciplinary offenses)
• Reference re the constitutional jurisdiction of the Government of Canada with regard to securities regulation.

Current affairs

• News > Annual Fall Dinner of the ADDUM September 21st, 2012
• News > The Reform of Civil Procedure in Quebec: towards faster and more accessible justice April 26th, 2012
• News > Seminar on Access to Justice April 26th, 2012