Montreal-based boutique litigation firm Woods LLP demonstrates strength in insolvency, class action and commercial agreement disputes, as well as in corporate liability and governance disputes. Sylvain Rigaud, who leads the insolvency and restructuring group, heads the team, along with Richard Vachon and Marie-Louise Delisle, who is highly active on class action defence and professional liability matters, with a focus on telecommunications law, competition affairs and civil liability. Louis Seveno handles litigation and arbitration relating to construction and PPP disputes. Other key members include international arbitration specialist Stephen Drymer and Eric Bédard. Patrick Ouellet was appointed as a Judge of the Superior Court of Quebec for the district of Montréal in April 2023. Managing partner Caroline Biron departed the firm in August 2023.

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Key clients

Vidéotron / Quebecor
Energir
AECOM
Énergie Valero
Boiron
Champion Iron Mines
Glencore
Health Montreal Collective CVJ
UBS Securities Canada
Consonance Capital Management

Work highlights

Acted as counsel for Air India against recognition and enforcement proceedings related to an approximately $111m arbitral award rendered against the Republic of India pursuant to a bilateral investment treaty between the latter and Devas.
Represented Health Montréal Collective, as builder of a public-private partnership hospital project, in a number of disputes against the facility manager and the owner of the project, and also against consultants and suppliers.
Appointed by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice as representative counsel to Quebec unitholders of funds managed by Bridging Finance in a priority dispute in the context of an eventual distribution to creditors by the receiver appointed under the Securities Act in Ontario.