Senior Associate

Maude Lafortune-Bélair is a member of the Litigation group and practises in the fields of civil liability, product liability, professional liability, directors’ and officers’ liability, as well as damage insurance.

Education

• LL.B., Université de Montréal, 2007

Significant Accomplishments

In her product liability practice, Ms. Lafortune-Bélair acts as defense counsel for manufacturers, suppliers, and vendors, either directly or through their insurers. She also advises clients on strategic and risk management issues.

Ms. Lafortune-Bélair has handled numerous files involving vexatious litigants.

Ms. Lafortune-Bélair has given lectures on various subjects related to insurance law, product liability and litigation.

During her university studies, Ms. Lafortune-Bélair made the Dean's Honours list of the faculty of law of the Université de Montréal.

Representative mandates

• Represent manufacturers in proceedings in which design or manufacturing defects are alleged
• Represent the interests of manufacturers in the implementation and management of recalls
• Represent manufacturers in coroner's inquests
• Represent an excess insurer in a long-term trial involving various technical issues and more than 750 claimants
• Represent insurers in an important insurance litigation on the determination of the law applicable to insurance policies with respect to claims totalling over $1.5 billion
• Represent professionals, including hospitals and brokers, in civil courts and coroner's inquests

Publications

• Prescription extinctive, JurisClasseur Québec – Droit civil collection, Preuve et Procédure, fasc. 22, Montréal, LexisNexis, Canada
• La Loi canadienne sur la sécurité des produits de consommation: Êtes-vous prêts?, Revue industrie & commerce, September 2011
• The Canada Consumer Product Safety Act: Are you Ready?, Need to Know , Lavery, de Billy, June 2011
• Immunité relative, irrecevabilité et quérulence: Est-il suffisant d'alléguer la mauvaise foi?, Droit de savoir, Lavery, de Billy, Marie-Andrée Gagnon and Maude Lafortune-Bélair, March 2010

Professional Associations
Canadian Bar Association
Young Bar Association of Montreal
Montreal Association of Insurance Women

La Loi canadienne sur la sécurité des produits de consommation : « Êtes-vous prêts ?, Revue industrie et commerce, September 2011
The Canada Consumer Product Safety Act: “Are you Ready”, In Fact and in Law, Lavery, de Billy, June 2011
Immunité relative, irrecevabilité et quérulence : « Est-il suffisant d’alléguer la mauvaise foi? », Droit de savoir, Lavery, de Billy, Me Marie-Andrée Gagnon et Me Maude Lafortune-Bélair, mars 2010