Partner and Certified mediator (Barreau du Québec and IMAQ)

Yanick Vlasak is a partner and a member of Lavery’s Business law group and its specialized Restructuring, insolvency, and banking law group. He is also one of the two partners responsible for business development in the firm’s litigation sector.

Education

• LL.B., Université de Sherbrooke, 1995

Mr. Vlasak’s practice is focused on commercial litigation, financing, banking law, insolvency, and financial restructuring. He also has expertise in construction law, shareholder disputes and arrangements, and asset protection measures.

Mr. Vlasak has completed various commercial financings including conventional asset-based lending, lending and equity arrangements, motor vehicle dealer floor plans, tax credit financing, leasing, and temporary DIP financing. He has represented HSBC Bank Canada, the Business Development Bank of Canada, Desjardins Venture Capital (Desjardins Business - Capital régional et coopératif), the Capital Croissance PME and Capital Régional Coopératif Desjardins funds, Desjardins Business Centres, the Fonds régional de solidarité FTQ and private lenders. He has also negotiated multiple interlender agreements with Investissement Québec and the Alter-Invest Fund, factoring contracts with Century Services, Brome Financial Corporation, and Finaccès Capital and various financing contracts with manufacturers and suppliers such as Western Star Trucks, Freightliner Canada, BMR, Métro-Richelieu, and Rona.

Mr. Vlasak regularly advises and represents the special credit and risk management departments of HSBC Bank Canada, the Laurentian Bank of Canada, and the Collection and recovery department of Mouvement Desjardins in various restructuring, insolvency, and recovery matters requiring a knowledge of accounting principles and fraud-detection skills.

Mr. Vlasak regularly represents trustees and creditors in bankruptcy and proposal matters. He has also successfully led and managed financial reorganizations involving provincial, national, and international jurisdiction issues with assets and creditors from other Canadian provinces, the United States, Mexico, China, and Europe.

Mr. Vlasak has also represented groups of investors in civil proceedings, bankruptcy proceedings, and related administrative and statutory remedies against financial advisors, dealers, and issuers using various financial fraud schemes.

Mr. Vlasak has also successfully represented parties involved in litigation related to major institutional and commercial construction projects such as the Clinical Research Center of the CHUS, the Embassy of the United States in Ottawa, and large recycling facilities in Laval, Boston, and Philadelphia.

Mr. Vlasak has successfully advised and represented exporting manufacturers in actions for injunctions and damages, including the granting of an Anton Piller order, related to unfair trading, counterfeiting, and intellectual property infringement at the national and international levels.

Finally, Mr. Vlasak has represented taxpayers being audited, introduced asset protection measures, and resolved estate litigations involving international jurisdiction issues between Canada, the United States, Bermuda, Switzerland, and the British Virgin Islands.

With his expertise and experience in financing, insolvency, and securities as well as his multidisciplinary approach, Mr. Vlasak offers his business clients in-depth knowledge to help them efficiently resolve complex financial and commercial disputes. He is recognized as a highly-skilled legal advisor and a pragmatic strategist. He focuses his efforts and energies on resolving conflicts to achieve tangible results as quickly as possible for the benefit of his clients.

Mr. Vlasak has also demonstrated his ability to appoint, coordinate and work in conjunction with other attorneys acting simultaneously in different jurisdictions to perfect security interests, perform efficient asset realizations, and direct the resolution of multijurisdictional disputes.

Mr. Vlasak graduated from Université de Sherbrooke’s Faculty of law in 1995 and was called to the Québec Bar in 1996.

Mr. Vlasak articled at the Court of Appeal of Québec for the Honourable Michel Proulx, J.C.A., in 1996 and 1997 and participated in the initial writing of his book Ethics and Canadian Criminal Law.

Mr. Vlasak has been a member of both the Bankruptcy, insolvency and restructuring law and the Construction law sections, Québec Branch, of the Canadian Bar Association since 1999.

Mr. Vlasak has taught business law in Université de Sherbrooke’s Faculty of administration and in Cascades Inc.’s Executive Master of Business Administration program.

Mr. Vlasak has been invited on various occasions to act as judge in the Mock trial program and the Advocacy skills seminar offered by Université de Sherbrooke’s Faculty of law.

Finally, in 2011, Mr. Vlasak was one of the nominees for the Lexpert Rising Stars: Leading Lawyers Under 40 award.

• Best Lawyers 2018
• Best Lawyers 2019
• Best Lawyers 2020
• Best Lawyers 2021
• 2021 CLLD
• Best Lawyers 2022
• International Advisory Experts Awards winner
• Lexpert 2022
• Lexpert
• Best Lawyers 2024