Claudia Desjardins Bélisle

Claudia Desjardins Bélisle represents employers in all types of labour and employment matters, but has developed a special expertise in complex litigation surrounding violation of restrictive covenants and violation of proprietary and confidential information obligations, supporting employers during unionization campaigns and the application of the Charter of the French Language.

She regularly represents employers before courts and grievance arbitrators. She advises them on union certification process and collective agreements, and provides legal opinions. She also assists employers in negotiating amicable settlement of disputes.

She has pleaded before the Superior Court and Court of Appeal in several prominent cases and was involved in many major dismissals. Notably, Claudia was involved in the negotiation and settlement of one of Quebec’s longest labour conflicts in the last 30 years. This specific matter led her to plead several injunction proceedings and obtain a judgment to force the workers of a multinational corporation to vote on their employer’s final offers.

Claudia is an active member of the American Bar Association Equal Employment Opportunity subsection of the Labour and Employment law group. As such, she regularly contributes by speaking on different topics from a Canadian law perspective, including pay equity, discrimination and activism in the workplace, as an attorney for employers.

Claudia was the Labour & Employment Legal Practice Leader until the fall of 2022 and is now Head of Advocacy of Miller Thomson’s Montreal office leading a team of close to 50 lawyers. She takes pride in training the younger generations of lawyers and supports them in their development. A team player, she is involved in a number of committees and round tables, bringing her dynamism and ideas to bear on the evolution of projects and well-being in the workplace. In particular, she handles Canada-France relations for Miller Thomson.