François Fontaine Ad. E.

François Fontaine has a wealth of experience as a litigator in civil, corporate and commercial litigation and penal procedure, including white collar crime and regulatory investigations, before all Quebec courts and the Supreme Court of Canada. Mr. Fontaine devotes a significant portion of his practice to representing clients before the courts and tribunals in administrative litigation (including injunctions and judicial review).

Mr. Fontaine has a great deal of experience in fraud and anti-corruption matters, business ethics compliance and crisis management. He has led several investigations in connection with allegations of fraud and corruption, including conducting interviews and examinations, investigating the facts, providing legal opinions and advising clients on legal and reputational risks. Mr. Fontaine counsels clients on compliance with the Canadian Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act and has significant experience in matters involving misappropriation of confidential information, fraudulent financial transactions and tracing and recovery of stolen funds.

He regularly defends corporations in class action suits, particularly in environmental matters. He also participated in the work of the subcommittee responsible for revising civil procedure pertaining to class actions as part of the reform of the Quebec Code of Civil Procedure. From 2003 to 2007, at the invitation of the Canadian Institute for the Administration of Justice, Mr. Fontaine conducted a seminar on class actions for new federally appointed judges and in 2004 he was invited to conduct the same seminar for all judges of the Quebec Superior Court at their annual meeting. From 1989 to 1994, Mr. Fontaine taught civil procedure at the Faculty of Law of University of Sherbrooke.