Lexpert reveals the leading workers’ compensation lawyers in Québec based on the results of our comprehensive annual peer review. Check out the complete list of the province’s most recommended lawyers and law firms in the field via our practice area rankings.
In our survey, workers’ compensation practice covers matters involving workplace safety and insurance, including advising on rate classifications and calculations, cost containment and claims management, and providing representation at hearings and appeals.
Consistently recommended workers’ compensation lawyers
Don J. Alberga
Law firm: Borden Ladner Gervais LLP (BLG)
Year called to the Bar: 2001
City: Montréal
Don J. Alberga is a partner at Borden Ladner Gervais LLP. He specializes in employment and labour law, with a focus on workers' compensation and occupational health and safety matters. Alberga acts as legal counsel to several safety groups in Québec, particularly in the manufacturing, food and retail sectors. He defends management interests in matters of occupational injuries, financing and prevention-inspection. Alberga represents employers in cases under the jurisdiction of the Tribunal administratif du travail and in hearings of the Commission des Normes, de l'Equité, de la Santé et de la Sécurité du Travail (CNESST) penal offence prosecutions in the criminal and penal division of the Court of Québec. He is also regularly called upon to act in employment disputes before labour arbitration tribunals. Alberga is often invited to speak on occupational health and safety topics and write articles on that subject. He has also lectured on that area at the École du Barreau du Québec. Alberga speaks fluent English, French and Italian.
Guy Lavoie
Law firm: Lavery, de Billy, L.L.P.
Year called to the Bar: 1986
City: Montréal
Guy Lavoie is a partner at the labour and employment law group at Lavery, de Billy, L.L.P. He boasts more than 30 years of experience in labour relations, employment law and occupational health and safety. Lavoie also works with the firm’s business law group on the labour and employment law aspects of mergers and acquisitions. A journalist before embarking on his legal career, Lavoie helped establish a company dedicated to transporting people with restricted mobility and an adapted work centre for adults with disabilities. His strong communication skills were honed during his years as a journalist and through his business ventures. Lavoie is a fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers.
Repeatedly recommended workers’ compensation lawyers
Alexis-François Charette
Law firm: Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP
Year called to the Bar: 1999
City: Montréal
Alexis-François Charette is a partner at Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP. He devotes his practice to employment and labour law. Charette advises employers on collective and individual labour relations, particularly regarding labour standards, individual disputes, grievance arbitration, certification process, orders and injunctions in labour disputes and drafting of contracts of employment and company policies. He also advises clients on criminal liability in occupational health and safety matters, protection of personal information, and discrimination and human rights in the workplace, including workplace harassment and employment injuries. Charette regularly represents employers before the Tribunal administratif du travail (CRT), Commission des lésions professionnelles (TAT), grievance arbitrators, and civil, penal and criminal courts.
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François Côté
Law firm: Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP
Year called to the Bar: 1989
City: Montréal
François Côté is a senior partner at Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP, practicing management-side employment and labour law. He advises employers on grievance arbitration, labour standards, administrative law and safety law and labour relations in the construction industry. He regularly acts as spokesperson at the negotiation table. Côté regularly represents employers before the Tribunal administratif du travail and in occupational health complex financing and prevention matters. He also represents employers before administrative tribunals and the courts of civil jurisdiction, regarding provisional, interlocutory and permanent injunctions in the context of labour disputes or in connection with the judicial review of decisions of administrative tribunals. Over the years, Côté has gained an extensive knowledge in crisis management and in the area of drug and alcohol policies and management of problems arising from drug and alcohol use. He lectures at Université de Montréal on labour relations in the construction industry. Côté was Montréal chair of the firm’s employment and labour law group from 2013 to 2014.
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Marie-Hélène Jetté
Law firm: Langlois Lawyers, LLP
Year called to the Bar: 1995
City: Montréal
Marie-Hélène Jetté is a partner at Langlois Lawyers, LLP’s Montréal office, where she also heads the labour and employment law group. She has more than 20 years of experience in labour and employment law, human rights and freedoms and administrative law. Jetté has a deep knowledge of the pharmaceutical and arts industries. She also boasts extensive experience in psychological harassment, a topic on which she has given many presentations. Jetté frequently pleads before the civil courts and several administrative tribunals. She also frequently advises and represents employers on matters of harassment, discrimination, occupational health and safety, labour standards and termination of employment. Jetté has extensive experience in reorganizations and sales of businesses. She has also participated in many negotiations either as a spokesperson or special advisor.
Reine Lafond
Law firm: Le Corre & Associés
Year called to the Bar: 1993
City: Montréal
Reine Lafond is a partner at Le Corre Lawyers in Québec. She heads the firm’s occupational health and safety department and practises exclusively in this field. Lafond is considered a leading lawyer in workers' compensation matters. Her expertise was honed from her early career at the CSST’s legal department (now CNESST). With more than 25 years of experience, she is recognized for her skill as a litigator and legal counsel in issues pertaining to occupational health and safety law. She defends employers’ interests in matters related to employment injury compensation, financing of the CNESST’s compensation regime and prevention-inspection programs. Lafond also provides employers strategic support to private and public sectors clients and in all areas of economic activity. She advises and represents them before the courts and administrative tribunals, including the Tribunal administratif du travail (TAT). Lafond is regularly invited as a speaker on a variety of occupational health and safety topics. She sits on various committees involved in health and safety and is the author of several publications in this specialized field.
Francine Legault
Law firm: Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP
Year called to the Bar: 1993
City: Montréal
Francine Legault is an of counsel at Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP. She devotes her practice to occupational health and safety. Legault represents clients before the conciliation and decision-making officers of the Commission des normes, de l’équité, de la santé et de la sécurité du travail (CNESST) and Administrative Labour Tribunal (ALT). She also represents employers before arbitration boards. Legault taught Législation en santé et sécurité du travail (occupational health and safety legislation) at the University of Sherbrooke from 2000 to 2010. She has also been sitting on the board of directors and executive committee of the Canadian Mental Health Association since 1996. Legault is the co-author of Le congédiement en droit québécois and 14 Questions Frequently Asked in Québec Labour and Employment Law. Her professional career also includes eight years working as a graduate nurse in a hospital.
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Elaine Léger
Law firm: Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP
Year called to the Bar: 1999
City: Montréal
Elaine Léger is a partner at Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP. She specializes in labour, employment and human rights law. Léger represents companies in every sphere of economic activity. She has developed specific expertise in absenteeism management, occupational injuries and occupational health and safety. Léger also advises clients on termination of employment, confidentiality obligations, access to medical records and managing absenteeism and occupational injuries. She appears before grievance arbitrators and the Tribunal administratif du travail and ordinary courts in regulatory penal proceedings. Léger teaches labour law at the École du Barreau.
Louis Ste-Marie
Law firm: Cain Lamarre
Year called to the Bar: 1994
City: Québec City
Louis Ste-Marie is a partner at Cain Lamarre. He boasts more than 25 years of experience practising labour and employment law. Ste-Marie counsels employers on individual and collective workplace relations, labour standards, workplace accidents and occupational diseases, occupational health and safety, human rights and freedoms and administrative law. He regularly represents clients before administrative and law courts over matters of workplace relations. Ste-Marie also represents employers in conciliation proceedings before these tribunals and in collective bargaining. He taught for more than 10 years at the Québec Bar School, where he gave courses on labour and employment law, workplace accidents and occupational diseases and negotiating techniques.
Éric Thibaudeau
Law firm: Lavery, de Billy, L.L.P.
Year called to the Bar: 1999
City: Montréal
Éric Thibaudeau is a partner at Lavery, de Billy, L.L.P. He specializes in occupational health and safety, particularly regarding issues within the jurisdiction of the Administrative Labour Tribunal (ALT) and penal infractions prosecuted by the CNESST that are heard in the Court of Québec’s Criminal and Penal Division. Thibaudeau also acts for employers in grievance arbitrations, labour-relations matters and collective agreement decrees. He advises construction contractors and project owners on all matters within the jurisdiction of the construction industry regulatory authorities, including the Commission de la construction du Québec, Régie du bâtiment du Québec, and Autorité des marchés financiers. Thibaudeau also advises various corporate entities in the private sector and organizations in the public. His professional career includes a term at the Association provinciale des constructeurs d’habitations du Québec (APCHQ), where he worked as coordinator of legal services. Thibaudeau also worked as a labour relations attorney in the legal department of the Association de la construction du Québec (ACQ).