Sylvie Rodrigue
Partner
Sylvie Rodrigue practises primarily in commercial and civil litigation and has extensive experience in class action litigation. She is Co-Chair of our global class actions team. She is also the founder and Chair of the Class Action Section of the Ontario Bar Association, Chair of the Canadian Bar Association Task Force on National Class Actions, Co-Chair of the International Bar Association Multijurisdictional Class Action/Collective Redress Working Group, Co-Chair of the International Class Actions Subcommittee of the Class Actions and Derivative Suits Committee of the American Bar Association, and one of the co-editors of the Class Action Journal. She is one of only a select few Canadians to be named a Fellow of the trial lawyer honorary society, Litigation Counsel of America.
Ms. Rodrigue practises in both our Montréal and Toronto offices and is recognized as a leading lawyer in class action litigation in Canada. She appears regularly before the Superior Courts and Courts of Appeal across the country. She has been involved in a wide range of commercial litigation representing corporate clients in disputes involving damages for breach of commercial contracts, latent defects, product liability, price fixing, civil liability, employment matters, mass tort and negligence as well as litigation involving gaming and lotteries. She has represented clients in the tobacco, retail, technology, communication, railway, aviation and pharmaceutical industries.
Ms. Rodrigue currently acts as defence counsel in major multijurisdictional class actions on a variety of topics. She is a regular guest speaker and has published numerous articles on class action litigation.
Year of call
Ontario 2008
Quebec 1993
Law school
Certificate of Qualification in Common Law from the National Committee on Accreditation, 2008
LL.B., Université de Montréal, 1992
Selected client work
Ms. Rodrigue has represented or is currently representing:
- Multinational pharmaceutical companies, such as Eli Lilly, Abbott, Bayer, Merck and others, in proposed class actions in various Canadian jurisdictions
- Multinational companies in a wide range of industries, such as Sharp Corporation, Daewoo, Lan Airlines, Archers Daniel Midland, Lonza and others, in proposed anti-trust class actions in various Canadian jurisdictions
- Canadian National in a national proposed class action relating to unpaid overtime
- Gildan Activewear Inc. and its officers in defending proposed Quebec and Ontario securities class actions
- Imperial Tobacco Limited in multiple proposed product liability class actions
- Mattel Canada, Mattel USA and Fisher-Price in multiple proposed product liability class actions across Canada
- A wide range of corporate clients such as UBS, Bombardier and others in commercial and contractual disputes
- Loto-Quebec for over 10 years in a number of cases related to gaming, dealing with fraud, expropriation, validity of video poker machines and taxation of video poker machines by municipalities
Speaking engagements
Ms. Rodrigue has recently spoken on the following matters. A comprehensive list of her speaking engagements is available on request.
- “The National, Cross-border and Multi-jurisdictional Class Action Issues: From the CBA, ABA and IBA Judicial Protocols to Legislative Amendments,” 2011 OBA Class Action Colloquium, December 1, 2011, Toronto.
- “Forum Selection and Forum Shopping – The Challenges and Opportunities,” 2010 Annual Conference, International Bar Association, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, November 1, 2011.
- “The National Class Action Issues and Quebec Updates,” 12th Annual Canadian Institute Forum on Class Action Litigation, Toronto, September 21, 2011.
- “The Multijurisdictional Class Actions Dilemma: From Lepine to Judicial Protocols,” 2011 Canadian Bar Association Annual Conference, Halifax, Nova Scotia, August 15, 2011.
- “Multijurisdictional, Cross-Border and International Class Actions,” 2011 American Bar Association Annual Conference, Toronto, August 5, 2011.
- “Cross-Border and Parallel Class Actions/Multi-jurisdictional Issues,” 2011 Northwind Class Actions Invitational Forum, Cambridge, Ontario, June 20-22, 2011.
- “Developpements récents en recours collectifs, ce que vous devez savoir,” internal presentation to clients, Montréal, May 18, 2011.
- “Cross-border Class Actions,” Litigation Section Meeting, American Bar Association, Miami, Florida, April 15, 2011.
“The National and International Class Actions Issue: Where Are We One Year After Lepine?” The 2010 Ontario Bar Association Class Action Colloquium (also moderator of the panel of judges and program co-chair), Toronto, December 1, 2010. - “Groupe de travail de l’ABC sur les recours multijuridictionnels” (moderator), Recours collectif: Développements récents au Québec, au Canada, aux États-Unis, Quebec Bar, Montréal, October 29, 2010.
Rankings and recognitions
- Chambers Global: The World’s Leading Lawyers for Business, 2012: Dispute Resolution: Class Action
- 2011 Lexpert® Guide to the Leading US/Canada Cross-border Litigation Lawyers in Canada (US Litigation Guide), Litigation - Class actions
- Fellow, Litigation Counsel of America, trial lawyer honorary society
- Best Lawyers in Canada - Class Action Litigation, Product Liability (in both Ontario and Quebec)
- Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory - “Repeatedly Recommended Counsel,” Class Action Litigation (in both Ontario and Quebec)
- Lexpert’s Guide to the Leading US/Canada Cross-Border Litigation Lawyers in Canada, 2007 - “Litigation Lawyer to Watch”
- Lexpert/American Lawyer’s Guide to the Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada, 2006 - “25 Litigators to Watch”
- Lexpert/Thomson’s Guide to the 100 Most Creative Lawyers in Canada, 2006 - “25 Litigators to Watch”
- Lexpert magazine, September 2002 - “Top 40 Lawyers Under 40”
- Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 Awards Program - Nominee
Memberships and activities
- American Bar Association
- Co-Chair, International Class Action Subcommittee
- International Bar Association
- Litigation Committee
- Co-Chair, Multijurisdictional Class Actions/Collective Redress Working Group
- Canadian Bar Association
- Chair, Task Force on National Class Actions
- Executive Member, National Civil Litigation section
- Elected member CBA/OBA Council, Toronto region
- Ontario Bar Association
- Chair, Class Action Section
- Lawyers International Food Enterprises (LIFE)
- Chair, Executive Committee
- The Advocates’ Society
- Women's Executive Network (WXN)
- Lecturer, advocacy before the civil courts, Quebec Bar Admission Course
- Judge, Harvey T. Strosberg Prize (a national contest for the best essay on class actions, open to students at universities across Canada)