Federal Court Justice Andrew Little joins Competition Tribunal, new judges join Quebec courts

Little has been general counsel at Competition Bureau and partner at Bennett Jones and Osler

Federal Court Justice Andrew Little joins Competition Tribunal, new judges join Quebec courts

David Lametti, federal justice minister and Canada’s attorney general, has announced the appointments of Andrew Little to the Competition Tribunal, of Christine Baudouin and Frédéric Bachand to the Court of Appeal of Quebec, and of Philippe H. Bélanger to the Superior Court of Quebec.

Justice Andrew Little, who has been a judge of the Federal Court of Canada since April, will serve as a member of the Competition Tribunal for a seven-year term.

Little has been general counsel at the federal Competition Bureau, partner at Bennett Jones LLP in Toronto, partner at Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP in Calgary and law clerk for the Honourable Claire L'Heureux-Dubé at the Supreme Court of Canada. He is experienced in handling competition and consumer protection cases, contract and commercial disputes and domestic, international and investor-state arbitrations.

Little has lectured on administrative law and procedural fairness at the University of Calgary and the University of Toronto and has taught an advanced litigation course at the University of Calgary. He graduated from Queen’s University, Dalhousie Law School and Balliol College, University of Oxford.

Justice Christine Baudouin, who served as a puisne judge of the Superior Court of Quebec for the district of Montreal since 2017, will now be a puisne judge of the Quebec Court of Appeal, replacing Justice Claudine Roy, who elected to become a supernumerary judge effective Oct. 6, 2019.

Baudouin worked at the law firms of Casavant Mercier Avocats and Heenan Blaikie. She has practised in the areas of civil law, health law, administrative law and labour and employment law. She earned an LLB from the University of Montreal and an LLM, specializing in bioethics, from McGill University, and was admitted to the Quebec bar in 1993.

Justice Frédéric Bachand, also a puisne judge of the Superior Court of Quebec for the district of Montreal since 2017, has likewise been appointed a puisne judge of the Quebec Court of Appeal, replacing Justice Manon Savard, who was appointed Quebec’s chief justice effective June 10.

Bachand has been a lawyer at Ogilvy Renault, a clerk for the Honourable Gérard La Forest of the Supreme Court of Canada, and an accredited arbitrator in both domestic and international cases. He has served on the board of directors of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association.

Bachand has been an associate professor at McGill University’s Faculty of Law, where he taught legal interpretation, alternative dispute resolution and evidence. He earned doctorates from the Université de Montréal and the Université Paris II Panthéon-Assas, an LLM from the University of Cambridge and an LLB from the Université de Montréal. The Quebec bar has named him Advocatus Emeritus.

Philippe Bélanger has been appointed a puisne judge of the Superior Court of Quebec for the district of Montreal. Justice Martin Bureau, assigned in Sherbrooke, elected to become a supernumerary judge effective Sept. 16, 2018. Justice Claude Villeneuve in Granby was transferred to the vacancy left by Bureau, while Justice Johanne Brodeur in Montreal was transferred to the vacancy left by Villeneuve. Bélanger therefore fills the vacancy in Montreal.

Bélanger, a partner in McCarthy Tétrault LLP in Montreal, has dedicated his legal career to the firm, where he has focused on bankruptcy law, commercial restructuring and commercial litigation. He has served as a law clerk for Honourable Antonio Lamer at the Supreme Court of Canada. He has been president of the Insolvency Institute of Canada and chairperson of the liaison committee of the Commercial Division of the Montreal Superior Court.

Bélanger has taught courses on interpretation of statutes, securities and bankruptcy and restructuring at the Université de Montréal Faculty of Law. He graduated with a Master of Philosophy in Law degree at Brasenose College, Oxford University. The Quebec bar admitted him in 1989 and designated him Advocatus Emeritus in 2018.