de Guise has worked to build a strong identity for Quebec, while always maintaining his own
Before Pascal de Guise attended law school, his home province of Quebec underwent an identity crisis. After the 1995 referendum, Premier Lucien Bouchard held a summit with leading intellectuals to determine Quebec’s path forward as part of Canada. As the president of a student group, de Guise attended Bouchard’s summit in October 1996.
“The consensus at the time was we had to get our financial house in order,” says de Guise.
But, says de Guise, the province also had to deal with its “social deficit.” This perceived deficit led Quebec to create its universal daycare program, which the Federal Liberals have used as a model most recently.
That balancing act of supporting the community but thriving economically arguably built Quebec into the economic powerhouse that it is today. It is also evident in the deals that de Guise works on at Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP.
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But like his province’s ascent, de Guise built his practice up incrementally since the late 1990s, broadening his experience on a global level while still grounding himself in his local identity.
de Guise’s experience in student government sparked his interest in law, and he quickly developed a passion for corporate law. de Guise joined Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP as an associate, which he felt would give him an international platform that he and his province needed to thrive.
de Guise spent time in the firm’s New York office and worked on international deals for four years, but then chose to make more local connections when joining BCF LLP.
“BCF was really helping Quebec entrepreneurs and was very, very entrepreneurial. I got to work very closely with the founding managing partner, Mario Charpentier, who was also a defining mentor in my career.
“I started getting involved in knowledge management, document management systems, stuff that you generally have at an established firm that the firm did not have at the time.”
While de Guise enjoyed working directly with Quebec businesses, he eventually decided to broaden his client base to the institutions that helped support BCF’s clients, which drew him to Borden Ladner Gervais LLP.
“I love acting for entrepreneurs, for local businesses, but I also enjoy … acting for the institutions that support those entrepreneurs.”
In addition to providing de Guise with a sophisticated client base, BLG focused on talent management. de Guise benefited from coaching and learning how to delegate work effectively now that he was more senior.
“The industry sends you a very strong individual performance message. But what the studies show and what I learned with my coach, and I learned from watching people who really succeed, the key is collaboration.”
Although the coaching training was helpful, de Guise says his volunteer work was where he learned the most profound lessons about collaboration. de Guise has worked with the board of the Fondation du Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal for many years and is currently the vice president. He helped launch an annual fundraising event to connect Montreal leaders with the museum.
“In a volunteer setting, your motivation [for] collaboration is fascinating because it’s not about money. It’s about feeling that you’re making a difference. So, you do learn in these types of leadership roles to foster a culture of collaboration.”
de Guise also sits on the Canadian Club of Montreal board, which brings all the stakeholders in the Quebec business community together.
With his broad range of connections in Montreal’s business community, and his dedication to helping Quebec business excel globally, de Guise asked himself how he could truly help these institutions succeed.
However, outside of his professional ambitions, de Guise had more personal reason to make a move. de Guise has been openly gay his entire professional life but says he was always the most senior openly gay partner at his firm.
So, when de Guise decided that Blakes would be where he could best help Quebec institutions succeed, he also wanted to know if it would be open to him as a gay lawyer.
So, he challenged the firm to how open they would be. Their response reassured him it was somewhere he belonged.
“For the first time in my career, I’m not the most senior openly gay partner. That’s amazing. I didn’t realize the pressure I felt about that until finally I’m in a situation where I feel there’s a critical mass around me. And that’s a huge deal for me. At this stage in my life, it’s a huge game-changer.”
While de Guise felt welcomed at Blakes, the pandemic struck just after joining in late 2019 and forced him to develop connections through virtual means instead. While it has been challenging to do that, one advantage has been the ease of making connections with lawyers in offices across the country.
In a recent transaction for Savaria Corporation, de Guise says he spent many hours on calls with colleagues in Toronto who had done a similar deal, learning from the best about how to help Savaria achieve its goals in the most effective way.
de Guise says that the work he is doing at Blakes feels like the culmination of the goal Quebec’s leaders gave him at the summit in 1996 to help Quebec become a global market leader.
“When I started practising, clearly there was a huge prosperity gap between Quebec and the rest of Canada. And what I’m seeing is [we are] building a great ecosystem, strong financial institutions, [with] a lot of other strategic interventions by the government. It does feel like we’re narrowing that prosperity gap.”
Name: Pascal de Guise
Current position: partner, Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP
Key dates:
2019: joins Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP
2013: joins Borden Ladner Gervais LLP
2004: joins BCF LLP
1999: joins Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP
de Guise has advised on:
