Background
Lionel Blanshay is senior counsel at our Montréal office. Lionel was admitted to the Québec Bar in 1965 and graduated from McGill University Law School. He also obtained a Bachelor of Arts Degree in 1961 from McGill University.
Areas of Practice
· Lionel practises in the areas of corporate and commercial law. His main focuses are on business law including, distribution and licensing agreements and on international commercial ventures including agency, manufacturing, sales, and captive insurance programs and structures, to a great extent in the closely held owner/managed category of businesses where he tends to act as a combination lawyer/confidant/advisor and is usually involved in planning and decision-making from the outset.
· Lionel acts as a mentor and coach to many partners and associates in the Firm.
Rankings and Recognitions
· Martindale-Hubbell BV® Distinguished™ 4.4 out of 5 Peer Review Rating
Professional Experience
· Lionel was recently actively involved with U.S. co-counsel in a multi-million dollar AAA arbitration in NYC involving Ukrainian, Swiss, Barbadian and Canadian parties, resulting from an exclusive supply and distribution agreement. The arbitration resulted in a favorable decision for our client and after multi-jurisdictional execution procedures, the award was successfully recovered. He is also currently overseeing a major litigation file involving in excess of $100M on behalf of a German client in the credit card transaction-processing field.
· Lionel has extensive experience in intra-family disputes and business succession issues, as well as resolution of shareholder disputes in closely held entities.
· Over the past 15 years, his practice has been extremely active in multi-jurisdictional negotiation of agreements and structuring.
Professional and Community Activities
· National Chair of the Firm's International Group
· Member of the International Bar Association and Canadian Bar Association
· Member of the Lord Reading Law Society
· Member of the International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists
· Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Youth Employment Services
· Speaker at various conferences on corporate governance, directors' liabilities and agency and distribution agreements, both domestic and international
· Member of the Board of Directors of the Atwater Library and Computer Center and the Mechanics Institute.