Stefan Chripounoff

• Energy and Natural Resources Law
• Mediation, Arbitration and Dispute Resolution
• Litigation and Dispute Resolution
• Extraordinary Remedies
• Civil and Commercial Litigation

• Energy and Natural Resources
• Manufacturing
• Real Estate

Energy Law

• Complaints before the Régie de l’énergie (2024 – ongoing)
  Represents the managers of various buildings in downtown Montréal before the Régie de l’énergie in connection with complaints filed after Hydro-Québec’s decision to reduce their authorized available power.

• Direct Energy Management Ltd. v. Basic Energy Inc. et al. (2021 – ongoing)
  Represents the defendant in a litigation before the Superior Court of Ontario that raises several fundamental issues pertaining to the regulatory framework for the pan-Canadian distribution of natural gas.

• Kildair Service ULC v. PGQ (2018 – ongoing)
  Counsel to the Attorney General of Québec in an administrative law dispute with more than $20 million at issue, involving the interpretation and application of various regulatory fee regimes.

• Régie de l’énergie - Energy Transition Québec (2018-2019)
  Lead counsel to Energy Transition Québec during hearings before the Régie de l’énergie to recognize the capacity of its master plan, whose programs and measures were valued at more than $6.5 million, to reach the targets set for it by the government of Québec.

Commercial litigation and arbitration

• Confidential arbitration (2021-2022)
  Lead counsel in an international arbitration on the interpretation of a contractual amendment regarding the expiration date of a multi-year manufacturing and distribution agreement involving manufacturing processes in Canada and the United States.

• CI Investments Inc. v. The Coconut Tree Holding Inc. et al. (2010-2022)
  Lead counsel on the team that allowed the client to prevail in a major dispute before the Superior Court and the Court of Appeal related to the interpretation and execution of various contractual indemnity mechanisms included in the complex contractual acquisition framework of one of the largest Canadian investment management companies.

• Commercial arbitration between a Québec municipality and a hydroelectricity producer (2015-2017)
  Represented a producer of hydroelectricity in a major commercial arbitration following the municipality’s cancellation of the lease required for the operation of a generating station.

• Canadian Royalties v. Ungava Exploration Inc. et al. (2007-2015)
  Pleaded a complex multi-year arbitration case involving two mining companies in a dispute over the interpretation and application of a joint-venture contract.

• Chalets Chanteclair v. Panorama Capital Inc. et al. (2012-2015)
  Counsel for the defendants in multiple proceedings filed against the plaintiff to contest applications for injunctive relief and actions for damages.

• Remer v. Remer (2005-2014)
  Counsel for the defendants who prevailed before the Québec Superior Court and the Québec Court of Appeal in a lengthy and complex shareholder dispute with more than $100 million at stake.

• Manson Insulation Inc. v. Superior Energy Management Inc. (2008-2011)
  Lead counsel in a protracted arbitration involving the interpretation of various contractual clauses specific to the natural gas industry.

• CN v. AMT (2003-2004)
  Counsel in a major arbitration involving two public bodies in a matter concerning public transit by rail, involving the interpretation of contractual provisions establishing the conditions for the commissioning of a main public-transit rail line linking Montréal and the South Shore.

Natural Gas Sector

• Services de gaz naturel RBC Inc. v. 6036821 Canada Inc. (Gestion Première Alliance) et al. (2012-2018)
  Counsel for the plaintiff in a lawsuit involving multiple technical issues, including whether a physical “swap” (a purchase and sale transaction) of natural gas constitutes an investment contract as defined in the Securities Act.

• Services de gaz naturel RBC Inc. v. 9080-9211 Québec Inc. (Les Propriétés Victoria) et al. (2010-2015)
  Counsel for the plaintiff before the Superior Court, the Québec Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada in a lawsuit against the owner of several buildings in Montréal who refused to pay its natural gas bills after the sale of the buildings, primarily on the basis that the contract at issue was a contract for services that could be cancelled at any time.

• Athena Energy Marketing Inc. v. Peyrow (2010-2015)
  Counsel for Athena in a natural gas-related lawsuit against a defendant who refused to pay his natural gas bills and challenged the application of the liquidated damages clause in the standard natural gas supply contract.

• GasEDI Base Contract for the Sale and Purchase of Natural Gas (2015 – ongoing)
  Advises clients regarding their natural gas supply contracts, such as the GasEDI Base Contract and other contracts derived therefrom.

• Transfer of clientele from one supplier to another (2014)
  Represented a major Québec natural gas supplier in connection with the assignment of its clientele.

• Sale of Athena Energy Marketing to RBC (2013)
  Represented the selling shareholders in the sale of the shares of the leading Québec natural gas supplier to a major Canadian financial institution.

• Sale of liquefied natural gas in the trucking sector (2012)
  Represented a large natural gas supplier in developing and preparing a standard tripartite contract for the sale of liquefied natural gas to a major Québec trucking enterprise.

Bankruptcy and Insolvency

• White Birch Paper Canada Company (2013-2014)
  Counsel for the Provisional Administrator of seven pension plans with claims totalling approximately $400 million in the debtor’s CCAA filing.

• Joint Liquidators of Stanford International Bank Limited v. Toronto-Dominion Bank (2011-2014)
  Québec counsel for the liquidators in the multijurisdictional liquidation of Stanford International Bank and in a major lawsuit against another major financial institution.

• Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory – Litigation – Corporate Commercial, 2018
• Lexpert Leading Canadian Lawyers in Global Mining, 2018
• Benchmark Litigation Canada:
  • Litigation Star, 2017-2024
  • Future Star, 2016
• Best Lawyers in Canada:
  • Corporate and Commercial Litigation, 2024-2025
  • Energy Law, 2024-2025
• Finalist in the Volunteer of the Year category of the Young Bar Association of Montréal, 2006-2007
• Recipient of the Multiple Sclerosis Leadership Award, 2006

• Canadian Bar Association's Québec Branch:
  • Member, since 2006
  • Chair of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Section, since 2019
  • Member of the Executive Committee of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Section, since 2012
• Bar of Montréal, Member, since 2004

• Author: “Domestic arbitration law gets harmonizing upgrade”, The Lawyers Weekly, March 31, 2017.
• Author: “Quebec natural gas contracts need work ”, Energy Law, The Lawyers Weekly, January 13, 2017.
• Author: “Pivotal Decisions in 2014-2015 for the Natural Gas Industry”, September 17, 2015.
• Author: “Back-to-Back Victories of Athena at the Québec Court of Appeal”, March 11, 2015.
• Author: “Overview of the new Code of Civil Procedure provisions on arbitration”, article distributed during the symposium of the Canadian Bar Association's Québec Branch, Montréal, 2015.
• Author: “Quebec Contracts for the Supply of Natural Gas by a Private Supplier: No Right of Early Termination”, September 24, 2014.
• Author: “Commercial Arbitration in Quebec”, May 5, 2012.
• Co-author: Mini-symposium “L’heure juste sur l’affaire BCE à la suite du jugement motivé de la Cour suprême du Canada : quand acteurs et institution de prestige se rencontrent” [The straight goods on the BCE case following the Supreme Court of Canada’s exhaustive judgment: when actors and prestigious institutions meet], Point de Mire, Vol. 14, No. 4, p. 7, July 2009.
• Author: “La clause d’arbitrage : est-ce la panacée?” [The Arbitration Clause: Is it a Cure-all?], distributed to participants at the Canadian Bar Association's mini seminar on business law, 2007.
• Author: Accompanying text to the On Route Towards Litigation conference presented to the managing team of CN suppliers, 2007.
• Author: “La première conférence pancanadienne sur la faillite et l’insolvabilité” [The first pan-Canadian conference on bankruptcy and insolvency], Le Monde Juridique, Vol. 16, No. 1, 2005.
• Author: Accompanying text to the Rémunération du P-DG et du CA [CEO's and Directors’ Remuneration] conference organized by Federated Press, 2004.
• Author: Accompanying texts to the conferences entitled Le harcèlement psychologique au travail [Psychological Harassment in the Workplace] and La responsabilité des universités à l’égard des fêtes étudiantes [Liability of Universities for Student Parties] sponsored by AON Parizeau Inc., 2004.

• Co-Speaker: Le protocole préjudiciaire comme outil de prévention et règlement des différends [Pre-action protocol as a dispute prevention and resolution process], organized by the Dispute Prevention and Resolution Law Section, Canadian Bar Association – Québec Branch, webinar, November 7, 2024.
• Co-speaker: L’expérience pratique de l’audience de règlement amiable au sein d’autres juridictions [Practical experience of settlement hearings in other jurisdictions], as part of the magistrates' continuing education program at the École nationale de la magistrature de France, Paris, February 5, 2024.
• Moderator: Regards croisés sur les PRD au Québec between France and Québec, a day event on dispute prevention and resolution organized by the Canadian Bar Association, Montréal, October 25, 2023.
• Co-speaker: Comment maximiser les chances de succès de votre médiation [How to maximize one’s mediation’s chances of success], as part of a breakfast event organized by the Canadian Bar Association, Montréal, June 12, 2023.
• Co-speaker: Démystifions la bonne préparation d’une médiation [Demystifying proper preparation for mediation], as part of a series of conferences organized by the Canadian Bar Association, Montréal, April 14, 2023.
• Moderator: Case-Management Arbitration, as part of a conference organized by the Canadian Bar Association, May 11, 2022.
• Co-speaker: Les PRDS à votre secours [DPR processes to the rescue], as part of a webinar organized by the Canadian Bar Association, September 28, 2020.
• Co-speaker: Les meilleures pratiques en matière de rédaction de clauses d’arbitrage et de médiation [Best practices for drafting arbitration and mediation clauses], Langlois Knowledge, Montréal, February 21, 2018.
• Co-speaker: L’arbitrage et la médiation : véritables alternatives au processus judiciaire traditionnel [Arbitration and mediation: viable alternatives to the traditional judicial process], Langlois Knowledge, Montréal, February 8, 2018.
• Writer: Stanford International Bank: Cross-border Insolvency Jurisdictional Wars, as part of the ABI Cross-Border Insolvency Program, New York City, 2016.
• Co-speaker: Les développements récents en droit de la faillite attirent le regard [Recent developments in bankruptcy law that have attracted attention], as part of the annual convention of the Québec Bar entitled Regards 360^o, La Malbaie, June 10-12, 2015.
• Speaker: Overview of the new Code of Civil Procedure provisions on arbitration, as part of the symposium of the Canadian Bar Association's Québec Branch, 2015.
• Co-speaker: Les développements récents en droit de la faillite attirent le regard [Recent developments in bankruptcy law that have attracted attention], as part of the Québec Bar's convention, La Malbaie, 2015.
• Speaker: Overview of Litigation, the Plaintiff’s Perspective, as part of a conference given to members of Business Network International, Montréal-Premier and Bus Tango chapters, 2007.

• Quoted: “Gaz naturel: vers une mondialisation du marché?” [Natural gas: towards market globalization?], Les Affaires, article by Antoine Dion-Ortega, September 2017.

LL.B., Civil Law, Université de Montréal, 2003

B.Eng., Mechanical Engineering (partial), McGill University, 1999