Sandra Desjardins
Lawyer, Partner - Montréal
Sandra Desjardins is a partner in the litigation group. As a litigator, she represents a diverse clientele in a range of civil and commercial disputes. She is especially familiar with class actions involving consumer, banking and securities law. She also successfully represents clients in disputes arising from commercial contracts, shareholder remedies and directors’ and officers’ liability. She defends her clients’ rights and interests and helps them with business strategy, risk management and dispute settlement. She represents businesses through ordinary and extraordinary remedies and pleads before all levels of Quebec courts and in commercial arbitration.
Sandra also writes articles and regularly gives conferences on general commercial litigation, class actions, consumer law and securities. She is a member of Justicia, a project run by the Barreau du Québec and various law firms aiming to help female lawyers stay and get ahead in private practice. In 2022 and 2023, Benchmark Litigation Canada recognized her as a Litigation Star.
Education
Juris Doctor, North American Common Law, Université de Montréal, 2011
LL.B., Civil Law, Université de Montréal, 2009
Rankings & Recognitions
Areas of Practice
Industries
Representative Work
Directors’ and officers’ liability and/or shareholders’ remedies
– Counsel for a syndicate of condominiums in the context of proceedings related to design/construction defects liability.
– Counsel for a major financial institution in the context of an oppression remedy brought by minority shareholders.
– Counsel for a private company in the context of an oppression remedy brought by an employee/shareholder alleging an unjust and oppressive dismissal.
Class actions
– Counsel for a major financial institution in a class action involving allegations of non-compliance with the Consumer Protection Act.
– Counsel for a major financial institution in a class action relating to the Bank Act and the Consumer Protection Act.
– Counsel for a private company in a class action relating to the unilateral termination of a service contract and the applicable fees.
– Counsel for a private company in a class action relating to compliance with certain applicable securities standards.
Construction disputes and commercial contracts
– Counsel for a private company sued for misrepresentations in contract negotiation.
– Counsel for a private company in a dispute involving professional and tax law.
– Counsel for a private company in the context of proceedings for latent defect related to an alleged environmental contamination.
Publications
Articles
- 2023 – Québec government tables bill to streamline access to justice in civil cases (and amend civil procedure)
- 2020 – Class actions: Supreme Court of Canada upholds the status quo over authorization criteria in Quebec
- 2020 – Should I stay or should I go…? The decision in Micron Technology Inc. and the suspension of multijurisdictional class actions
- 2020 – The importance of initial fault for parties to a construction project
- 2020 – The Meubles Léon decision – Advertising credit: merchants, beware!
- 2018 – Cannabis: “Consumer” Protection
- 2018 – The Obligation to Act in Good Faith in the Context of an Oppression Remedy Under the Quebec’s Business Corporations Act
- 2016 – Multijurisdictional Class Actions: Fewer Boundaries
News
Other Publications
2020 – “L’autorisation d’exercer une action collective requiert toujours la démonstration du fondement des causes d’action invoquées en fonction du droit applicable” (Class authorization always incumbent on demonstrating the basis of the proposed causes of action as per the applicable law), co-authored with Vincent de l’Étoile, Repères, April 2020, Yvon Blais Editions, EYB2020REP2696.
2018 – “Commentaire sur la décision Chandler c.Volkswagen Aktiengestllchaft – La présentation d’un moyen déclinatoire ratione personæ au stade de la demande pour autorisation d’exercer une action collective” (Case comment on Chandler v.Volkswagen Aktiengestllchaft – Requesting a declinatory exception ratione personæ at the class action certification stage), Repères, Yvon Blais, Montréal, November 2018, EYB2018REP2606
2018 – “Commentaire sur la décision Pollués de Montréal-Trudeau c. Aéroports de Montréal – La définition du groupe visé par une action collective en matière de troubles de voisinage” (Case comment on Pollués de Montréal-Trudeau v. Aéroports de Montréal – Definition of the class in a class action for neighbourhood disturbances), Repères, Yvon Blais, Montréal, July 2018, EYB2018REP2511
2017 – “Judgment-Sharing Agreements”, co-authored with Vincent de l’Étoile, Colloque national sur l’action collective, Développements récents au Québec, au Canada et aux États-Unis, Service de la formation continue, Barreau du Québec, Volume 428, 2017, p. 1.
Top of the page