Sophie Melchers
Senior Partner
Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP
Related services and key industries
Biography
Sophie Melchers practises mainly in the areas of commercial, corporate and securities litigation. She has represented clients before the Quebec courts and the Supreme Court of Canada in connection with disputed take-over bids, dissenting shareholder remedies, plans of arrangement, insider trading and market manipulation.
Her broad expertise in securities litigation also encompasses representation of reporting issuers and their officers in connection with investigations conducted by the AMF, Quebec's securities regulator, into insider trading, market manipulation and continuous disclosure and their representation in defence before the Tribunal administratif des marchés financiers and the penal courts in proceedings instituted by the AMF. Ms. Melchers has also conducted internal investigations into potential securities law breaches.
Professional experience
Collapse allLL.B., Université de Montréal, 1993
Canadian Securities Course
Introduction to Derivatives, Derivatives Institute
- Quebec 1994
Ms. Melchers is currently acting or has acted in the following matters:
Corporate and Securities Litigation
- Various public issuers and some of their executives (including the former CEO of Amaya Gaming) in the context of investigations or lawsuits by the AMF in connection with alleged tipping, insider trading and market manipulation
- Various public issuers in connection with internal investigations of possible securities violations
- Transat in an order prohibiting the partial takeover by Groupe Mach
- Fibrek Inc. respecting the determination of the fair value of its shares following the exercise of dissent rights
- Resolute Forest Products (formerly AbitibiBowater Inc.) in connection with the acquisition of Fibrek Inc., including on several cease trade applications in respect of poison pills and a private placement of special warrants
Commercial litigation
- Hydro-Québec in its successful motion for declaratory judgment asking the court to confirm that Hydro-Québec will not be obliged to limit its requests for energy deliveries from CF(L)Co under the long-term supply contract between Hydro-Québec and CF(L)Co to fixed monthly blocks from 2016 to 2041, and in the unsuccessful application by CF(L)Co seeking the revision of the pricing terms of the long-term supply contract between Hydro-Québec and CFLCo (in appeal)
Class Actions
- Fédération des Caisses Desjardins, Desjardins Trust and Desjardins Investments in connection with allegations of closet indexing
- BMO Nesbitt Burns and BMO InvestorLine in connection with allegations of inadequate disclosure of currency conversion fees
- Ernst & Young in connection with allegations of false or misleading disclosure relating to the Laurentian Bank of Canada securitization portfolio
- David Baazov in connection with allegations of misrepresentations in connection with the attempted privatization of Amaya Gaming
- Chambers Canada, Quebec: Litigation: Securities (Band 1), Chambers and Partners, 2020-2023
- Chambers Canada, Quebec: Litigation: General Commercial (Band 4), Chambers and Partners, 2018-2023
- Best Lawyers in Canada: Corporate and Commercial Litigation, 2010-2023; Bet-the-Company Litigation, 2017-2023; Class Action Litigation, 2023
- The Legal 500 Canada: Dispute Resolution - Quebec (Leading Lawyer), 2019-2023
- Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory, 2018-2023: recommended in Litigation - Corporate Commercial; Litigation - Securities; Class Actions
- Benchmark Litigation Canada, 2012-2023: recognized as a local litigation star in Quebec; Litigation star in Canada, namely in Securities 2012-2017; Top 25 Women in Litigation – Canada, 2014-2017; Top 100 Women in Litigation (2022); Top 50 Trial Lawyers (2022)
- Lexpert/American Lawyer Guide to the Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada, 2020-2022: most frequently recommended in the area of Litigation – Corporate Commercial; Litigation - Securities
- Benchmark Litigation Canada, 2022: Québec Litigator of the Year and recognized with a Benchmark Hall of Fame award
- Fellow, American College of Trial Lawyers (2015)
- Fellow, Litigation Counsel of America (2017)
- "Outils dont dispose l'Autorité des marchés financiers pour recueillir de la preuve dans le cadre de ses enquêtes" (with C. Larouche and S. Pousht-Mashad), in Développements récents en enquêtes internes et réglementaires, 2019
- "The Power of Securities Commissions to Compel Testimony: A Comparative Perspective," with J. Beaudoin and F.N. Nadima, in Annual Review of Civil Litigation 2017.
- "Seminar on the Examination and Cross-Examination of Experts," Advocates Society, October 13, 2022.
- "Landmark Decisions of the Tribunal administratif des marché financiers," Bar of Montreal, October 6, 2021.
- "Mergers and Acquisitions" (2018-2022) and "Directors' Liability and Governance," (with T. Dorval) (2010, 2011, 2013 to 2017) in the Directors Education Program at the McGill Executive Institute of Montreal.
- "White Collar Investigation and Prosecution" (panelist, with D.J. Fetterman and S. Seida), New York Bar Association, October 26, 2018.
- "Éviter les écueils lorsqu'en possession d'information privilégiée" (panelist, with M. Bédard, AMF and J. Demers, Manac), Canadian Bar Association, November 7, 2017.
- "The Exercise of the Public Interest Jurisdiction by Regulators: Challenges, Opportunities, and Perspectives" (panelist, with S. Rousseau and N. Kanji), 2015 Biennial Commissioners Conference, Montreal, June 2, 2015, and CSA conference, Montreal, November 4, 2016.
- Canadian Bar Association
- American College of Trial Lawyers
- Member, Trial Law Institute
- Member, Diversity Law Institute
- Barreau de Montréal (Montreal bar)
- Chair of the Liaison Committee with the Tribunal des marchés financiers (2014 – 2018)