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 as well as class actions. 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 all- LL.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
- Public issuers and their executives in the context of internal or regulatory investigations in connection with alleged tipping, insider trading and market manipulation
- 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
Commercial litigation
- Hydro-Québec in its most recent litigation against Churchill Falls (Labrador) Corporation Limited related to the long-term supply contract
- Bombardier Inc. in connection with letters of guarantee and counter-guarantee
- Ressources Robex in connection with oppression claims by minority shareholders
Class Actions
- Fédération des Caisses Desjardins, Desjardins Trust and Desjardins Investments in connection with allegations of closet indexing
- Bombardier Inc. and executives in connection with the prorating of restricted share units at the closing of the sale of a transaction
- 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
- Best Lawyers in Canada: Corporate and Commercial Litigation, 2010-2024; Montreal Lawyer of the year, 2023; Bet-the-Company Litigation, 2017-2024; Class Action Litigation, 2023-2024
- 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 "Lawyer of the Year," 2024
- The Legal 500 Canada: Dispute Resolution - Quebec (Leading Lawyer), 2019-2023
- Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory, 2018-2023: Most Frequently Recommended in Litigation - Corporate Commercial and Litigation - Securities; Repeatedly Recommended in Class Actions
- Benchmark Litigation Canada: 2023: Nationwide Trial Lawyer of the Year, Canada's Top 100 Women in Litigation, Canada's Top 50 Trial Lawyers, local litigation star in Quebec and in Canada; 2022: Québec Litigator of the Year and recognized with a Benchmark Hall of Fame award, Canada's Top 100 Women in Litigation, Canada's Top 50 Trial Lawyers, local litigation star in Quebec and in Canada; Prior: recognized as a local litigation star in Quebec and in Canada
- 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
- 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-Mashhad), 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 2022 and 2023
- "Landmark Decisions of the Tribunal administratif des marché financiers," Bar of Montreal, October 6, 2021
- "Mergers and Acquisitions" (2018-2023) 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
- Barreau de Montréal (Montreal bar)
- Chair of the Liaison Committee with the Tribunal administratif des marchés financiers (2014 – 2018)