Lawyer Profile Detail

Yves Bériault is one of the leaders of McCarthy Tétrault’s national competition/antitrust law group.

Mr. Bériault advises a broad range of Canadian and international clients on all aspects of Canadian competition law. He has been involved in many landmark cases involving competition legislation before all levels of the courts and the Competition Tribunal.

Transactions, Cases & Conferences

Mr. Bériault’s recent experience includes:

• CP Ships merger with TUI AG;
• Télémédia Radio Inc.’s merger with Astral Média and related litigation;
• Sanofi-Synthélabo’s merger with Aventis SA;
• Pechiney’s merger with Alcan;
• Molson Inc.’s merger with Coors;
• L’Oréal’s merger with The Body Shop;
• Abitibi-Consolidated Inc.’s merger with Bowater Incorporated; and
• Rexel SA’s and Sonepar SA’s acquisition of Hagemeyer NV.

In addition, Mr. Bériault has represented corporations with respect to several national or international cartel investigations; and has represented corporations with respect to several Competition Bureau investigations under the non criminal provisions of the Competition Act.

He is a frequent guest speaker at many national and international conferences and has written numerous articles and papers relating to competition law, including:

• Le droit de la concurrence, Jeune Barreau de Montréal, Bromont, 2008;
• L’application de la Loi sur la concurrence aux transactions de coentreprises, Insight Canada, Montreal, 2006;
• Managing Worldwide Leniency, EU Cartel Enforcement: Practice and Policy, Institute of Law and Economics jointly with Global Competition Review, Brussels, 2006;
• Some Aspects of Canadian Law Relating to International Cartels, International Cartel Workshop, ABA Section of Antitrust Law, London, UK, 2006;
• Immunité — Le point de vue de la défense, Competition Bureau, Gatineau, Québec, 2005;
• Some Aspects of Canadian Law and International Cartels, International Competition Law Conference, Insight Information Co, Montréal, Québec, 2005;
• Le contrat de distribution et le droit de la concurrence, Insight Canada, Montreal, 2005;
• Private Access and Section 75 of the Competition Act, Competition Litigation Invitational Forum, Northwind Professional Institute, Toronto, 2005;
• Certains aspects de la mise en application de la Loi sur la concurrence (with Dominic Thérien), 2e congrès pour conseillers juridiques, Canadian Institute, Montréal, 2005;
• L’application de la Loi sur la concurrence en matière de franchisage, Conférence sur le franchisage, Canadian Institute, Montréal, 2004;
• Interface Between Competition Law and Regulation, 2004 Competition Law Invitational Forum, Northwind Professional Institute, Langdon Hall, Cambridge;
• Horizontal Agreements: State of the Reform Process (with Madeleine Renaud), Competition Law Roundtable, Faculty of Law, University of Toronto, 2004;
• Negotiating a plea of a corporate defendant in Canada, International Cartel Workshop, ABA Section of Antitrust Law, New York, N.Y. ,2004;
• Les modifications au droit de la concurrence canadien: le contexte (with Dominic Thérien), Insight, Montréal, 2004;
• The Regulated Conduct Doctrine (with Madeleine Renaud), 2003 Competition Law Invitational Forum, Atlas Information, Langdon Hall, Cambridge;
• Le droit de la concurrence et les alliances internationales, Colloque sur les alliances internationales, Québec bar, 2001; and
• La nouvelle Loi sur la concurrence et la fusion, in La Nouvelle Loi sur la concurrence, Les Éditions Yvon Blais Inc.

Publications

Mr. Bériault has also co-authored the following books:

• Le Droit de la Concurrence au Canada, Carswell, Montréal 1999 (co-author with Madeleine Renaud and Yves Comtois of McCarthy Tétrault); and
• Canadian Competition Law a Business Guide, by C.J.M. Flavell, McGraw Hill (contributed chapters).

Mr. Bériault enjoys a solid national and international reputation. He appears as one of the world’s leading competition lawyers in acclaimed legal publications such as: Euromoney Legal Media Group’s The Best of the Best 2006 guide; Lexpert’s Guide to the Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada and the Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory (a guide to the leading law firms and practitioners in Canada); Chambers Global: The World’s Leading Lawyers; Euromoney Legal Media Group’s Expert Guides, Global Counsel 3000; International Who’s Who of Business Lawyers; the 2006 Lexpert/American Lawyers Guide to the leading 500 Lawyers in Canada and PLC Cross-Border Competition Handbook 2009. In October 2005, his name was on the Top 100 Canada-U.S. Litigators list, published by the Financial Post.

For many years, Mr. Bériault lectured on competition law at the Université de Montréal’s Faculty of law. He is a member of the Québec bar and of the Canadian Bar Association, where he was chair of the Competition Law Section in the past.

Mr. Bériault obtained his law degree from the University of Ottawa in 1967, where he graduated summa cum laude. He also holds degrees in philosophy, arts and economics from the universities of Ottawa and St. Paul. He clerked with the Honourable Gérald Fauteux of the Supreme Court of Canada after obtaining his law degree.