Gregory B. Bordan

Biography

Gregory B. Bordan practises commercial litigation, advising clients on a broad range of commercial disputes, with particular emphasis on manufacturer's liability, constitutional law (including the Charter of Rights), commercial real estate and matters related to the Charter of the French language and the implementation of francization programs. He has extensive experience with tobacco legislation and advertising and marketing. He is also experienced in complex litigation, including matters that require the organization of large databases of documents.

Year of Call

• Ontario Bar 1998
• Quebec Bar 1988

Law School

• LL.B., McGill University, 1987
• B.C.L., McGill University, 1987

EDUCATION

• M.Sc., London Schools of Economic and Political Science, 1976
• B.A., Concordia University, 1975

Selected Client Work

• Represented one of two plaintiffs in the constitutional challenge to the federal Tobacco Products Control Act (TPCA) before the Supreme Court of Canada and before the lower courts. The Supreme Court judgment in that case is a landmark decision on the issue of commercial expression under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
  
• Acted in the constitutional challenge to parts of the federal Tobacco Act, successor legislation to the TPCA, before the Supreme Court of Canada and all lower instances
  

• Retained by the Commission of Inquiry into the Sponsorship Program and Advertising Activities (Gomery Commission) to put in place a system for the Commission's massive undertaking of identifying, assembling and organizing government documents relevant to the Commission's mandate

• Represented a leading pulp and paper manufacturer in a manufacturer's liability case before all instances. The Supreme Court of Canada judgment in that case, which confirmed favourable judgments by the lower courts, addressed novel issues of law and constitutes a seminal judgment on manufacturer's liability under Quebec law.

Publications

• "Manufacturers Can Never Rely on Ignorance of a Defect as Their Sole Defence", International Law Office Newsletter, February 7, 2008.
• "ABB Inc. v. Domtar Inc. - Products Liability:  In Quebec, Manufacturers Can't Rely On Ignorance of a Defect as Their Sole Defence" Construction Law Update News Bulletin, Vol. 8, Issue 7, February 2008.
• "ABB Inc. c. Domtar - Les fabricants ne peuvent jamais invoquer l'ignorance d'un vice comme unique défense / ABB Inc. v. Domtar - Products Liability:  In Quebec, Manufacturers Can't Rely On Ignorance of a Defect as Their Sole Defence", Canadian College of Construction Lawyers - Legal Update L.U.C., No. 69, December 27, 2007.
• « Le cautionnement », in O. Kott and C. Roy (dir.), La construction au Québec :  perspectives juridiques, Montreal, Éd. Wilson & Lafleur ltée, 1998.
• "Low Tech Uses of High Tech, How to make Litigation Support Part of Every Day Practice", Proceedings of the American Bar Association annual meeting, 1998.
• "The Law of Construction Privileges:  Corrective Justice or Distributive Justice?", Vol. 2, No. 1, The Canadian Journal of Law and Jurisprudence, pp. 57-78, 1989. 

Speaking Engagements

• Speaker at an international conference in Lisbon, Portugal entitled Advertising in Europe: A Right to Choose. Presented paper entitled Supreme Court of Canada, the Government of Canada and Tobacco Advertising, 1996.
• Panelist at colloquium: A Critical Analysis of the Charlottetown Accord, 1992
• Panelist at a colloquium sponsored by McGill University on the Supreme Court of Canada decision:  Attorney General of Quebec v. Ford, [1988] 2 S.C.R. 712, 1988
• Panelist at an American Bar Association (ABA) colloquium, August, 1998, speaking on the use of litigation support in everyday practice

Memberships and Activities

• Canadian Bar Association