Commercial, transactional and tax matters

Corporate and transactional law

Dunton Rainville’s corporate and transactional lawyers provide clients with a wide range of legal services to contribute to the success of their commercial projects and ensure their businesses run smoothly.

Our team favours a collegial approach, working closely with colleagues in other practice areas, such as litigation (commercial and international), intellectual property, financial services and taxation. This combined expertise ensures that our clients receive the highest quality of service to meet their diverse legal needs.

Specialized services:

• Financing and investment transactions (private financing, public offerings, institutional financing)
• Incorporations
• Contract drafting and negotiation
• Purchase and sale of businesses, including family business transfers
• Reorganization of companies and share capital
• Commercial transactions
• Shareholder agreements and changes in ownership structure
• Mergers and acquisitions
• Governance and ethics
• Management of annual obligations to government authorities
• Preparation of minute books

Commercial litigation

At Dunton Rainville, our commercial litigation expertise is inextricably linked to our expertise in alternative dispute resolution. Our litigators are prepared for any situation.

Our team members help clients resolve disputes in the most cost-effective and timely manner. They are equally adept at forging a consensus that can lead to a settlement, whether through negotiation, mediation or arbitration. In fact, many of our lawyers are accredited mediators and use this approach successfully in a variety of situations, including commercial disputes.

Specialized services:

• Class actions
• Shareholder disputes
• Directors’ and officers’ liability
• Contractual disputes
• Commercial fraud
• Intellectual property
• Securities
• Commercial leases
• Transactional disputes
• Banking disputes

Taxation

The expertise of Dunton Rainville’s team of tax lawyers encompasses all facets of the tax system in Québec and Canada.

More specifically, our expertise includes GST, QST, excise tax, property tax, carbon tax, as well as contributions to the QPP, Employment Insurance and the Canada Pension Plan. In addition, we effectively represent clients at all stages of the audit and objection process with Revenu Québec or the Canada Revenue Agency, in the negotiation of disputes or before the competent administrative tribunals in the event of tax litigation.

Specialized services:

• Purchase and sale of businesses (tax considerations)
• Estate planning
• Personal and corporate income tax
• Succession planning
• Dividend taxation
• Tax deductions
• Tax reorganization
• Corporate restructuring
• Tax litigation
• Fuel tax and carbon tax
• Real estate transfer tax
• Property tax

Intellectual property

Dunton Rainville’s professionals understand that intellectual property is an invaluable intangible asset for any business. By providing sound advice, they help clients protect and enhance their intellectual property rights.

Our expertise extends to all forms of intellectual property protection, including trademarks, copyright, patents, industrial designs, trade secrets and topographies (computer chips). Our lawyers and agents advise our clients in implementing strategies to protect their intellectual property and create a competitive advantage. We also help them prevent infringements on their intellectual property rights and, when necessary, represent them before the competent courts, including the Federal Court, the Québec Court of Appeal and the Superior Court.

Specialized services:

• Registration applications (copyright, patents, trademarks, industrial designs)
• Agreements (licensing, confidentiality, franchising, distribution, software, suppliers, etc.)
• Intellectual property portfolio management
• Domain names and social networks
• Litigation (counterfeiting, trademark opposition, copyright infringement, piracy, unfair competition, extraordinary remedies such as injunctions and seizures, shareholder disputes, etc.)
• Legal advice on image protection
• Advertising and marketing (digital and non-digital)
• Protection of personal information and trade secrets
• Negotiations related to the commercialization of intellectual property
• Regulatory compliance