Éric Vallières

Éric Vallières is one of Canada’s foremost aviation lawyers and a leader of McMillan’s Aviation Group. He is also widely respected for his expertise in competition law. Éric’s broad practice encompasses class actions, international arbitration and cross-border litigation. As a top-notch and seasoned class action defence litigator, he has acted as lead counsel for multiple Fortune 500 companies in antitrust class actions, as well as in numerous product liability, misleading advertising and consumer protection cases. Éric’s vast litigation experience encompasses all levels of Québec courts, the Federal Court and the Supreme Court of Canada as well as specialized tribunals and disciplinary boards.

Éric’s many appearances before the Supreme Court of Canada include landmark cases involving the rights of indirect purchasers to sue in class proceedings, the rights and powers of the Canadian competition law authorities as well as the rights of bankrupt estates relating to the collection of sales taxes. He has also argued a significant number of international arbitration cases, including in front of the International Criminal Court (ICC), the International Telecommunications Union, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) arbitration panels. His arbitration practice also includes appearing before industry specialized tribunals, such as the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Travel Agency Commissioner.

Éric has represented IATA in several major cases including in connection with Swissair, Mexicana, CStar, Instrubel and NAV CANADA. He routinely advises international and local airlines, as well as other stakeholders of the aviation industry. Éric and his team currently act or have acted, in recent years, for Cathay Pacific, Turkish Airlines, American Airlines, Air France-KLM and Corsair.

In addition to aviation, Éric assists clients in many other industries, including real estate, banking, public markets and telecommunication services as well as the media and entertainment sectors. In commercial matters, he advises and represents clients in the application of competition law. Éric has advised clients in connection with alleged price-fixing conspiracies, situations of potential abuses of dominance, disputed mergers as well as a multitude of compliance matters. In real estate matters, Éric has been retained by various real estate boards as well as the Quebec Professional Association of Real Estate Brokers, and has appeared before parliamentary commissions in connection with legislation reform. He has also acted for individual brokers in commercial matters, including before disciplinary boards.

Éric is a frequent speaker locally and abroad in areas relating to class actions, aviation and general commercial litigation as well as antitrust and bankruptcy matters.