Languages : French and English
Quebec Bar — 1983
Pierre Bienvenu, Ad. E. is a disputes lawyer with more than 35 years’ experience in international commercial arbitration, corporate and commercial litigation, and constitutional law. He has acted as counsel or served as arbitrator in international arbitrations involving disputes in energy, transportation, telecommunications, mergers and acquisitions, construction, pharmaceuticals, international distribution and joint ventures, and foreign investment. A former co-chair of the IBA’s Arbitration Committee (2008-2009), Pierre has served on the LCIA Court (2010-2015), of which he was a vice-president, the ICC International Court of Arbitration (2015-2021), and is currently a member of the Court of Arbitration of the Singapore International Arbitration Center (SIAC). He was appointed by the Government of Canada to ICSID’s Panel of Arbitrators in 2021 for a six-year term and was elected to the ICCA Governing Board on 1 April 2024 for a four-year term. He remains a long-serving member of the ICC Commission on Arbitration and ADR.
As co-chair of the IBA Arbitration Committee, Pierre oversaw the 2010 revisions to the IBA Rules on the Taking of Evidence in International Arbitration and later worked on the 2014 revisions to the IBA Guidelines on Conflicts of Interest in International Arbitration.
In parallel to his international arbitration practice, Pierre maintained a busy practice as counsel before Canadian courts. He has participated in numerous challenges to the constitutional validity of provincial and federal legislation and has extensive experience in public law litigation. He appeared in more than 15 appeals before the Supreme Court of Canada, representing government, institutions, corporations and individuals in a range of international, constitutional and commercial law disputes, including representing the Attorney General of Canada in the landmark Reference re Secession of Quebec, the federally appointed judiciary in the Bodner case and the recent Reference concerning the Jurisdiction of the Court of Quebec, the successful party in the highly publicized Eric v Lola equality case, as well as in the recent Churchill Falls case, dealing with contractual good faith and changed circumstances. He also acted as co-counsel for BCE and Bell Canada in their successful appeal to the Supreme Court to approve a plan of arrangement for the $50 billion leveraged buyout of BCE by a private equity consortium.
Pierre intervened on behalf of the LCIA, the ICC Court and the Canadian Commercial Arbitration Centre in four appeals to the Supreme Court of Canada raising international arbitration issues, most recently in the Uber case, which concerned the application of the compétence/compétence principle to the ICC arbitration clause contained in the licensing agreement entered into by Uber drivers.
Pierre practiced for more than 35 years at Norton Rose Fulbright Canada (previously Ogilvy Renault LLP). He was managing partner of Ogilvy Renault from 2005 to 2009 and chaired its executive committee from 2005 to 2011. He served on the global supervisory board of Norton Rose Fulbright from 2011 to 2014 and was global co-head of the firm’s international arbitration practice between 2011 and 2022. He withdrew from the partnership of Norton Rose Fulbright in June 2022 and joined IMK LLP in July 2022 to focus on his practice as an international arbitrator. He is also a member of Arbitration Place’s roster of arbitrators.
Pierre is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. He was awarded the distinction Advocatus Emeritus by the Quebec Bar in 2008, and the Paul-André Crépeau Medal by the Canadian Bar Association in 2013 for his contribution to the advancement of the international dimension of private law and commercial law in Canada. He has been ranked among the top 25 most highly regarded individuals in the practice of international arbitration worldwide in Who’s Who Legal’s International Who’s Who of Commercial Arbitration.
Pierre’s experience as an arbitrator includes the following:
In investment arbitration:
ICSID Case No. ARB/15/35 — E.ON SE, E.ON Finanzanlagen GmbH and E.ON Iberia Holding GmbH v. Kingdom of Spain — Annulment (Committee Member)
ICSID Case No. ARB/22/13 — Aderlyne Limited v. Romania — Arbitration (President)
ICSID Case No. ARB/22/27 — SHT Doba Pipeline Investment Inc., Petronas (E&P) Overseas Ventures Sdn. Bhd and SHT Doba Holding Inc. v. Republic of Cameroon — Arbitration (President)
ICSID Case No. UNCT/22/1 — Coeur Mining, Inc. v. United Mexican States — Arbitration (Co-arbitrator)
ICSID Case No. ARB/14/18 — RENERGY S.à r.l. v. Kingdom of Spain — Annulment (Committee Member)
ICSID Case No. ARB/14/22 — BSG Resources Limited (in administration), BSG Resources (Guinea) Limited and BSG Resources (Guinea) SÀRL v. Republic of Guinea — Annulment (Committee Member)
In commercial arbitration:
UNCITRAL arbitration, seated in The Hague, between an energy producer and a European sovereign state concerning measures alleged to have triggered an obligation to compensate under pre-existing contractual commitments — Applicable law: Laws of a European civil law country. Amount in dispute: EUR 850 million (Co-arbitrator)
ICC arbitration, seated in London, concerning a contractual dispute involving state-owned entities in relation to an oil development project in Africa — Applicable law: English law. Amount in dispute: USD 350 million (President)
SIAC arbitration, seated in Singapore, concerning a contractual dispute relating to a real estate transaction in the Republic of Korea — Applicable law: Korean law. Amount in dispute: USD 150 million (Co-arbitrator)
LCIA arbitration, seated in New York, concerning a contractual dispute in the energy sector — Applicable law: New York law. Amount in dispute: USD 1,5 billion (President)
ICC arbitration, seated in Seoul, Korea, concerning a licensing dispute in the technology sector — Applicable law: California law. Amount in dispute: USD 150 million (Co-arbitrator)
ICC arbitration, seated in Stockholm, concerning various disputes relating to a nuclear power plant project in Europe — Applicable law: Finnish law. Amount in dispute: EUR 1 billion (President)
VanIAC arbitration, seated in Vancouver, concerning a contractual dispute in the real estate industry — Applicable law: British Columbia law. Amount in dispute: unquantified (President)
ICC arbitration, seated in London, concerning the enforcement of a financial guarantee in favor of a sovereign state in relation to an oil exploration project in Africa — Applicable law: English law. Amount in dispute: USD 140 million (President)
ICC arbitration, seated in Paris, concerning breach of contract and tortious claims arising from alleged acts of corruption in the performance of a contract in the Middle East — Applicable law: English law. Amount in dispute: USD 300 million (President)
ICC arbitration, seated in London, concerning a dispute between joint venture partners in the pharma sector — Applicable law: Korean law. Amount in dispute: USD 1 billion (President)
ICC arbitration, seated in Paris, involving an African sovereign state and concerning allegations of fraud in the procurement of an arbitral award — Applicable law: French law. Amount in dispute: USD 750 million (President)
ICDR arbitration, seated in London, concerning the rights to a new generic Top Level Domain Name — Applicable law: ICANN’s By-laws and Articles of Incorporation. Amount in dispute: unquantified (President)
ICC arbitration, seated in Stockholm, concerning multi-faceted disputes arising out of the construction of a nuclear power plant in Finland — Applicable law: Finnish law. Amount in dispute: EUR 2.5 billion (President)
ICC arbitration, seated in Paris, concerning claims for the protection of trade secrets — Applicable law: French law. Amount in dispute: USD 500 million (President)
ICC arbitration, seated in Paris, concerning a contractual dispute in the information technology sector — Applicable law: French law. Amount in dispute: USD 350 million (President)
BCICAC arbitration, seated in Vancouver, concerning disputes arising under a Shareholders Agreement in relation to a mining project in the Dominican Republic — Applicable law: Dominican law. Amount in dispute: unquantified (President)
ICC arbitration, seated in London, concerning claims arising out of the cancellation of a licensing agreement in the medical sector — Applicable law: Massachusetts law. Amount in dispute: unquantified (President)
LCIA arbitration, seated in London, concerning a claim under a political risk insurance policy — Applicable law: English law. Amount in dispute: unquantified (President)
Ad hoc arbitration, seated in Brussels, concerning the termination of a commercial aviation agency agreement — Applicable law: Mauritian law. Amount in dispute: unquantified (President)
Ad hoc conciliation, seated in Paris, of a dispute arising out of the taxation of windfall profits in the oil industry — Applicable law: Laws of a North-African country. Amount in dispute: unquantified (Party-appointed conciliator)
As counsel, Pierre represented the following parties before Canadian courts:
IATA and sixteen international carriers in an appeal before the Supreme Court of Canada concerning the validity of the federal Air Passengers Protection Regulations under the Montréal Convention, an international treaty
The successful respondents in an appeal before the Supreme Court of Canada in negligence proceedings against a lawyer and his law firm for recommending a financial advisor who subsequently absconded with the clients’ savings
Hydro-Québec in an appeal before the Supreme Court of Canada by Churchill Falls (Labrador) Corporation (CF(L)Co), seeking to revise the pricing terms of the long-term power supply contract between these parties
Air Canada in an appeal before the Supreme Court of Canada concerning the application of the Montreal Convention, an international treaty, to a claim for damages under the Official Languages Act
The successful party before the Supreme Court of Canada in the Eric v Lola case, the highly publicized challenge to the constitutional validity of the treatment of unmarried spouses under the Civil Code of Québec
The Attorney General of Canada before the Supreme Court of Canada, in the landmark Reference re Secession of Quebec concerning the legality, under both Canadian constitutional law and public international law, of the secession of the Province of Quebec from Canada
The federally appointed judiciary before the Judicial Salaries and Benefits Commission (2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020, and 2024), as well as before the Supreme Court of Canada in the Bodner case, concerning the standard of review of a decision rejecting a compensation commission salary recommendation, and in the Reference re Code of Civil Procedure (Que.), art. 35, concerning the constitutional validity of the monetary jurisdiction of the Court of Quebec
The Canadian Commercial Arbitration Centre before the Supreme Court of Canada in Éditions Chouette (1987) Inc. v Desputeaux, an appeal concerning the arbitrability of copyright disputes; the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) before the Supreme Court of Canada, first in Dell Computer Corp. v Union des consommateurs, dealing with the enforceability of arbitration clauses in consumer contracts, and later in the Yugraneft case, which concerned the legality of local time limitation periods under the New York Convention; and the International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce before the Supreme Court of Canada in the Uber case, which concerned the application of the compétence/ compétence principle to the ICC arbitration clause contained in the licensing agreement entered into by Uber drivers
An intervener in the Carter case, in which the Supreme Court of Canada declared constitutionally invalid the Criminal Code prohibition on physician-assisted death
The Canadian Bar Association, in an appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada relating to the standard to determine whether a lawyer’s in-court behavior constitutes professional misconduct on the basis of incivility
The Advocates Society, in an appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada concerning the constitutional validity of provisions of the Income Tax Act that sought to exclude accounting records from the ambit of the protection afforded by solicitor-client privilege
BCE Inc. in its $1.2 billion claim against the private equity sponsors of the failed leveraged buyout of the company
LL.M., London School of Economics and Political Science, 1983
LL.L., Université de Montréal, 1981
Chambers Global, Canada: Dispute Resolution – Most in Demand Arbitrator (Band 1), Chambers and Partners, 2018-2024
Chambers Canada, Nationwide: Dispute Resolution – Most in Demand Arbitrator (Band 1), Chambers and Partners, 2018-2024
Chambers Global, Global-wide: Arbitration (International), Chambers and Partners, 2008-2024
Chambers Global, Canada: Dispute Resolution (Band 1), Chambers and Partners, 2018-2021
Chambers Global, Canada: Dispute Resolution – Arbitration, Chambers and Partners, 2018-2024
Chambers Canada, Nationwide: Dispute Resolution – Arbitration, Chambers and Partner, 2016-2022
Chambers Canada, Quebec: Litigation – General Commercial (Band 1), Chambers and Partners, 2018-2021
The Legal 500 Canada: Dispute Resolution – Quebec (Leading Lawyer), 2016-2022
Benchmark Litigation Canada: Litigation Star, 2021-2023
Acritas Stars 2021 – Designated as an “Independently rated lawyer”
Who’s Who Legal Arbitration: Global Elite Thought Leader; Canada Thought Leader
Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory, 2011 – 2024: recommended in Commercial Arbitration; Litigation – Corporate Commercial; Litigation – Regulatory & Public Law
Lexpert/American Lawyer Guide to the Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada, 2020-2024: Most Frequently Recommended in the area of Commercial Arbitration; Litigation – Corporate Commercial
Fellow, American College of Trial Lawyers (since 2005)
Awarded Paul-André Crépeau Medal by the Canadian Bar Association (2013)
Named “Advocatus Emeritus” by the Quebec Bar (2008)
Best Lawyers in Canada: Alternative Dispute Resolution and Appellate Practice “Lawyer of the Year”, 2024
Best Lawyers in Canada: Alternative dispute resolution “Lawyer of the Year,” 2012, 2016 and 2021
Best Lawyers in Canada: International Arbitration “Lawyer of the Year,” 2014
Best Lawyers in Canada: Alternative dispute resolution, director and officer liability practice, appellate practice, bet-the-company litigation, corporate and commercial litigation, international arbitration, securities law, 2006-2025
Who’s Who Legal – Arbitration (2016)
Benchmark Canada (2012-2014): local litigation star in Quebec (“a unanimous mention”; “a very refined attorney”) and Arbitration star in Canada (“brilliant international arbitration counsel”)
The International Who’s Who of Arbitration Lawyers (2011-2013)
The International Who’s Who of Commercial Litigation Lawyers (2011-2013)
PLC Which Lawyer? (2011-2012): Dispute resolution: International Arbitration
Lexpert® Guide to the Leading US/Canada Cross-border Litigation Lawyers in Canada (US Litigation Guide) (2011-): International Commercial Arbitration; Litigation – Corporate Commercial
The International Who’s Who of Trade & Customs Lawyers (2011)
Global Arbitration Review (GAR100) (2011): International Arbitration
Global Arbitration Review 100, (2009): International Arbitration (“undoubtedly the best arbitration counsel in Canada”)
Lexpert-Thomson Guide to the Leading 100 Creative Lawyers in Canada
Fellow, Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (London)
Fellow, American College of Trial Lawyers
International Bar Association (IBA)
International Council for Commercial Arbitration (ICCA)
ICC Commission on Arbitration and ADR
Francarbi
Commercial Panel of the AAA’s International Centre for Dispute Resolution (ICDR)
Canadian Bar Association
International Bar Association (IBA)
– Co-Chair, Arbitration Committee (2008-2009)
– Co-Chair, North American Forum (2010-2011)
International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC)
– Alternate member of the ICC Court (2015-2021)
– Canadian roster of arbitrators
London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA)
– Court member (2010-2015)
– Vice-President (2011-2015)
Court of Arbitration of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC)
– Court member (2021-present)
ICC Commission on Arbitration and ADR
– Member (2015-present)
Canadian Bar Association
– Former member, Council
– Former member, International Development Committee
– Former member, Executive Committee, Quebec Branch
– Former president, Constitutional Law and Civil Liberties Section, Quebec Branch
Commercial Panel of the International Center for Dispute Resolution of the American Arbitration Association (ICDR)
NAFTA Advisory Committee on Private Commercial Disputes (former member)
Francarbi (director)
ICCA (Governing Board member)
Optimum Group Inc. (director)
Optimum Reinsurance Inc. (director)
Canadian Institute for Advanced Legal Studies (director)
Fondation Concours musical international de Montréal (director)
“A comparative perspective on good faith, changed circumstances, hardship and more: The Canadian Supreme Court’s decision in Churchill Falls (Labrador) Corporation Limited v. Hydro-Québec” (keynote address), LCIA North American Users’ Council Symposium, Montreal, March 2019.
“The Lola Case and its Potential Impact on Common Law Spouses in Quebec” (keynote speaker), The Lord Reading Law Society, Montreal, April 2012.
“Get What You Need: Winning Damages and Other Remedies in International Arbitration” (lead session speaker), IBA Annual Conference, Dubai, UAE, November 2011.
“Arbitration in the 21st Century: Making it Work” (Co-Chair), Joint IBA-ICC Conference, New Delhi, India, December 2009.
“Due Process in International Arbitration” (Conference Chair), 12th IBA International Arbitration Day, Dubai, UAE, February 2009.
“Compensation for Unlawful Expropriation, and Other Recent Manifestations of the Principle of Full Reparation in International Investment Law,” ICCA Congress Series No. 14 (2008).
“Arbitral Advocacy,” 15th Annual International Commercial Arbitration Workshop (Conference Co-Chair), Institute for Transnational Arbitration, Dallas, Texas, June 2004.
“Arbitration and Company Law,” Annual Convention, International Bar Association (Committee D), Amsterdam, September 2000.