About
The Notarial Chair's Mission
The mission of the Notarial Chair is to support the development of the notarial field and the notarial profession and enhance their sphere of influence. There are many means for doing so, including carrying out studies, setting up a Web site, organizing conferences, granting bursaries and promoting international exchanges. The Chair is intended to further the exchange of views and support scientific research in the notarial field.
Chairholder
The principal functions of the Chairholder are to propose the Chair's program based on the objectives established by the Administrative Committee and the advice of the Scientific Committee, to administer the Chair's activities and to report annually to the Scientific Committee and the Administrative Committee. The Chairholder is selected by the University's Executive Committee after consulting with a committee composed of the Dean of the Faculty of Law or his representative, the Vice-Rector of Research or his representative and two members of the Chambre des notaires. The Chairholder has a 3-year mandate which can be renewed.
The current Chairholder is Professor Brigitte Lefebvre whose mandate will end on May 31st, 2010.
Brigitte Lefebvre
A Doctor of Civil Law and Notary, Brigitte Lefebvre is a professor at the Université de Montréal's Faculty of Law since 2003 where she teaches private law and directs the Notarial Studies Programme. She began her academic career in 1989 as a law professor at the Département des sciences juridiques of the Université du Québec ? Montréal. Professor Lefebvre was an invited professor at the D.E.S.S. de droit notarial at the Université Panthéon-Assas (Paris II) as well as at other Quebec (Sherbrooke) and Canadian (Ottawa) universities. Throughout her professorships, she has taught family law, successions, patrimonial family law, immovable transactions and commercial law. Professor Lefebvre's main fields of research are de facto spouses, civil union, patrimonial family law and equity in contract. She has published numerous articles and given many conferences both in academic and professional circles in Quebec and abroad. Professor Lefebvre has also published a book on good faith in contract formation (La bonne foi dans la formation du contrat) which was the subject of her doctoral thesis.
Professor Lefebvre works regularly with the Chambre des notaires du Québec and is a member of the Comité de formation continue which she has presided for 6 years. She has also participated in the parliamentary work of Bill 84, An Act instituting civil unions and the House of Commons' consultation on same-sex marriages as a consultant to the President of the Chambre des notaires. She is a CREPUQ (Conférence des recteurs et des principaux des universités du Québec) representative to the Comité sur la formation des notaires. Professor Lefebvre has worked with foreign notariats, namely the Chambre des notaires de Paris and the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine. An active participant in certain scientific associations, she is a board member of the Association Henri Capitant, Quebec Section and Vice-President of Finance of the Quebec Society of Comparative Law.
Associates Researchers
Alain Roy
Doctor of Law and notary, Alain Roy is a professor at the Faculty of Law of the Université de Montréal. His research and teaching activities are focussed on the areas of family law, natural persons and professional conduct and procedure in the notarial field. He has lectured at various academic and professional conferences, both national and international, including the following: the Civil Code reform program (1993), the Canadian Bar Association (1994), McGill University (1995), Cours de perfectionnement du Notariat (1996, 1998 and 2001), the Congrés des notaires du Québec (2000), the ACFAS (1996 and 2001), the Centre de recherche en droit public of the Université de Montréal (2000), Entretiens Jacques Cartier (2000), the Bar of Buenos Aires (2001), the Universidad Torcuato Di Tella in Argentina (2002), UQAM (2003) and the Université de Poitiers in France (2003). The Chambre des notaires du Québec has called upon his expertise on several occasions, including as part of the training offered to articling students and in connection with the revision of the Notarial Act (S.Q., 2000, c. 44) for which he was the principal person in charge. In 2001, at the request of the Law Commission of Canada, he also prepared a brief on the use of contracts in adult inter-personal relationships. Holder of a grant from the SSHRC, he currently heads an empirical study of the normative content of contracts between spouses. Professor Roy is a member of the scientific committees of the Conseil de développement de la recherche sur la famille du Québec and of the Revue du Notariat.
Christine Gagnon
Available in french only.
Diane Bruneau
Available in french only.
Jeffrey A. Talpis
Available in french only.