HÉLÈNE LE BEL

Retired Justice

of the Quebec Superior Court

Born in Montreal in 1943, Helene Le Bel studied law at the University of Montreal (LL.L. 1966) and at Harvard Law School (LL.M. 1968).  She pursued graduate studies at Nuffield College, Oxford University (1968-1969) and studied for an LL.D. at Harvard Law School (1969-71).

Throughout her career, Helene Le Bel specialized in labour, administrative, constitutional and human rights law. She pleaded cases before labour relations tribunals in Quebec and in several provinces. She argued cases before the Quebec courts, the Federal Court, the Ontario Court of Appeal, as well as the Supreme Court of Canada.  She represented the Plaintiff (Action Travail des Femmes) in a case against Canadian National Railway; this unanimous judgment of the Supreme Court of Canada made Canadian Human Rights legal history (1987) 2 SCR1114, 1987 CANLII 109 (SCC).

Career path

  • Adjunct-professor at the Faculty of Law at the University of Montreal (1971 – 1974)
  • Vice-Chair of the Canada Labour Relations Board (1974 – 1978)
  • Law Associate at Rivest, Castiglio, Castiglio, Le Bel & Schmidt (1978 – 87)
    • Member, Board of Directors, Quebec Labour Standards Commission (1980 – 1983)
    • Chair, Disciplinary Committee of the Professional Corporation of Physicians of Quebec (1980 – 1984)
    • Chair, Disciplinary Committee of the Quebec Bar Association (1984 – 1987)
    • Member, Board of Directors, Canada Development Investment Corporation (1985 – 1987)
  • Adjunct-professor at the Faculty of Law at McGill University (1987)
  • Appointed Judge of the Quebec Superior Court for the district of Montreal on November 3, 1987
  • Retired from the Court on January 1, 2017
  • Currently working as mediator and arbitrator.

SERVICES

MEDIATION AND ARBITRATION

Having been a member of the Bar for nearly 20 years and a judge of the Quebec Superior Court for close to 30 years, Hélène Le Bel uses her extensive experience to help families, individuals and organizations torn by conflict.

Through mediation, she enables the parties to communicate effectively, and helps them work out their own solutions to the issues that divide them, thus avoiding lengthy and expensive legal proceedings. If the parties become deadlocked, an informal and expeditious arbitration can help resolve the dispute.