As a member of the administrative law team, Raymond Doray heads the information law practice and, more particularly, is involved in issues pertaining to access to information, privacy and defamation, as well as the application of the Canadian and Québec charters of rights and freedoms. He is also specialized in constitutional law.
Over the past few years, Mr. Doray has represented many public, private and media organizations before the courts in cases involving the confidentiality of documents, the validity of government decisions, as well as respect for reputation and privacy. In addition, he is legal counsel for a number of major corporations, professional orders, public bodies and media organizations in matters relating to administrative and constitutional law. He is regularly called upon to represent them in the courts when governmental decisions are challenged. He also represents various clients in proceedings pertaining to defamation, slander, invasion of privacy and professional confidentiality and has represented the Québec Bar in constitutional matters before the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada.
Before joining the firm, he acted as legal advisor to the Paré Commission, a commission formed in 1980 to study the issue of access to government information, and then to the Conseil exécutif du Québec in 1982 and 1983, and to the Commission d'accès à l'information from 1984 to 1986.
In 1988, Mr. Doray published a book dealing with the legal and administrative aspects of access to information. Since 2002, he has written a treatise of more than 2,000 pages on rights of access to information and the protection of personal information that has been published by Éditions Yvon Blais/Thomson Reuters and is constantly updated. On June 1st, 2004, he was awarded the Québec Bar Foundation's Prix Répertoire for this treatise. He also writes and updates the chapters on professional confidentiality and conflicts of interest in a guide published by the Québec Bar school, of which he is the president. He is the author of numerous articles on these subjects published in trade journals, including commentaries on the law of e-commerce, right to privacy and protection of personal information, professional secrecy and ethics.
He is frequently invited to speak on the protection of personal information and privacy at conferences sponsored by professional agencies and business groups in Québec, elsewhere in Canada and abroad.
Representative Work
- Mr. Doray represented the board of inquiry investigating the Sûreté du Québec (the Poitras Commission) when its powers were being challenged, as well as the Ministère du Revenu du Québec during the investigation of leakage of private information (the Moisan Commission)
- He also represented the Québec Judicial Council before the Superior Court and the Québec Court of Appeal in proceedings to have a law declared unconstitutional because it compromised the independence of the judiciary
- He has acted for the Québec Bar before the Supreme Court of Canada regarding issues of public law and the liability of professional orders as well as in a case pertaining to the distribution of constitutional powers in the field of securities
- In 2005, he represented the former president and chief executive officer of a major Crown corporation before the Gomery Commission
- In 2009, he acted as lead counsel for the Grenier Commission, which held an inquiry into Option Canada
- In 2010, Mr. Doray has notably represented the Order of Notaries in a litigation case where the validity of some sections of the Income Tax Act were constitutionally challenged, the Association of Magistrates Courts Judges before the Judicial Remuneration Committee and the Bar before the Supreme Court of Canada. Recently, he also acted for this professional order and the Order of Notaries in a constitutional litigation heard by the Supreme Court of British Columbia
Professional and community activities
- President and a member of the Board of Directors of l’École du Barreau du Québec and of many committees of the Québec Bar
- Chairman of the organizing committee and of the International Conference on Privacy Society held in Montreal (1997)
- Taught administrative law at the Université de Montréal to graduate students from 1990 to 1992
Distinctions
- Litigation Star, Benchmark Litigation, 2023
- Chambers Canada in the field of Privacy and Data Protection, 2019
- The Best Lawyers in Canada, Lawyer of the Year, Administrative and Public Law, 2019
- The Best Lawyers in Canada in the fields of Administrative and Public Law and Privacy and Data Security Law, since 2014
- Advocatus Emeritus (Ad. E.)
- Fellow of The American College of Trial Lawyers
- The Best Lawyers in Canada, Lawyer of the Year, Administrative and Public Law, 2020
Education
- LL.M., public law, London School of Economics, 1987
- D.E.S. (legislative drafting and interpretation), University of Ottawa, 1984
- LL.L., Université de Montréal, 1980
Contact info:
514 877-2913
rdoray@lavery.ca