Mélissa Devost

Mélissa Devost has extensive experience in environmental law. She provides legal and strategic advice on environmental matters concerning Quebec, federal and municipal legislation. She also advises clients on obtaining environmental permits and authorizations and verifies environmental compliance in their operations. Ms. Devost conducts a number of environmental due diligence reviews in order to assess the environmental risks and compliance in connection with mergers and acquisitions and representations and warranties liability.

In particular, she advises clients on matters of contaminated lands, waste and hazardous materials management and, more generally, release of contaminants, wetlands, water bodies, watercourses and floodplains, storage of petroleum products, wastewater management and air emissions.

Ms. Devost also has experience in energy law, municipal law, agricultural law and, more generally, administrative law. She acts on behalf of clients on matters affecting the Commission de protection du territoire agricole du Québec, the Régie des marchés agricoles et alimentaires du Québec and the Administrative Tribunal of Québec.

Prior to joining our firm, Ms. Devost worked for over eight years in the legal affairs directorate of the Quebec Department of Sustainable Development, Environment and the Fight against Climate Change, where she was responsible for major files. She was the lawyer responsible for the July 2013 Lac-Mégantic rail accident file, the 2010 restructuring of Abitibi-Bowater and the request for arbitration made by Dow AgroSciences LLC pursuant to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) concerning the Pesticides Management Code. Ms. Devost has developed particular experience in orders under the Environment Quality Act and the Dam Safety Act. She also acted for the department in several contaminated site files and was responsible for the department's environmental liability team from 2009 to 2014.