Lawyer Profile

Biography

François Baril is a partner in the Gowling WLG Ottawa office. His practice is focused on litigation, with an emphasis on health care, including professional liability, professional discipline and regulatory issues. François also practises in the area of competition law. He advises both foreign and Canadian clients on all aspects of competition law, including merger clearance, distribution issues, pricing issues, investigations and enforcement actions. François has appeared before a number of different courts, including the Supreme Court of Canada, the Federal Court and Federal Court of Appeal, the Tax Court of Canada, all levels of the Ontario Court, the Yukon Supreme Court and Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories. He has also appeared before a number of federal and provincial administrative tribunals. His trial experience includes civil jury and non-jury cases, as well as criminal cases and arbitrations before the International Chamber of Commerce. François has been with Gowling WLG since his time as an articling student in 1996, aside from a period in 2003-04 when he took leave to work for a large U.S. firm in Washington, D.C. During that time, he acted for Canadian softwood lumber producers and other international clients involved in trade litigation with the U.S. He returned to Gowling WLG in the fall of 2004. François was an instructor at the Law Society of Upper Canada Bar Admission Course for several years. He is a part-time professor at the University of Ottawa, where he teaches competition law and lectures on trial advocacy. François is a past president of the AJEFO (Association des juristes d’expression française de l’Ontario). He is also a past president of the Vanier Community Services Centre. Benchmark 2019 – Litigation Star Chambers 2018 – Notable Practitioner, Health Law Lexpert 2018 Leading Practitioner, Health Law Member of the Supreme Court Advocacy Institute Part-time professor of competition law at University of Ottawa since 2005 Member of the CCLA CPD Accreditation Committee since 2014 Frequent speaker at various CPD events