François Barette is a partner in the litigation group. Over the last twenty years, his litigation practice has covered a wide range of civil and administrative matters. He has an extensive tax litigation practice with expertise in income tax, sales tax, GST, payroll taxes and property taxes. François has also acted as counsel in other fields such as zoning and "white collar crime" defense work.

François has represented clients (individuals, corporations – foreign and Canadian) before the Supreme Court of Canada, the Federal Court of Appeal, the Federal Court of Canada, the Tax Court of Canada, the Quebec Court of Appeal, the Quebec Superior Court and the Court of Quebec, pleading in both French and English. He also has considerable experience in compliance work, including audits, objections and investigations. Prior to joining the firm, he was counsel at another Canadian law firm and at the Quebec Department of Justice’s tax litigation section. In recent years, François has successfully represented clients in several cases, including Ludco Enterprises Ltd. v. The Queen and Penn Ventilator Canada Ltd. v. The Queen involving interest deductibility issues, Wolofsky v. The Queen involving reserves for unpaid amounts, and Reiss Estate v. The Queen involving valuation of land.

François has lectured regularly since 1990 at McGill University’s Centre for Continuing Education on the topic of "Federal and Provincial Audits and Appeals" and has published extensively for several years on topics relating to various tax issues and tax litigation. François’ recent publications and speeches include "The expert witness as an impartial and independent actor", presented at the APFF 2003 Annual Convention, "New trends in tax litigation", at a Samson Bélair Deloitte & Touche luncheon seminar and "Wage and Other Benefits", at an Association de planification fiscale et financière (APFF) seminar on remuneration of executives.

François is a member of the Quebec Bar, the Canadian Bar Association, the Canadian Tax Foundation and the Association de planification fiscale et financière (APFF). He attended the Université de Montréal and completed his LL.L. in 1979. He became a partner with the firm in 2001.

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