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Bernard Colas, LL.D., Ad.E.
Attorney & Partner

International Trade Law and Intellectual Property Specialist


Bernard Colas has over 30 years of experience in international trade law and intellectual property. This experience was acquired in Montreal, Sorel, London and Paris by advising manufacturing, technology and service businesses as well as foreign governments. As part of his practice, he advises and represents his clients’ interests during negotiations, transactions, licenses and international contracts and during their operations and implantation overseas and in international litigation. He provides advice pertaining to the enforcement and the development of international trade agreements and helps his clients develop commercial and industrial strategies while taking advantage of international trade laws. Before co-founding CMKZ, Bernard Colas worked at a law firm now called Dentons and as a legal advisor at the International Federation of Producers of Phonograms and Videograms (IFPI) in London and at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris.


Languages

  • French
  • English

Education

  • PhD in International Economic Law, Université Paris I, 1995
  • Auditor, The Hague Academy of International Law, 1987
  • Diploma (DEA) in International Economic Law, Université Paris I, 1985
  • Called to the Quebec Bar, 1983
  • License en droit, Université de Sherbrooke, 1982

Current Professional Associations

  • Accredited Civil and Commercial Mediator
  • Trademark Agent, Canada
  • Honorary Consul of Mauritania
  • Treasurer and past President, Canadian Branch, International Law Association (ILA-Canada)
  • Board Member, International Relations Council of Montreal (CORIM)
  • Past president and Board Member, International Law Section, Quebec Division, Canadian Bar Association
  • Member, Foundation for Canadian Legal Research
  • Member of the Quebec Bar and of the Canadian Bar Association

Past professional affiliations

  • Board Member, Association of Quebec Lawyers Abroad (AHQ), 2009-2014
  • Member, Study Group on the legal practice outside of Quebec, Quebec Bar, 2009-2010
  • Board Member, International Relations Committee, The Bar of Montreal, 2009-2012
  • Member direction, International Canadian Lawyer, CBA journal, 2006-2012
  • President, International Law Section, Quebec Division, Canadian Bar Association, 2006-2010
  • Commissioner and Vice-President, Law Commission of Canada, 2001-2006 (Acting President 2004-2005)
  • Board Member, International Committee, Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal, 2001-2010
  • President, Business Environment Committee, BioQuébec, 2000-2004
  • Member, Information and Communications Technologies Sectorial Advisory Group on International Trade (SAGIT), 2000-2004
  • Board Member, World Trade Centre, Montreal, 1999-2001
  • President and founding member, International Economic Law Society (SDIE) (Canada), 1997-2010
  • President, Association of Members of the Quebec Bar in France, 1994-1998
  • President and founding member, International Economic Law Society (SDIE) (France), 1989-1992

Publications

  • International Transfer of Clean Technologies: Mitigating Legal Obstacles, CIGI Center for International Governance Innovation, 2019
  • Le Canada et le droit international privé en matière commerciale, CIGI Center for International Governance Innovation, 2018
  • Transfer of Clean Technologies from North to South: Legal Barriers and Mitigations, B. Colas, CIGI Center for International Governance Innovation, 2016
  • Improving the Coherence of International Standards, J. Brodeur, B. Colas et al., Thompson-Carswell, 2010 (French version published by Bruylant, Éditions Yvon Blais)
  • Treaties and International Documents Used in International Trade Law, co-author with Pr. Alain Prujiner, Wilson & Lafleur and ICC Publishing, 2005
  • Organisations internationales à vocation régionale, Documentation française, 1995 (“e”: managing editor)
  • Global Economic Co-operation: A Guide to Agreements and Organizations, Management Books, Kluwer Law and Taxation and United Nations University, 1994 (e)
  • Organisations internationales à vocation universelle, Documentation française, 1993 (e)
  • Accords économiques internationaux: répertoire des accords et des institutions, Documentation française, 1990 (e)
  • Annual article on Canada and the International Financial and Monetary System in the Canadian Yearbook of International Law, 1998-2014

Distinction and nomination

  • Advocatus Emeritus Distinction, Quebec Bar, 2020-
  • Member of the binational panels roster under the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) (Annex 10-B.1), 2018-
  • CIGI Senior Felow, 2016-
  • Ambassador, Université de Sherbrooke, 2001

Teaching

  • University of Montréal, Law Faculty, Lecturer “International Intellectual Property Law” at the master’s degree LL.M. Business Law in a Global Context, 2019
  • École de Technologie Supérieure (ÉTS), Montréal, Lecturer at the Master’s degree “Legal and Contractual Aspects of International Projects”, 2012-2014
  • University of Quebec in Montréal (UQAM), Faculty of Political Science and Law, Lecturer “International Economic Law”, 2007
  • HEC Business School, Montréal, Lecturer at the MBA program “Law of International Commercial Transactions”, 1999-2004
  • University of Montréal, Law Faculty, Lecturer “Law of International Commercial Transactions”, 1996-1998
  • Sponsored by the Quebec Association for the Advancement of the United Nations, Trainer of Cooperative Law, Haiti, 1982

Latest Posts

Athens, Auckland City, Barcelona, Belfast, Belgrade, Bolzano, Bordeaux, Boston, Brussels, Bucharest, Budapest, Buenos Aires, Chicago, Colorado, Copenhagen, D.F. Mexico, Dubai, Dublin, Frankfurt, Frederikshavn, Geneva, Hamburg, Helsinki, Herzliya Pituach, Hong Kong, Innsbruck, Istanbul, Izmir, Jounieh, Kiev, Kuala Lumpur, Lagos, Leeds, Leeuwarden, Lima, Limassol, Lisbon, Ljubljana, London, Los Angeles, Luxembourg, Lyon, Melbourne, Miami, Milan, Modena, Montreal, Moscow, Mumbai, München, New Delhi, New York, Nice, Nicosia, Oldenburg, Paphos, Paris, Phoenix, Prague, Richmond, Rome, Saint Paul, San Francisco, Santo Domingo, São Paulo, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Sofia, St Petersburg, Stuttgart, Sydney, Tallinn, The Hague, Tokyo, Tucson, Vaduz, Valletta, Warsaw, Zurich