Lawyer Profile
Jean Piette
Québec, Québec
Overview
Jean Piette is Avocat-conseil (Senior Counsel) at BCF in Québec City. He has approximately five decades of experience in environmental and climate-change law, including environmental permits, compliance, due diligence, mining, land use, administrative proceedings and environmental litigation before courts and tribunals. He previously served as a senior partner at Norton Rose Fulbright and chaired its environmental team. His work also includes commercial contracts and business-criminal-law matters connected with environmental regulation. Piette has taught environmental law at Université Laval and Université de Sherbrooke and works in French and English. He holds a law degree from Université de Montréal and a comparative-law master's degree from George Washington University, and was called to the Québec Bar in 1973. His distinctions include Avocat émérite from the Barreau du Québec, Chambers Senior Statespeople recognition, Best Lawyers and Canadian Legal Lexpert listings, and multiple environmental-law awards.
Practice Areas
Bar Information
Barreau du Québec, 1973
Professional Details
Education
Licence en droit, Université de Montréal, 1970
Maîtrise en droit comparé, George Washington University, 1972
Associations
Barreau du Québec, member
Canadian Bar Association, member
Canadian Bar Association, Quebec Environmental Law section chair (1975-1981)
Centre canadien d'arbitrage et de médiation en environnement, founding member (2003-present)
L'Éducation au service de la Terre, board member and audit committee chair (1995-present)
Conseil patronal de l'environnement du Québec, delegate, board chair and executive committee chair (1994-present)
International Council on Environmental Law, member
Barreau du Québec permanent committee on environmental law, chair
Barreau du Québec ad hoc rule-of-law committee (2011-2012)
Université Laval, lecturer in environmental law (2010, 2013, 2015)
Barreau du Québec ad hoc international relations committee (2011)
Association of Fellows and Legal Scholars of the Salzburg Centre for International Legal Studies, honorary member (1997)
Société de Droit international économique, member (1993-1999)
Institut international de stratégies et de sécurité de l'environnement, board chair (1996-2003)
Université de Limoges, lecturer in international environmental law (1996)
Chamarande Excellence Sessions in Environmental Law, lecturer (1995)
Université Laval environmental policy research group, associate researcher (1993-2002)
International Secretariat for Great Rivers, steering committee chair (1993-1994)
AUPELF/UREF environmental law network, founding member and Québec representative (1992-2003)
Association québécoise pour l'évaluation des impacts, member (1992-2000)
Observatoire coopératif sur les politiques environnementales des pays francophones, international steering committee member (1992-1995)
Association québécoise pour la vérification environnementale, member (1992-1994)
Observatoire canadien des politiques environnementales, founding member (1992)
Université Laval, lecturer in international environmental law (1992)
Écodécision, editorial board member (1991-1998)
Québec section of the Institut de l'Environnement international, board member (1991-1995)
Scientists' Institute for Public Information, Great Lakes environmental workshop advisory committee (1991-1992)
Barreau du Québec collective emergency response committee (1991-1992)
Québec representative, International Environmental Experts Committee of the Francophonie (1989-1991)
Société québécoise de droit international, board member (1988-1990)
Institut canadien, Institut international de recherche and Québec Ministry of Industry, Trade and Technology, lecturer or speaker in environmental law (1987-1992)
Revue juridique de l'Environnement, foreign associate of editorial board (1985-2005)
Universities of Sherbrooke and Laval, environmental-law jury member (1985-1990)
Center for Environmental Information, national advisory council member (1984-1991)
Conference of New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers, Québec representative on Environment Committee (1984-1991)
Québec-New York Joint Committee on Acid Precipitation, co-chair (1984-1990)
Kativik Environmental Advisory Committee, chair (1980-1981)
James Bay Environmental Advisory Committee, chair (1978-1980)
Awards & Recognition
Lexology Index: Canada, Environment and Climate Change (2024)
Chambers Canada, Senior Statespeople in Environmental Law (2018-2025)
Leading Advisor Awards, Leading Environmental Lawyer (2024)
Chambers and Partners Global, Environment (2024)
Médaille du Conseil du Barreau de Québec (2023)
Best Lawyers, Environmental Law; Administrative and Public Law; Energy Regulatory Law (2006-2025)
Canadian Legal Lexpert, Environmental Law (2021-2025)
Canadian Legal Lexpert: Special Edition, Infrastructure; Energy; Mining (2021-2023)
Who's Who Legal, Environmental Law (2010-2023)
Legal 500, Environmental Law (2022-2025)
International Advisory Experts Award, Canadian Environmental Law (2020)
Barreau du Québec, Avocat émérite (2013)
Articles & Speeches
La sanction du droit de l'environnement par des pénalités administratives, Développements récents en droit de l'environnement, Éditions Yvon Blais, 2012, pp. 325-357
The Enforcement of Environmental Law through the Use of Administrative Penalties, Environment in the Courtroom, Allan Ingelson, University of Calgary Press, 2019, pp. 338-363
Certain Defences in Criminal Law of the Environment, Environment in the Courtroom, Allan Ingelson, University of Calgary Press, 2019, pp. 272-284
La protection juridique de l'environnement, with Yvon Duplessis and Jean Hétu, Éditions Thémis, 1982, 707 p.
Critères pour la détermination de la sanction des infractions aux lois de protection de l'environnement, Environnemental Legislation in North America, Cesar Nava Escudero, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México / Commission for Environmental Cooperation, 2011, pp. 467-469
De certains moyens de défense en droit pénal de l'environnement, Institut canadien du droit des ressources symposium, University of Calgary, 2013
Quebec's approach to the control of greenhouse gases, Canadian Environmental Law Association conference, 2013
A.E.M.Q. Congress presentation, Québec Association for Mineral Exploration Congress, 2012
Recent developments in environmental law relevant to paralegals, Canadian Association of Paralegals, 2012
Sustainable Mining in Quebec, Resource Exploration Development Summit, Toronto, 2012
Plan Nord: Exploiting the Québec Far North under sustainable-development rules, Québec Bar Congress, 2012
Non-monetary administrative penalties under Bill 89, Insight conference, 2012
Enforcement of environmental law through administrative penalties, Recent Developments in Environmental Law colloquium, 2012
Environmental liability of corporate directors and officers, Québec environmental council, 2011
Québec regulation of contaminated land, Insight conference, 2011
Liability of corporate directors and officers, Québec environmental council training, 2011
State remedies for damage to water resources, CCH water law colloquium, 2011
Sustainable development, Fédération des chambres de commerce du Québec annual congress, 2011
Citizen participation and scientific expertise, Belgium/Québec international environmental law colloquium, Université de Montréal, 2010
Québec businesses and climate change, Canadian Energy Forum, Montréal, 2010
Legal framework for soil contamination and remediation, 2010
Québec legislative regime for contaminated land, Insight contaminated-land conference, 2010
Best practices for applying the precautionary principle, Forum économique international des Amériques, 2009
Clauses for managing environmental risks in a transaction, Canadian Institute business agreements boot camp, 2009
NAFTA's impact on the environmental policies of treaty parties, Commission for Environmental Cooperation environmental colloquium, 2009
Major decisions arising from the Québec Environment Quality Act, CCH colloquium, 2009
Harmonization of carbon markets in Canada and the United States, Americana Congress, Montréal, 2008
Environmental liability of directors, Institute of Corporate Directors, 2008
Future of the Environment Quality Act, University of Montréal international colloquium, 2008
Penalties for breaches of environmental protection laws, legal seminar on environmental protection in Canada, Mexico and the United States, 2007
Permitting regime for the petroleum and petrochemical industry, 2006
Canadian Centre for Environmental Arbitration and Mediation conferences, Ottawa and Montréal, 2005
Access to environmental information in Québec and Canada, 2004
Environmental Concerns in International Mergers and Acquisitions, Center for International Legal Studies, Steamboat Springs, 2003
New legislation and regulation on soil and groundwater contamination, Canadian Bar Association, 2001
Liability of owners and tenants of contaminated land, Canadian Institute, 2003
Legal challenges in implementing the Kyoto Protocol in Canada, 2003
Soil and groundwater contamination: scope and implementation of new legislation, 2003
Fond régional & Géocom: Un vrai geste de solidarité, 2002
Law relating to soil and groundwater contamination, 2002
The law respecting soil and groundwater contamination, 2002
New legislative proposal on protecting soil and remediating contaminated land, Insight Information Montréal, 2002