Robert Torralbo is a Partner and the head of the Litigation Group in the Montréal office. He practises corporate commercial litigation and arbitration with an emphasis on defending class actions, product liability, securities, banking, real estate and shareholder disputes. He represents a wide range of clients, including financial institutions, large multinational organizations, securities dealers, manufacturers and real estate developers. He also represents several leading manufacturers of consumer goods, consumer electronic products, software, medical devices, recreational vehicles, motorcycles, watercraft, heavy industrial equipment, construction vehicles, truck engines, and other products in product liability claims alleging negligence in the design and manufacture of products, safety defects, breach of the duty to warn, serious personal injury and/or economic loss.

Robert has an extensive class action defence practice, including cross-border, multi-jurisdictional and multi-defendant class actions. Robert's relevant experience includes:

• Defending a leading international multilevel marketing company in the defence of a proposed national class action brought on behalf of 40,000 Canadian distributors alleging misrepresentations and operating an illegal pyramid scheme in violation of the Competition Act
• Defending leading international pharmaceutical companies in the defence of products liability and consumer fraud class actions involving various drugs and other products
• Defending several international manufacturers of pharmaceuticals and chemicals and air carriers in class actions, involving allegations of price fixing and economic loss
• Acting for Canada's largest bank and securities dealer and several related entities in a proposed class action involving allegations of misrepresentation relating to the sale of certain investment products
• Representing several other major financial institutions in the defence of a number of proposed class actions alleging consumer fraud and various breaches of the Quebec Consumer Protection Act and the Civil Code
• Representing one of Canada's largest mutual fund companies in the defence of a class action involving allegations of improper market timing activities
• Represent one of world's leading manufacturers of medical devices in the defence of a CAD 1-billion class action involving allegations of negligent design and manufacture, safety defects and breach of duty to warn relating to certain cardiac valves
• Representing one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer electronics products in the defence of several class actions involving allegations of defective products
• Defended class actions in respect of pension funds

Robert has a wide range of experience acting for investment and securities dealers with respect to a variety of civil disputes including malpractice litigation and in respect of securities regulatory compliance issues.

Robert recently represented Quebec's pension fund in a highly publicized commercial dispute with one of its partners. Robert represented Quebec's largest financial institution in a number of multimillion-dollar lawsuits against one of its members, involving allegations of gross negligence, accommodation and participation in fraudulent transactions. Robert represents several of Quebec's leading real estate developers in a variety of real estate related disputes. He has also acted for both majority and minority shareholders in shareholder disputes involving allegations of oppression.

Robert sits on the boards of, and acts as counsel to, several Canadian subsidiaries of European multinational companies and is regularly called upon to advise them on various issues. He regularly appears before all levels of the Quebec courts and arbitration panels, and has appeared before the Supreme Court of Canada.

Robert is recognized in Chambers Global: The World's Leading Lawyers for Business 2007 as a leading dispute resolution and "high-calibre" lawyer, in the 2008 edition as a "top-drawer business litigator," and in the 2009 edition as "eloquent, candid and proactive, and is an especially sound choice for class actions." He is recongized once again in the 2010 edition. He is also recognized in the 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010 editions of The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory as a leading practitioner in the areas of class action and corporate-commercial litigation. In the inaugural edition of The Best Lawyers in Canada, published in June 2006, and again in the 2008 and 2009 editions, Robert was voted by peers as one of the leading lawyers in Canada in the area of class action litigation. He is also listed in Legal Media Group's Guide to the World's Leading Product Liability Lawyers, published in March 2007 and 2009.

Robert is a guest lecturer at McGill University's Faculty of Law advanced advocacy program. He is a member of the Montréal, Quebec and Canadian Bar Associations, the Defence Research Institute and the Canadian Defence Lawyers Association.

Robert is fluent in English, French and Spanish.