Hon. Daniel W. Payette

After serving for sixteen years as a judge of the Superior Court of Quebec until his retirement in 2024, the Honourable Daniel W. Payette joined the LLT team as counsel. Throughout his career, the Honourable Payette distinguished himself through consistent analytical rigor, a lasting contribution to the development of law, and expertise recognized nationally and internationally. Admitted to the Quebec Bar in 1981, he quickly developed a leading practice in commercial litigation, insurance law, civil and medical liability, and class actions. Appointed a puisne judge of the Superior Court of Quebec in July 2008, he sat in all divisions of the Court, including family, penal, and criminal matters, and several jury trials. In response to the challenges posed by the ruling, he notably founded and led the Statutory Appeals Division of the Superior Court of Quebec. From the moment of his appointment, he dedicated himself to the professional development of his peers. Until his retirement from the Superior Court, he provided training in judgment drafting to newly appointed judges of the Superior Court of Quebec, in addition to offering numerous training sessions to judges in federal, New Brunswick, Alberta, Ontario, and Belgian jurisdictions. For over a decade, the Honourable Payette co-chaired the ICAJ's annual judgment drafting seminar for newly appointed judges, as well as the advanced seminar offered jointly by the INM (National Judicial Institute) and the ICAJ (Canadian Institute for the Administration of Justice) for more experienced judges. He also provided judicial drafting training to federally appointed judges, Quebec administrative judges, judges of the Court of King's Bench of New Brunswick, Ontario provincial judges, Alberta justices of the peace, and Belgian judges through the Belgian Judicial Training Institute. He delivered a lecture on plain language at an international conference of the organization. He is the author of the "New Judges' Survival Guide," published on the INM website, a reference work for judges at the beginning of their terms. His desire to understand the decision-making process and its flaws led him to explore cognitive psychology in relation to the work of decision-makers, resulting in the creation, in collaboration with the ICAJ, of an annual seminar on cognitive biases, co-chaired with Justice Peter Lauwers of the Ontario Court of Appeal and the Honourable James O'Reilly, then of the Federal Court and now a Senate Ethics Officer. He has also given lectures on the impact of unconscious cognitive biases on decision-makers and how to mitigate them. As a speaker, he has also addressed the International Francophone Association of Family Professionals, the Quebec Bar Association, and the McGill University Faculty of Law. He has contributed to various panels, notably on judicial silence in cases of family violence and the challenges of drafting legal arguments in sexual offences. With retired Justice Christiane Alary, he designed and led training for lawyers on written and oral presentations—training that has been attended by nearly 300 lawyers to date. Since joining LLT, the Honourable Payette has brought to the firm the depth of experience he has gained on both sides of the courtroom. He acts as counsel, providing a judicial perspective to litigation strategy. He is regularly called upon as a mediator, drawing on his nuanced understanding of decision-making dynamics and the demands of the judicial process. He also mentors the firm's next generation of lawyers, helping to foster the culture of excellence and precision that defines LLT. Furthermore, he continues to actively contribute to the advancement of the law and the development of best practices based on sound multidisciplinary evidence.