Pandemics and Logistics – Meeting the Supply Chain Challenges of the COVID-19 Crisis

Paul Lalonde focuses on government contracting law, international trade, anti-corruption and international arbitration. Mr. Lalonde is one of Canada’s most decorated experts on government procurement. He is also a recognized expert in international trade and customs, with deep experience in anti-dumping and countervail investigations, customs, appeals, import and export controls, international sanctions, anti-corruption compliance and investigations and international business. He regularly advises clients on Canada’s international investment commitments, including Chapter 11 of the North American Free Trade Agreement, and has played a key role in some of Canada’s highest profile trade disputes and negotiations including those on softwood lumber, steel and agricultural products.

Mr. Lalonde has received numerous accolades for his expertise in international trade law from Lexpert, Chambers Global, the Legal 500, Who’s Who, the Guide to the World's Leading Lawyers (Legal Media Group / Euromoney Institutional Investor) and The Best Lawyers in Canada (Woodward/White). Mr. Lalonde is also one of the most awarded procurement specialists in Canada. Among other accolades, he is recognized by Who’s Who Legal Government Contracts as one of only six Global Thought Leaders for North America (the only Canadian to receive this distinction). He also received in 2020 a global Client Choice Award in Government Contracts for Canada and Chambers recognizes his Public Procurement expertise with a Band 1 designation. His leading expertise in government procurement law is also recognized in other directories such as Legal 500, Best Lawyers and Lexpert. His practice in this area encompasses all aspects of the public procurement lifecycle, from pre-tender activities, the bidding process and contract award, through contract administration and termination and the inevitable disputes that occasionally arise. His track record of appearances in bid protest procedures before the Canadian International Trade Tribunal and the courts is second to none in Canada.

Mr. Lalonde has been involved in the area of anti-corruption law since Canada adopted the Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act in the 90’s. Since then he has assisted clients with respect to anti-corruption compliance through the entire spectrum of issues in this area, including developing compliance policies and programs, advising on business conduct issues, anti-corruption due diligence in transactions, internal investigations related to employee and third party conduct, RCMP and other enforcement authority investigations and dawn raids and advising on remediation agreements (DPA’s). He has been involved in extensive thought leadership in this area through his work with Transparency International Canada and the Canadian Bar Association Anti-corruption Committee on topics such as whistle blower protections, victim reparations, deferred prosecution agreements, beneficial ownership transparency, money laundering, failure to prevent offences and facilitation payments.

Mr. Lalonde was appointed panelist on the fourth and fifth dispute resolution panels created under the Agreement on Internal Trade (now the Canadian Free Trade Agreement). He is also a listed arbitrator on the International Centre for Dispute Resolution (ICDR) Canada Panel of Arbitrators and has been involved in several arbitrations, both as counsel and party-appointed arbitration.

Mr. Lalonde has held numerous leadership positions in the Bar, including as Co-chair of the International Bar Association North American Forum, Chair of the Canadian Bar Association, National Section on International Law and of the International Law Section of the Ontario Bar Association, and Chair of the International Procurement Committee of the American Bar Association International Law Section. Mr. Lalonde is a Life Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, has been named a Trustee of the International Bar Association Foundation and is also a founding member of the Canadian Bar Association Joint Committee on Anti-corruption and Chair and President of Transparency International - Canada. Mr. Lalonde has been nominated to a number of industry advisory committees and corporate boards, including TVOntario, TFO, la télévision éducative et culturelle de l’Ontario français, and was former Secretary and Legal Counsel of I.E. Canada, the Canadian Association of Importers and Exporters.

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Chris Yukins has several decades of experience in public procurement law. In private practice, he has been an associate, partner, and of counsel at leading national firms. Throughout his career, his practice has focused on high-technology companies that serve the government. He is currently counsel at Arnold & Porter LLP, a professor of government contract law at the George Washington University Law School, and a co-director of the law school's government procurement law program, one of the leading programs of its kind in the world. Mr. Yukins was, for several years, a trial attorney with the US Department of Justice, where he handled trials and appeals involving bid protests and contract claims against the US government. He teaches on government contract formations and performance issues, bid protests, Contract Disputes Act litigation, and comparative issues in public procurement. He focuses especially on emerging public policy questions in US procurement.

He is a member of the Public Contract Law Section of the American Bar Association, and previously served as president of the Tysons Corner Chapter of the National Contract Management Association. He is a member of the Procurement Roundtable, a group of senior members of the US federal procurement community. He is a faculty advisor to the Public Contract Law Journal, and has contributed pieces on procurement reform, electronic commerce, and information technology to a broad range of journals, including Washington Technology, the Government Contractor, the Legal Times, and Federal Computer Week. He has published on procurement reform in scholarly journals, including the Public Contract Law Journal and the Public Procurement Law Review (United Kingdom). Together with Professor Steven Schooner, he runs a popular colloquium series on procurement reform at George Washington University Law School. He is an advisor to the US delegation to the working group on reform of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Model Procurement Law, and he teaches and speaks often on issues of comparative and international procurement law.