Valérie Pilote

About Valérie Pilote

Medical defence litigation and professional regulation are the core of Valérie Pilote's work as an associate with Gowling WLG in Ottawa, where the practice sits in the Medical Defence Group of the firm's Advocacy department. Fully bilingual, Pilote takes on clients in French as well as English.

Pilote was called to the Ontario bar in 2025. Law came after a commerce degree in marketing at the University of Ottawa, and the J.D. followed at the same school through its French Common Law Program. Pilote also worked in the criminal clerk's office at the Gatineau Courthouse and interned with Superior Court of Quebec judges in the youth, civil, criminal and penal divisions.

Mooting was a big part of law school. Pilote competed in the IRC moot on immigration, refugee and citizenship law and in the Michel Bastarache competition on language rights, arguing in the 2023 Bastarache finals with a uOttawa team that won the Pierre Foucher award for the highest factum score. Looking back, Pilote called it a personal challenge worth recommending and wrote about it for the faculty's student series.

A taste for new experiences took Pilote on a student exchange to Uppsala University in Sweden, and travel is still a passion: other cultures, people from all walks of life and a running bucket list of adventures. Free time goes to staying active outdoors with friends and family, and volunteer work reaches back years, from a local homeless shelter and a seniors' residence to the National Pro Bono program.