The Suit Magazine

Peter Madorin has seen it all. Over its long history, his firm—the Ontario-based Madorin, Snyder LLP—has grown consistently and adapted readily to changing times.

Madorin articled with the firm in 1963, back when it operated under a different name. He returned as an associate when he was admitted into the bar in 1964. Two years later, he made partner.

Though the name may have changed, the mission of Madorin, Snyder has always been the same. The firm deals in civil litigation, and the majority of its cases are in defense of sued municipalities. Other practice areas include errors and omissions, where they defend other lawyers sued for negligence, as well as family law, real estate law, wills and trusts, and business law.

The original firm started with about a half-dozen insurance companies as clients, and has managed to keep them on board while expanding into new practice areas. “I think we grew because we provided very good service,” said Madorin. “We’ve continued to maintain these clients.”

In his nearly 60 years of practice, Madorin has seen drastic changes in business practice. He said one of the biggest transformations was the advent of email. “People want an immediate response these days,” he said. “That’s one of the reasons why lawyers are being sued for negligence. They respond without too much thought, and the next thing they know they’re hit with a negligence lawsuit.”

Madorin’s firm may have helped reverse that trend. Five vendors of a piece of land retained Madorin in order to have a contract declared null and void because, although the contract stated that time was of the essence, the other parties had made a late payment. Madorin won the case, and the Ontario Court of Appeal upheld the verdict. “Real estate lawyers started to pay attention after that,” he said.

Though Madorin has been no stranger to change since he was a young bachelor of law, he says that these next six months will be particularly crucial to the firm’s success. Wayne Snyder, the second senior partner behind Madorin, is retiring at the end of 2011. That means Madorin and partner James Bennett will have to take on the bulk of Snyder’s practice. Though he just hired a new associate and there are four more on staff, Madorin is gearing up to take on an even heavier workload. “For now, our goal is just to survive,” he said with a laugh.

The team at this firm is confident about continued growth into the next year, and all of them—with the well wishes of hundreds of satisfied clients from decades past—look forward to continuing success in the face of any new changes to come their way.

For more information, please visit: www.kw-law.com

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