Sherwin Law announces affiliation with Stratford firm
- 4 hours ago
- 3 min read
By Connor Luczka
Since 1996, Claire Sherwin can count on one hand how many consecutive weeks he’s had off.
“In the last 30 years, I’ve had two consecutive weeks of vacation,” Sherwin told the Independent in his home office on Wellington Street in St. Marys, a building he has been in for nearly that whole tenure. “... I’m really blessed. I have a 22-step commute in the morning from the breakfast table to the desk. ... On a negative note, I will tell you I never get a snow day. It doesn’t interfere with the 22 steps.”
Sherwin hopes that can change soon, however. In accordance with best practices for prudent planning, Sherwin has come to an affiliation agreement with McDonald, Simon, Stewart & Reidy LLP, a Stratford-based firm serving Perth County for over 50 years.
As Sherwin explained, this affiliation is not a retirement announcement – rather a vacation announcement. He and his wife have planned a vacation for the whole month of June and are planning to have more time off in the coming years. With the affiliation, Sherwin can be assured there are resources at home he can call upon to assist when he is not available.
Importantly, affiliation is not a merger nor an acquisition.
“It’s a long-term plan,” managing partner Mark Simon of McDonald, Simon, Stewart & Reidy explained. “So, when Claire wants to fully retire, he’s got the resources for things to be taken over. And in the meantime, if he wants to take a little more downtime, he’s got backup. It’s really tough for sole practitioners to be able to take time off because they don’t have another lawyer to hand stuff to, so the affilition gives him the personnel backing and everything else he needs to adjust and live more of a firm life.”
For his clients, this partnership also means more opportunities. While Sherwin was proud of how little he has stepped foot in a courtroom in the last 25 years (not at all), preferring to come to agreements through mediation, McDonald, Simon, Stewart & Reidy LLP, on the other hand, has had plenty of recent experience in court.
“If you come through the door and you and your wife are not of a mind to enter into a mediation and resolve this thing quickly and effectively and reasonably economically, then I can send you over to see one of Mark’s partners,” Sherwin said. “... So, it expands the breadth of service that is available to clients.”
Both Sherwin and Simon said client service is the pre-eminent ideal for their firms and was one of the like-minded factors that originally brought the two together.
Their offices have been linked since January of this year, with McDonald and his colleagues, Shawn Stewart and Luke Reidy, already having worked out of Sherwin’s back offices.
Sherwin reiterated the affiliation is not a retirement announcement.
“It’s sometimes said, ‘If you like what you do, you never work a day in the life,’ ” Sherwin said. “I like what I do. … I was 71 in December and I don’t think I’m going to be able to do this forever. So, this is a safeguard.”
“That’s kind of the beauty of the affiliation,” Simon added. “There’s no hard end date. … If Claire becomes addicted to the long vacations, then they may get longer and other work may be covered by us more frequently. But really, there’s enough flexibility to figure out whatever timing works best.”
For more information on Sherwin Law’s services, visit www.sherwinlaw.ca.
For more information on McDonald, Simon, Stewart & Reidy LLP, visit www.mcdonaldsimon.com.
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