Awards & Recognition

Thompson Dorfman Sweatman LLP (TDS) has been listed as one of Canada’s Best Law Firms of 2023 by the Globe and Mail. The Globe and Mail partnered with Statista to determine which law firms in Canada are held in the highest esteem by their colleagues, and the results reflect the 200 firms that received the highest number of recommendations from others across 29 service areas.

Almost 25,000 lawyers as well as in-house lawyers and legal executives working in legal departments of a company across Canada were actively invited to take part in the survey and Statista recorded more than 10,000 recommendations for the law firms in the different fields of law.

TDS' areas of distinction include:

Construction
Corporate & Commercial
Dispute Resolution (Litigation, Arbitration & Investigations)
Insurance
Labour & Employment

Best Lawyers is based on an exhaustive annual peer-review survey. Because of the rigorous and transparent methodology used by Best Lawyers, and because lawyers are not required or allowed to pay a fee to be listed, inclusion in Best Lawyers is considered a singular honour.

For several years in a row, numerous TDS lawyers have been listed as among The Best Lawyers in Canada by Best Lawyers®.  In 2022, 22 lawyers were listed across 17 areas of practice, and TDS Partners Gordon A. McKinnon, Gregory J. Tallon, Keith LaBossiere and Sacha R. Paul were recognized nationally by Best Lawyers® as 2023 Winnipeg Lawyers of the Year.

Thompson Dorfman Sweatman LLP (TDS) has been recognized as the Regional Law Firm of the Year (Prairies) at the Lexpert 2023 Canadian Law Awards for the fourth year in a row. The Canadian Law Awards recognize the nation's leading law firms, teams, individuals, deals or cases over the past year.

Thompson Dorfman Sweatman LLP (TDS) was recognized By Lex Mundi with a 2022 Equisphere Award in the category of Client Relationship Development. This award recognized member firms for their work with clients utilizing Lex Mundi Equisphere.

TDS was recognized along with four other Lex Mundi firms spanning Europe, South America, and Africa. The top award went to the Colombia member firm, with TDS and four other Lex Mundi firms named in the "runner-up" category. TDS was the only Lex Mundi member firm in North America to be recognized in this award category.

The Lex Mundi annual awards includes over 150 law firms from across more than 125 countries. The Lex Mundi Annual Awards were presented at the 2022 Lex Mundi Connect & Collaborate Annual Conference in Edinburgh, Scotland, on April 27, 2022.

Lex Mundi has named TDS as winners for the “Top Referring Firm for 2022” in the 101-200 lawyer firm category.  This Lex Mundi award recognizes firms that have made the greatest number of outbound referrals to other Lex Mundi members during the last calendar year.

TDS was recognized at the Connect + Collaborate Annual Conference in San Francisco during the Gala Dinner at the Julia Morgan Ballroom on Thursday evening, May 4, 2023.

The following summary outlines some 2022 examples of TDS assisting clients with their legal needs across various jurisdictions outside of the Prairie Region.

Lexpert®

The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory and the Lexpert®/American Lawyer Guide to the Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada are two of the most comprehensive guides to legal talent in Canada. These publications identify the most frequently recommended lawyers across Canada in a wide range of practice areas. Both publications have become a resource of choice for in-house counsel and law firms in need of Canadian legal services.

Both the firm and individual lawyers have been recognized numerous times over many years by Lexpert®. TDS has been recognized by Lexpert® numerous times as being one the leading corporate law firms, and one of the leading litigation firms in Manitoba. On several occasions the firm has been placed at the centre of the “Bulls-Eye” ranking of corporate/commercial law practices in Winnipeg.

Over the years, several TDS lawyers have been named to the Lexpert®/American Lawyer Guide to the Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada and listed in the Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory as Leading Lawyers in their respective practice areas. Since 2007 seven TDS Partners have been named by Lexpert® as among the Top 40 Leading Lawyers in Canada, and most recently TDS lawyer Silvia de Sousa was named a Leading Lawyer in the Lexpert® Special Edition: Technology and Health Sciences 2022, John D. Stefaniuk and Jonathan M. Woolley were recognized as Leading Lawyers in the Lexpert Special Edition: Infrastructure 2022, and  Melissa Malden was named a  Lexpert® Rising Star in 2022.

Chambers and Partners

Chambers and Partners have been researching the legal markets of over 180 countries, identifying the leading lawyers and law firms worldwide through interviews with thousands of lawyers and their clients. Chambers and Partners reputation is based on the independence and objectivity of their research.

TDS has been ranked in and recommended by Chambers Canada 2020 and 2021 for the categories Corporate/Commercial, Employment & Labour, and Litigation: General Commercial.

In addition to the firm recognition, four lawyers were recognized and ranked in Chambers Canada for 2022.  John Stefaniuk has been ranked and recommended for Environmental Law in Canada in both Chambers Global and Chambers Canada 2021. Bruce Taylor and Greg Tallon have been ranked and recommended for Corporate/Commercial Law in Manitoba. Ross McFadyen has been ranked and recommended for Litigation: General Commercial Law in Manitoba.