Thornton: Success lies at the edge of the puddle

June 24, 2025

Two students in profile

Before the guest speaker and valedictorian address, Acting Dean Andrew Botterell shared opening remarks in his final address as Acting Dean.

Botterell at Podium

Andrew Botterell

“It’s very easy to become jaded in law school. Almost everybody you know is a law student. It's tempting to conclude that studying law and becoming a lawyer is not a big deal. But it is. It is a significant academic and professional accomplishment that comes with both opportunities and responsibilities,” said Botterell.

“I know that I speak for all of my colleagues when I say how proud we are of you, how happy we are for you and how excited we are to see what you will do with your talents and your careers in the next few years.”

Robert Thornton (LL.B. ’82), the ceremony’s keynote speaker, is recognized as one of Canada’s foremost insolvency and restructuring lawyers. In the years since beginning his legal journey at Western Law, he has led some of the country’s most complex commercial proceedings, some of which involved JTI-Macdonald Corp., Lynx Air, and the World Bank. A past President of the Insolvency Institute of Canada, Thornton is the only full-time practitioner to hold fellowships with both the Insolvency Institute of Canada and the American College of Bankruptcy. He continues to mentor the next generation of lawyers at Thornton Grout Finnigan LLP and beyond.

Thornton delivered a witty and heartfelt address to the graduating class, offering three important life lessons: how to be successful, happy, and extraordinary.

“To be successful,” he said, “you only ever need two things, one is a good idea and two is the gumption to make that idea a reality.” Thornton reflects on his decision to leave a secure partnership at a Bay Street firm to launch TGF with close friends from law school. “Do you have what it truly takes to fully commit to an idea?” he asked the audience. He explains that this is what it takes to be successful.

Thornton at Podium

Robert Thornton

For happiness, Thornton encouraged graduates to “embrace imperfection, whether in yourself, or others, or both.” He recalled a comical dinner conversation with his wife, where his advice to accept imperfection was initially well-received, until she realized he meant his imperfections, too.

To become extraordinary, Thornton encouraged continuous growth. He recalled a second-year moot competition where, despite his partner winning Best Oralist, they were eliminated early because of his own poor performance. He explains that despite feeling like a failure, he did not let this moment define him. He worked to improve and highlighted a special moment later in his career where he eventually appeared before the Supreme Court of Canada, and his daughter messaged him from her dorm room: “Way to go, Daddy.”

He closed with a powerful demonstration involving a drop of water resisting gravity through surface tension. That thin, curved edge, he explained, is called the “chaordic interface”, where order and chaos meet. “Where dynamism and creativity are at the centre of all things,” he said. 

“It’s your choice, you can follow precedent, do what others have done and stay in the middle. Or you can go to the edge, do new things, create new precedents, and do what's never been done before,” Thornton concluded. 

Class valedictorian Ciaran Sheahan (JD ’25) took the stage at the Awards Ceremony to reflect on the journey of the graduating class and the community that shaped their time at law school.

Sheahan at Podium

Ciaran Sheahan

“Today is all about marking and celebrating the conclusion of one incredible journey and the beginning of another,” said Sheahan, whose speech combined humour, gratitude, and heartfelt reflections on the Western Law experience, ranging from the anxieties of first-year orientation to the stress of exams, the late nights at the library (and Dennings), and the ever-changing role that law students play as mentors to those who follow.

He spoke highly of the uniquely collegial Western Law culture, saying, “What makes the Western Law student experience so special is that it helps craft students not only into sharp legal minds but into conscientious, thoughtful individuals.”

Sheahan emphasized gratitude towards peers, professors, and loved ones, for their part in the journey, and acknowledged the challenges facing the profession as graduates step into a rapidly changing world.

“As lawyers, we have a duty to society to hold ourselves to the highest standards of honesty and integrity… to defend the principles that we hold dearest, even if it is the difficult or unpopular thing to do,” he said.

He concluded his speech with a call to carry forward the values learned in their time at Western Law; for students to be proud of what they’ve accomplished, to have some pride in how they carry themselves each day, and finally, “Be kind, be thoughtful, be authentic. Be the person who sends the elevator back down. That is, after all, the Western Law way.”

 A list of awards presented at the ceremony can be found below.

Gold Medalist

A.T. Little Scholarship

Tyler Green

JD Program Awards

A.B. Siskind Scholarship

Tyler Green

Ailbe C. Flynn LLB `97 Memorial Scholarship in Intellectual Prop

Brayden Secord

Baker & McKenzie Award In International Business Transactions

Marco Kim

Brad Hodgson Civil Litigation Award

Harleen Muker

Canvasback Publishing Prize in Administrative Law

Tyler Green

Colin D. Leitch Award

Emily Sinclair

Dale Ponder, LLB’80, Osler Award

Joshua Lewis

David L. Johnston Prize in Securities Regulation

Nikola Cuvalo

Diana Majury-Cheryl Waldrum Award

Ellen Nagy

Edward C. Elwood Q.C. Prizes in Wills and Trusts

Victor Ulitin

EquiGenesis Tax Award

Kaylin Mesic

Filion Wakely Thorup Angeletti LLP Award in Labour and Employment

Stephen Warner

Francis Marie Clark Award in Law

Michael Visser

Insolvency Institute of Canada Prize in Insolvency Studies

Allen Hujic

J.G. McLeod-McSorley Scholarship in Family Law

Brittany Pinsler Lieberman

J.S.D. Tory Writing Prize

Alicia Jordan

Nikolai Racicot

Stephen Warner

Shan Malhi

Joyce Thomas Memorial Award

Tega Odjevwedge

Law Class of 2007 Tim Edgar Memorial Award

Samantha Burton

Law Society of Upper Canada Prize 

Tyler Green

Shan Malhi

Malcolm McCarron

Claire Lavereau

Thomas Hewitt

Erin Rix

Jenna Velji

Allen Hujic

Brayden Secord

Harleen Muker

Stephen Warner

Kaylin Mesic

Samantha Burton

Michaela Wand

Nikola Cuvalo

Lorenzo Di Cecco Memorial Award in Criminal Law

Emily Sinclair

Margaret E. Rintoul Award in Wills

Kaylin Mesic

Morris Kroll Memorial Award

Alex Azzopardi

Paul Bradley Award in Real Estate Law

Rachel Law

Peter Barton Award in Civil Procedure

Shan Malhi

Rosen Sunshine LLP Award in Health Law

Tucker Seabrook

Stanley C.Tessis Memorial Award

Kassandra Kurek

STEP Canada Award in Trusts

Aidan Timmerman

Stephen G.A. Pitel Award in Private International Law

Allen Hujic

Torys LLP Award in Business Law

Nikola Cuvalo

Whitten & Lublin Employment Lawyers Award

Paulina Donczak