Thornton: Success lies at the edge of the puddle
June 24, 2025
Before the guest speaker and valedictorian address, Acting Dean Andrew Botterell shared opening remarks in his final address as Acting Dean.

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.

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.

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.”
Robert Thornton, Keynote Address
Ciaran Sheahan, Valedictory Address
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