Lawrence grew up in a small town in southern Ontario having spent his early life in Sault Ste Marie, Ontario. He attended the University of Western Ontario (now Western University) and joined the local legal community in 1988 as an Articling student and has been practicing in this area since his call to the bar in 1990.
Early in his career Lawrence represented a wide variety of litigation clientele in areas such as criminal defense and Federal drug prosecutions, real estate and estate litigation. Gradually over time, he developed a significant family law practice and now, after more than 30 years at the bar, Lawrence has moved to join the team at Sorbara Law to practice exclusively family law and can assist clients with issues surrounding child custody and access negotiations, Divorce applications and property division.
While the decision of heading to court is sometimes necessary, most cases in matrimonial matters are settled by way of a separation agreement. Lawrence also has assisted many clients resolve sometimes very difficult issues in drafting marriage contracts and co-habitation agreements, either prior to moving in together or during relationships. Having a good agreement is significantly better (not to mention less heart wrenching) than most court settlements!
While Lawrence’s experiences in family law allow him to attend all levels of court, he is also a trained mediator and has his Level II Certificate in Collaborative Family Law. He is currently the co-chair of the Collaborative Family Law Association of Waterloo Region (known as Best4All).
Lawrence’s legal assistant, Myrna Neilson, has faithfully provided legal support to Lawrence for practically his entire legal career and he is delighted that she too has also joined the Sorbara Legal team.
Lawrence has had an active involvement in his community both legal and at large. He currently serves on the Child and Parent Place Advisory panel (20+ years), and the BIA for Up Town Waterloo for the last 9 years. He is a proud member of the International Optimists organization that funds-raises and supports children causes in the Region of Waterloo. He had lectured for the Law Society in Continuing Education Programs and is a long-time member of the Advocates Society.
He is married with two children, in their 20’s, and enjoys running, playing guitar (poorly) and the occasional craft beer.