Manitoba Chamber of Commerce
Issue link: http://publications.winnipegfreepress.com/i/97063
After 125 years, some things have only gotten better Thompson Dorfman Sweatman LLP celebrates a milestone anniversary by David Square THOMPSON DORFMAN SWEATMAN LLP LAWYERS FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: Elmer Gomes, Scott Hoeppner and Renée Lemieux Howard (in stairway); John Stefaniuk, Melissa Beaumont and Laura Workman (in boardroom); and Don Douglas (in office) MBiz B milestones Its not every day that a firm celebrates 125 years of success. Congratulations to Thompson Dorfman Sweatman LLP! MBiz salutes this milestone achievement. 8 MBiz November 2012 T hompson Dorfman Sweatman LLP (also known as TDS Law) has never let anything get in the way of its commitment to clients. Not even a raging fire. In 1955, a blaze destroyed the firm's Huron and Erie Building offices on Christmas Day, causing $1 million worth of damage. It was devastating, but it didn't stop the tenacious firm – then called Thompson, Shepard, Dilts & Jones – from re-opening in a temporary location 48 hours later. That's client commitment – something TDS Law prides itself on today, as it celebrates 125 years of service to the community. While the scent of smoke still lurks on some of the books in the firm's library, TDS Law's quasquicentennial anniversary provides an opportunity for the firm to thank its clients, some of whom have been entrusting their legal matters to the firm for decades. "While we're proud of our past, the celebration of this anniversary is more about looking to the future — also recognizing that we want to thank our clients because without them, we would be nothing at all," says Don Douglas, TDS Law's CEO and Managing Partner. The firm's future focus, says Douglas, will be to stay close to clients and their changing legal needs. "If our clients succeed, we'll succeed." A hands-on approach is one way TDS Law stays in tune with its clients. At the firm level, it contributes to community initiatives that support the arts, the environment, medical care, children's initiatives and entrepreneurs, among others. And, it's not uncommon for individual members of the firm's 75-plus strong team of