David J. Sherman
dsherman@thomansoule.com
Called to the Bar in 1980 (Ontario).
David Sherman began practicing law in 1980. He obtained his BA at the University of Toronto and his law degree at Osgoode Hall Law School. David Sherman's first ten years in law were devoted to Civil, Family and Criminal trial advocacy. During these years his trial skills were honed in the conduct of criminal jury and non-jury trials, personal injury actions, commercial debt disputes, and divorce actions.
In 1990 David Sherman restricted his practice to Family Law and has exclusively acted as counsel in that field since. He is a strong advocate of early resolution through pre-court negotiations. He has extensively studied and consistently applies alternative dispute resolution techniques to those difficult issues between separated couples in order to achieve acceptable and fair settlements. He has been a panel mediator with the Hamilton Legal Aid office since 1994.
However, some disputes cannot be resolved through agreement. A client then needs a lawyer who can skilfully run a matter through the courts; a lawyer who protects and strongly advances the client’s interests in order to achieve the best possible result. David Sherman has a reputation as being such a lawyer and the great majority of his clients come to him as a result of referrals from other lawyers or previous clients.
In addition to his trial work David Sherman has frequently appeared before the Ontario Court of Appeal both on his own files and those referred to him by other lawyers. He has acted on behalf of clients before the Superior Court throughout the Region including not only Hamilton but as well Milton, Brampton, Newmarket, Guelph, Kitchener, St. Catharines, Stratford, Welland and Toronto. David Sherman has represented clients in Divorce actions that range from relatively simple, easily resolved, matters to extremely complex actions involving multi-million dollar assets and income streams.
David Sherman has always been devoted to his profession. He was a trustee of the Hamilton Law Association for eight years and is a past President of that organization. From 1994 to 2006 he was an executive member of the County and District Law Presidents Association, (the provincial organization that represents Ontario’s 46 County Law Associations). He was the Chair of that organization for two of those years. He is a member of the Hamilton Area Committee of the Ontario Legal Aid Plan. He has been a member of the Legal Aid Provincial Advisory Committee on Family Law, the Attorney General’s Child Support Guideline Implementation Committee and the Attorney General’s Committee on the Expansion of the Unified Family Court.
David Sherman is also a Children’s Lawyer. He has been a panel member for the Hamilton Region of the Office of the Children’s lawyer since 1986. Over the past twenty years he has represented hundreds of children who have found themselves embroiled in custody/access disputes or Children’s Aid matters. David Sherman believes his work on behalf of children has enhanced his ability to assist clients in finding solutions to parenting disputes without the need to engage in sometimes harmful and always expensive court battles over these issues.
David Sherman is married and has two young-adult children. He is a “Biking Barrister” in the annual Miles for Smiles charitable cycling event which raises funds in support of two Hamilton emergency shelters for homeless youth in conflict with the law.