DARLENE P. MADOTT
I have closed my practice and have ceased practising law, as I redirect my energies toward creative endeavours. I continue to be reachable through this e-mail and phone number.
For a law-related article: see
Book Review: "Truth Be Told (My Journey Through Life and the Law)"
Author: Beverley McLachlin
Darlene Madott practised for 35 years in Toronto, initially as a downtown civil and matrimonial litigator. She then transitioned her practice to collaborative law and mediation, and finally moved to Toronto′s west end as a collaborative practitioner and peacemaker. She retired from practice on August 1, 2020.
"It takes courage to make change. Fear of change is not an option. I never knew a single client to regret the choice to leave a loveless or abusive marriage. This applies to all walks of life. On the other side of fear lays freedom."
After her call to the Ontario Bar in 1985, Darlene Madott began her career as a litigator, and participated in precedent-setting cases, which included:
- A Trinidad husband obtains a stay of Ontario proceedings based on Trinidad being the more substantial jurisdiction (Nicholas);
- A woman obtains the right to sue grandparents for support, based on a contractual concept of the family (Cheng);
- An international child abduction case raises constitutional and conflict-of-laws issues where immigration legislation conflicts with the Children’s Law Reform Act and the return of abducted children to the home jurisdiction (Maharaj);
- A mobility case, where an access father successfully resists the move of his children with their mother to North Bay, (Tumino);
- In an Application for variation of child support and financial disclosure, where the parties had a separation agreement that provided for non-variable child support, special expenses, and waiver of future financial disclosure, the father was ordered to provide financial disclosure as mandated by the Child Support Guidelines and the information was ordered sealed for 12 months. (Quinn v. Keiper).
However, as Darlene Madott developed in the practice of family law, she became increasingly disenchanted with litigation as a way to resolve most matrimonial disputes, sensitized to the lasting impacts of the way people end their relationships:
"What separating couples normally want is a resolution that is fair, respectable and sustainable. Matrimonial clients do not want to be legal precedents. They want life after loss, and in a very deep sense, want their families to survive."
A published writer, as well as a barrister, Madott’s clients received the benefit of her written advocacy. Returning to the root of the word “advocate,” Madott derived meaning and satisfaction in her work from the concept of "giving voice" to those who cannot tell their own stories. She brought a uniquely creative and caring approach to the practice of family law.
As she creates these next chapters of her life, Darlene Madott wishes you to know it was an honour to serve you and your families.
Recent Articles
Truth Be Told
(My Journey Through Life and the Law)
Author: Beverley McLachlin.
Former Supreme Court of Canada Chief Justice
Supreme Advocacy, Feb. 11, 2020
Fairly Equal: Lawyering the Feminist Revolution
Author: Linda Silver Dranoff
Supreme Advocacy, May 16, 2019
Darlene's take-away (from the concluding chapter 'Over to You'): the suggestion that "one person can make a difference." More...
Bar Admission:
Education:
University of Toronto, St. Michael's College,
Gold medal, Hons. B.A. (1985)
Collaborative Law Training (Level 2) Certificate (2006)
Family Law Arbitration, Conrad Grebel University
Past Affiliations & Memberships:
Law Society of Upper Canada
Toronto Lawyers Association
ADR Institute
Ontario Association of Family Mediators
Collaborative Practice Toronto
Canadian Italian Advocates Organization (C.I.A.O.)
Writer’s Union of Canada