THE TOSWELL TSN TURNING POINT – LEGALLY SPEAKING
Written by Randy Pascal, SPAD 1985
The pathway for David Toswell (SPAD 1985) appeared to be fairly well laid out.
And then, it wasn’t.
A native of North Bay and lover of all things sports in his youth, the academically inclined young man had pretty much always seen the Sports Administration program at Laurentian University as the stepping stone to a life in law – but one which incorporated the primary passion of his formative years.
“Sport was everything in my life – education just got in the way of sports,” said Toswell, downplaying, just a touch, his ability to elevate his game in both fields. “My father was the head of guidance at Widdifield Secondary – and he knew of, and recommended, the (SPAD) program. I met Bob Wanzel in Grade 12 and was sold on the program.”
“I’m not sure I fully understood how important the commerce component was, but I was totally captivated by the program, even though my mother was extremely upset that I didn’t go to Queen’s or Western!”
“I look back on it as one of the best decisions that I ever made.”
The fact is there would still be time for Western. A Bachelor of Commerce degree in Sports Administration was only phase one for Toswell.
“I had always intended to go on to law,” he said. “I initially had player agent in mind, then I did a few arbitration courses at Law School, so I was quite keen on doing sport and labour, some sort of combination like that.”
“In my second summer at the firm that I still am at (Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP), I worked in corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions - and suddenly, there was going to be none of those other things.”
And so began the tangential route that Toswell would follow, quite successfully, one that has seen him ascend to his role as a senior partner at one of Canada’s largest law firms, with his office located in the very heart of Toronto (King & Bay). A lifelong love of the law would see him enjoy a two year secondment to Britain, joined by his wife (and fellow SPAD grad) Heather (Maxwell) (1987), before the couple would welcome two daughters into the household, a little later on.
And while his day to day portfolio might not involve negotiation with the general managers of various professional sport franchises, the hockey hopeful turned national level curler – Toswell represented Northern Ontario at the Canadian Junior Curling Championship during his time in Sudbury – would never sway too far from his roots.
“Once you’re into sports, you’re always into sports,” he suggested. “Whether you actually work in it, or whether you continue to follow it, continue to participate in it, or whether your kids get into it – I never really felt like I lost sport.”
To this day, Toswell draws upon the very essence of the innovative concept that combined business and sport at Laurentian University in the early seventies. “I constantly reflect back on our HR class with Lucien Cortes,” he said.
“We all kind of thought that was the easiest of the (third year/core year) courses and obvious stuff - and yet organizational behaviour and people management remain a very significant part of my job, whether I am dealing with clients, whether I am dealing with partners, whether I am dealing with associates, whether I am dealing with staff.”
“Whatever success I’ve had, I do attribute a lot of it to SPAD,” said Toswell. “I’ve said that a lot over the years. I think the Commerce side has served us all well.”
“I have a lot of good things to say about the SPAD program and my time at Laurentian.”