McSevney Chaves LLP

McSevney Chaves LLP a limited liability partnership, of two lawyers: Gord McSevney and Cindy Chaves.  

Gord did his undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering at the University of Waterloo and went on to graduate from Osgoode Hall Law School (York University) and was called to the Bar in 1988.  Gord was born and raised in Hamilton, ON and has been a resident of Cambridge since 1992. The focus of his practice is real estate, corporate, wills and estates.

Cindy was born and raised in Cambridge. She obtained her Honours BA in Criminology from the University of Windsor in 1997 and received her Bachelor of Laws degree in the year 2000 and was called to the Bar in 2002.  While at the University of Windsor Law School Cindy received the Osler Harcourt Internship at the University of Windsor Mediation Clinic, where she was actively engaged as mediator. In 2010, Cindy obtained her Level II Collaborative Law Practitioner designation.

PLEASE NOTE: This Website is designed and intended to facilitate contact with us by clients, other law firms, and potential clients. We also have set out our primary areas of practice for clients and potential clients and referring lawyers as a means to determine whether we might be of assistance. We cannot assure the public of a timely or any response to requests for advice via the internet, and for that reason, we do not publish our e-mails addresses on our website.  If you are seeking our advice the best first contact is always by phone.

Note that due to the COVID pandemic we cannot invite walk-in service. For clients who have an appointment, we kindly ask that you please bring & your own mask while inside our offices. We will supply a mask should you forget. We sanitize our chairs and boardroom table where we meet with clients after each meeting.

Privacy, Conflicts and Professional Duties

The the practice of law entails certain professional obligations and in Ontario the governing authority over lawyers is the Law Society of Ontario (the "LSO"). The LSO promulgates Rules and Regulations by which all lawyers in Ontario must abide and lawyers professional standards and duties are set out in the Rules of Professional Conduct. Failure to abide by the LSO's Rules or By-Laws can lead to complaints, discipline proceedings and in some circumstances, the loss of the right to practice law.

A lawyer must first identify a client to whom they are giving advice, and the best way to do that is in person.  The internet is not particularly well-suited to identifying clients and at the same time maintaining confidentiality.

Also, we cannot become engaged in representing a person until we have identified our client and know enough details to conduct a conflict search. Before we give advice we need to conduct some due diligence to avoid creating a conflict of interest with one of our existing clients. It is a lawyers duty to avoid conflicts - and if one exists to withdraw.

PLEASE NOTE:  If you reside outside the Region of Waterloo and surrounding areas and need legal advice, then we recommend that you contact the LSO's Lawyer Referral Service.   WE DO NOT PROVIDE ON-LINE ADVICE VIA OUR WEBSITE.  We  will likely need to meet in person before we can begin giving advice to a prospective client and, for that reason, most of our clients reside or carry-on business within the Region of Waterloo.

As an Ontario business we also must abide by PIPEDA legislation.  Our privacy commissioners are both of our lawyers, Gord McSevney and Cindy Chaves.  Our Privacy Policy is available upon request.