Torkin Manes’ Sidney Troister, KC, LSM, Honoured with OBA’s Award for Distinguished Service

Torkin Manes is pleased to announce that the Ontario Bar Association has honoured our partner, Sidney Troister, KC, LSM, with its prestigious Award for Distinguished Service, an award that reflects the numerous contributions and achievements he has made to the practice of law, mentorship and education of others, and advancement of legislation in Ontario.

Throughout his 50 years in practice, Sidney has achieved tremendous success as a lawyer, bencher, mediator, arbitrator, author, teacher, mentor, leader, legal influencer, trusted advisor and driving force behind legislative reform.

A leading and esteemed member and senior statesman of the Ontario Real Estate Bar, Sidney has devoted more than four decades of his illustrious law career at Torkin Manes LLP, where he is a senior partner with a practice that has encompassed all manner of commercial and residential real estate matters, including assisting title insurers and lawyers across the province with rectifying real property title and transaction issues. He is a well recognized mediator and arbitrator of real estate and commercial leasing disputes.

To complement his practice, Sidney prioritized giving back to the real estate and legal communities. Among his most impactful achievements was advocating, for more than two decades, changes to the complicated subdivision control provisions of Ontario’s Planning Act, which ultimately resulted in the 2022 game-changing amendments that would benefit property owners, lenders, real estate lawyers and agents, title insurers, and the general public in their ownership of land in Ontario. In 2022, the fourth edition of Sidney’s book, The Law of Subdivision Control in Ontario (the “Planning Act Bible” and a “must have” for every Ontario real estate lawyer), was published to reflect these important changes to the law. 

He is an excellent teacher and mentor, and leverages his intellectual capital as a means to pay his knowledge forward to benefit the profession and public. Sidney has written and presented dozens of papers and lectures throughout his career, and made a point of being at the forefront of major changes in the practice and law of real estate. He has also made significant contributions to the profession as a three-term LSO Bencher.

Sidney exemplifies the highest standards of the Bar and beyond and has been repeatedly honoured throughout his career, including bestowed with the highly prestigious King’s Counsel designation in June 2023. Congratulations, Sidney, on another richly-earned achievement that testifies to the continued impact you’ve made to the legal profession and the public at large.

The Ontario Bar Association’s Award for Distinguished Service recognizes exceptional career contributions and/or career achievements by Members of the Ontario Bar Association to the legal profession in Ontario; to jurisprudence in Ontario or Canada; to the law or development of the law in Ontario or; a significant law-related benefit to the residents of Ontario.