Maddi Thomas

About Maddi Thomas

Maddi Thomas works with families and charities on the questions that come with wealth: who receives it, how it's protected and how a gift does the most good. As an associate in Gowling WLG's Private Client Services Group in Toronto, Thomas advises charities and not-for-profit organizations on governance, regulatory compliance and planned giving, including how a charitable gift or foundation should be set up so it honours what the donor wants and still meets the legal rules. On the private side, high-net-worth individuals, families and business owners rely on Thomas for estate plans and trust structures that protect what they own, plan for succession and keep taxes efficient as wealth passes down, all shaped around each client's values and long-range goals.

Thomas is a student member of STEP and is working toward the TEP designation. That builds on a law degree from the University of Toronto, a call to the Ontario bar in 2023 and, before law school, a BA in sociology and international development at McGill University. As a law student, Thomas did casework in the family law division of Downtown Legal Services and volunteered with the HIV & AIDS Legal Clinic Ontario through Pro Bono Students Canada.

The Globe and Mail has turned to Thomas for comment on a tax ruling that settled a long-running question about the rights of surviving spouses. Estate planning under the Indian Act is a particular interest: Thomas has written a textbook chapter on wills under the Act and has spoken on the subject to audiences at the Estate Planning Council of London and Osgoode Hall Law School. In 2025, an article co-written with Gowling WLG partner Gwenyth Stadig won the OBA Foundation's Widdifield Award; the panel singled out its look at how the Indian Act's own rules compare with Ontario's Succession Law Reform Act.