42 lawyers · Established 1960 · Wellington County (Guelph), Waterloo Region
One of 49 law firms listed in Guelph, and one of 16 handling Business & Corporate Law.
Virtual appointmentsSV Law handles corporate and commercial work, real estate, employment, family law and dispute resolution for people and businesses in Guelph and the surrounding area, and it's been doing that since the mid-1960s. One of its lawyers, Spencer Walker, is licensed in New York as well as Ontario.
You'll find the firm in three places. The Guelph office is at 245 Hanlon Creek Boulevard and the Centre Wellington office is on East Mill Street in Elora, while the newest, on Northfield Drive West in Waterloo, adds a Waterloo Region location to those two established ones.
Nicola Melchers took over as managing partner when a leadership change came into effect on January 1, 2026. Melchers earned an LL.B. at the University of East Anglia in 1990, became a solicitor in the UK in 1994, spent four years in private practice there and then went in house at Lotus Cars International Ltd., and was called to the Ontario Bar in 2009. Mark Muir Rodenburg, at the firm since 1993, had held the managing partner role in 2002 to 2004, in 2009 and again from 2020 to 2025.
The same date brought three new partners: Christopher Mendes, Kaitlyn Armstrong and Curtis Tomlinson, whose work covers condominium, family, estates, real estate and business law. The roster also includes Frank Valeriote, who won the federal seat for Guelph in October 2008 and held it in the May 2011 election. Whatever brings you in, SV Law commits to pairing you with the lawyer who suits your situation.
The Smith side of the firm goes back to early 1966, when David Crawford Smith and Paul Smith, both newly called to the bar, went into partnership and opened an office on Douglas Street in Guelph. In July 1967 they joined forces with Bruce E. Payne's practice and moved to 285 Woolwich Street, and Richard Gazzola, who'd been practising alone in Guelph, came in as a partner in 1978. Two of its lawyers were later appointed Provincial Court judges: Grant Campbell, who'd joined in 1970, in 1984, and Bruce E. Payne in 1985.
The Valeriote side dates to 1983. That year John E. Valeriote, a partner at Braida & Valeriote for 15 years, and Francis M. Valeriote, who'd joined that firm in 1981, left to set up Valeriote Valeriote at 373 Woolwich Street. In September 1999 the Smith and Valeriote practices combined as SmithValeriote, which became an LLP in 2000, and in February 2002 the firm moved to 105 Silvercreek Parkway North.
Since then, several local practices have joined it or passed their clients to it. Vince Starratt, managing partner of Grant & Acheson in Fergus, partnered with the firm in 2011, and the merger brought over that firm's clients and folded its offices into SmithValeriote. Clients of Farley Law Office came over after Ted Farley retired in 2017. In 2018 the firm rebranded as SV Law and took on the clients of Vorvis, Anderson, Gray Armstrong LLP when that firm's partner retired.
Business & Corporate Law
Real Estate Law
Construction Law
Employment & Labour Law
Family Law
Civil Litigation & Dispute Resolution
Administrative & Regulatory Law
Wills, Estates & Trusts
Agricultural Law
The condominium group works with every type of condominium, from standard and common element corporations to phased and leasehold ones, and appears for condominiums at the Condominium Authority Tribunal through negotiation, mediation and hearings. Its team built a process chart, the SV Condominium Authority Tribunal Process Chart, that maps out each step of a dispute there.
SV Law regularly works with agricultural organizations and regulatory boards, including supply management boards, either acting for them or appearing before them. Trent Johnson has handled matters before the Fruit and Vegetable Dispute Resolution Corporation, at home and internationally, and Nathan Martin concentrates on farm and agricultural businesses, including succession planning and transfers between generations.
Eric Davis has been certified by the Law Society of Ontario as a Specialist in Municipal Law (Local Government / Land Use Planning and Development) since 2013, and writes a column for Municipal World. Davis acts for municipalities and other public bodies across the province, school boards included.
On the employer side, the team's services include representation before the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board. The practice group is chaired by Eva Lane, who works from the Elora office and handles civil litigation as well as employment matters.
The family group has extensive experience with separations involving high net worth people, business owners and farmers, where legal and financial questions can be unusual. Ritu Singh, one of its members, regularly appears for clients in the Ontario Court of Justice and the Superior Court of Justice.
Our guide: How to Get a Divorce in Ontario
Owners, contractors, consultants and lenders all appear among the construction group's clients. Its listed services run from prompt payment issues to defending charges laid under the Ontario Building Code.
The litigation group's list of matters includes professional negligence claims and real property disputes over easements and rights of way. Mark Muir Rodenburg was counsel for the successful party in Amherst Crane v. Perring, which the Court of Appeal affirmed in 2004, holding that money in a non-insurance RRSP passes straight to the named beneficiary when the planholder dies.
The wills and estates team covers estate planning (wills, trusts and powers of attorney), estate administration and probate, and estate litigation. Mark Muir Rodenburg's practice centres on estate litigation, and Randy Brant's estates work has included guardianship, Henson Trusts and estate administration, along with litigating many estate disputes, often ones involving a deceased spouse.
The business group helps clients start, run, reorganize, buy or sell a business, and advises on succession planning and long-term sustainability along the way. Lisa Gazzola, who became a Canadian trade-mark agent in 1996, works closely with manufacturers, health professionals, and both borrowers and lenders, chartered banks among them.
The real estate team handles residential, recreational, investment and commercial property anywhere in Ontario. Its work runs from reviewing agreements of purchase and sale and doing title and compliance searches to drafting the deeds, mortgages and closing documents.
Wheelchair accessible
Parking available
Virtual appointments
By appointment
In-person servicesSV Law commits to flexibility, prompt communication and a local touch. On family files, it aims to settle matters practically and at a sensible cost through negotiation, mediation and collaborative law whenever it can, and the family team works as a group, drawing on its lawyers, support staff and outside professional contacts.
In litigation, the work starts with understanding early on what a client wants to achieve, then figuring out how to get there through the process efficiently and creatively.
Eric Kerson and Jamie Cockburn of SV Law acted for the appellant condominium corporation. The Divisional Court allowed its appeal and set aside a Condominium Authority Tribunal order that had awarded costs against it.
Danielle Marks acted for the applicant condominium corporation. The court found that two unit owners had breached their obligations under sections 117 and 119 of the Condominium Act, 1998, and made orders accordingly.
Decisions where the firm's lawyers appeared as counsel, from public court records. Past cases don't predict future results.
A designation granted by the Law Society of Ontario, not a self-declared area of focus.
The Elora office is in the Historic Village of Elora, part of Centre Wellington township in Wellington County. The village is known for its 19th-century limestone buildings and its limestone gorge.
Each office acknowledges the treaty lands it sits on. The Guelph office recognizes the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation of the Anishinaabek Peoples. The Elora office adds the Haldimand Tract lands granted to the Haudenosaunee, and the Waterloo office recognizes the Haldimand Treaty of 1784 and the territories of the Haudenosaunee, Anishnaabe and Neutral Peoples.
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Family LawThis listing was generated by AI from public sources in October 2026. It may contain errors, and we can’t guarantee it’s accurate or complete. Before you rely on anything here, verify it on the firm’s own website. Verify licence status in the Law Society of Ontario directory ↗
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