Law Times

PAGE 4 NEWS September 14, 2009 • Law timeS LSUC award recipient credits community work for enriching his life Law Society of Upper Canada Treasurer Derry Millar called him with the news that he would re- ceive the Law Society Medal. "I'm usually not really speech- less and I was stunned. I had ab- solutely no idea," says Hrastovec. "I don't feel I deserve this be- cause there are so many more people who I think are more de- serving. But I certainly will accept the award in the spirit in which it's given, with the notion that it is a tremendous honour, because it is a privilege to practise law." While Hrastovec may not feel deserving of the honour, his extensive community-service work and successful legal practice suggest otherwise. Few lawyers can handle the balancing act he has — working as the manag- ing partner of a law firm while 'I'd be far poorer for not having been involved' W BY ROBERT TODD Law Times indsor lawyer Peter Hrastovec says he was taken off guard when serving on numerous boards of directors within their commu- nity, all while raising a family. Hrastovec's parents, dad Stjepan and mother Antica, im- migrated to Canada from Croa- tia in the 1950s. Stjepan, who was a journalist, fled the coun- try in the midst of the political upheaval at that time. The fam- ily, including Hrastovec's older sister, re-established itself in Canada, with Stjepan forced to take on janitorial work, later be- coming the head of housekeep- ing at a Windsor hospital where Antica worked as a clerk. "We lived very modestly, but notwithstanding that, I felt like I was the richest guy in town just because of my parents' love of the arts and literature and things like that," he says. "There was always something exciting going on at home." His father's passion for jour- nalism helped push Hrastovec in that direction, and he planned to become a reporter. But he veered Peter Hrastovec off that course after watching the evening news one night. "I twigged to the fact that there were 15 news stories, 11 of which dealt with the law," he says. "I thought law has a very far-ranging and far-reaching application in our lives as a society, so this would be a good thing to have an expertise in." After graduating from the University of Windsor's law school in 1982, Hrastovec ar- ticled with McTague Clark, now ANNOUNCEMENT McTague Law Firm LLP, under renowned commercial law prac- titioner Charles Clark. He says Clark pressed the importance of helping the community. "He used to say, 'Don't wor- ry about your law practice; your law practice will take care of itself. Worry about your com- munity,'" says Hrastovec. "That was his mantra, so it kind of rubbed off on many of us — it certainly did on me in terms of what I felt my obligations were to my community." He was called to the bar in 1984, a time when sky-high in- terest rates caused economic de- spair in Windsor. He was unable to establish a practice until senior Windsor lawyer Bill Cowan — whose daughter Sheila is married to former prime minister Paul Martin — offered him some of- fice space to start out on his own. After two years working solo, Hrastovec moved on to practise with the firm Willson Barat Far- lam, where he strengthened his litigation skills. After two years at that firm, he was invited by Leon Paroian to join Paroian Raphael Courey Cohen & Houston, which later became Raphael Partners LLP. Hrastovec became a partner at the firm, which this year be- gan the process of dissolution due to problems with succes- sion planning. "I'm back to my roots because I'm a sole practitioner again but working in association with a lot of my former partners, who are still good friends and good colleagues," he says. Hrastovec, who is 52 years old, has developed a vibrant prac- tice that focuses mainly on labour and employment law, with some commercial litigation and admin- istrative law work as well. "I found a real knack and a desire to help both employers and employees [with] resolving their differences . . . . I like to devote myself to workplace so- lutions," he says. "I think it's so important that employees and employers spend their time functioning in the economic sense of providing service and employer providing employment so that we build a strong economy. There's really no place for us to be spending all of our time in courtrooms and in boardrooms negotiating, so I'm very resolution oriented." Hrastovec has also kept Clark's advice on putting community first close to his heart. He has balanced his practice with a steady stream of volunteer work, generously taking on key lead- ership roles with the Windsor Symphony Society, the Rotary Club of Windsor, the United Way, and the Windsor-Essex Re- Untitled-4 1 www.lawtimesnews.com 9/8/09 9:47:55 AM gional Chamber of Commerce. "I don't watch much TV," says Hrastovec. He says his community work began when he got involved with the University of Windsor Faculty of Law's alumni associa- tion, on the urging of his men- tor John Whiteside, a professor emeritus at the law school. "It led, of course, to other ap- pointments and other boards that people asked you get involved with, and in the early days I had trouble saying, 'No,'" he says. "But I learned how to balance 'No' with effectively doing the right job, because if you can't do the job well, you may as well not be involved. If you're too busy as a volunteer, and you spread your- self too thin, then you're going to do some harm and disservice to the organization." Hrastovec says his community work has opened up some busi- ness opportunities but asserts he has simply aimed to help others. "I'd be far poorer for not hav- ing been involved . . . . What it has done is enrich my life and livelihood by just the contacts that I've made and the excite- ment and seeing projects com- pleted," he says. "The work comes from other sources." What's made it easier for Hrastovec to devote so much of his free time to his community is his love for the city of Windsor. He appreciates that the city offers a quick commute — he's door to door within nine minutes — which gives him more time to be there for his wife and kids. It's also a tight-knit commu- nity, he says, and some of his law associates live within blocks of his home. "You get to know the local bar very, very well," he says. "You get to know and respect each other as professionals." Despite the importance Hrastovec places on his legal practice and community ser- vices, he says the best part of his life is his family. His wife of 29 years, Denise May Hrastovec, is a chartered accountant; his daughter An- drea is a teacher near Toronto; son Stephen is a student at the University of Waterloo; and his youngest son, 12-year-old Aar- on, is in elementary school. One of Hrastovec's most prized accomplishments, he says, is the family's efforts to eat dinner together at least four times a week without having the conversation ever turn to business. "I always put family first," he says. LT This is the final install- ment of our Law Society Honours series, profiling recipients of the Law Society of Upper Canada's annual awards. Law Foundation of Ontario CEO Elizabeth Goldberg, who also will receive the Law Society Medal this year, declined to be interviewed for the series. Please visit us on- line at www.lawtimesnews.com to watch video highlights of our interview. Photo: Robert Todd

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• LSUC Honours
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