Duncan, Linton LLP
Automatically compiled listing. Details may contain errors.15 lawyers · Established 1860 · Waterloo Region
One of 102 law firms listed in Kitchener, and one of 3 handling Bankruptcy & Insolvency.
About Duncan, Linton LLP
Duncan, Linton LLP is a Waterloo firm whose clients run from start-ups and family businesses to publicly traded corporations, along with municipalities, other public bodies and private individuals, and it commits to fitting its advice to what each of them needs. It's the oldest independent law firm in Waterloo Region and one of the oldest law firms in Ontario, and it has worked for clients in Kitchener-Waterloo, Cambridge and across Southern Ontario for more than 160 years.
Irwin A. Duncan started practising with the firm in 1972, after Osgoode Hall Law School and articles with a Toronto firm. J. David Linton joined as an articling student in 1976, became a partner in 1982 and served as managing partner from 1984 to 1992.
Several of the lawyers bring training from outside law. David M. Steele earned an engineering degree at the University of Toronto before McGill's joint LL.B./M.B.A. program. Alain D.L. Grenier finished Western's combined program in 2024 with both a mechanical engineering science degree and a Juris Doctor. Adrian L. Rosu is a licensed realtor with the Ontario Real Estate Association and has more than ten years of hands-on construction, development and real estate work through a family construction business.
The office is at 45 Erb Street East in Waterloo, open 9:00 to 5:00 Monday to Friday or by appointment.
History
The practice opened in 1860 as the law office of MacGachen & Colquhoun, at a time when Ontario was still Canada West and Waterloo was a small village. At some point the two partners appear to have had their offices in the Devitt Block, a building put up in 1870 and pulled down in 1976. It stood on what's now the parking lot behind the Bank of Montreal at 3 King Street South.
Frederick Colquhoun also held public office, serving as Waterloo's village clerk from 1868 until the village was incorporated in 1876 and afterwards as the town's clerk and treasurer until 1898. After some years practising alone, Colquhoun took Arthur B. McBride into partnership in 1889 as Colquhoun & McBride, an arrangement that ended in 1897 with Colquhoun's appointment as Collector of Customs at the port of Berlin. McBride went on to act as solicitor for the Town of Waterloo and served as its clerk from 1897 to 1912.
Walter McGibbon finished at Osgoode Hall in 1926 and opened a practice in Kitchener in 1927. Within a year McGibbon and McBride had formed McBride & McGibbon. As town solicitor, McGibbon played a key part in Waterloo's move from town to city status in 1948. That same year Jack Harper joined as an associate, and when Harper became a partner in 1952 the name changed to McGibbon & Harper.
McGibbon mentored both Irwin A. Duncan and J. David Linton, and oversaw the purchase of the firm's present site on Erb Street East, where the office first went up in 1959 as a one-storey building. The firm practised as White, Duncan, Linton LLP from 2004 and has been Duncan, Linton LLP since 2013.
Practice areas
Bankruptcy & Insolvency
Real Estate Law
Civil Litigation & Dispute Resolution
Business & Corporate Law
Construction Law
Employment & Labour Law
Administrative & Regulatory Law
Wills, Estates & Trusts
Family Law
Real estate and land development
The Real Estate Group's clients include buyers and sellers, developers and financial institutions, among others. On complex land development files, the real estate lawyers draw on the firm's Municipal and Planning Group where it's appropriate.
Construction disputes and liens
The construction practice acts across Ontario for parties at every level of a project, from owners and general contractors to trades and suppliers. Its work covers defect litigation, surety bond claims, delay claims and tendering disputes, public procurement included. On liens, it handles the full path from registration through bonding off or vacating a lien to litigation in court.
Municipal law and expropriation
In expropriation matters the firm has acted for expropriating authorities and for landowners whose property was taken. Peter A. Hertz has handled by-law prosecutions and appeals for several municipalities, and earlier prosecuted provincial offences for the Ministry of the Attorney General.
Business law and succession planning
The Business Law Group teams up with the firm's real estate and estates lawyers to design and carry out succession plans for businesses. Its transactional work also reaches into intellectual property, franchise law and commercial lending.
Commercial litigation and arbitration
The firm's commercial litigation covers mortgage enforcement, real estate and property disputes, and enforcement and priority questions for secured creditors. Its litigators also appear regularly before arbitrators and arbitral panels.
Employment law for both sides
The Employment Group acts for employers and for employees, with work under the Employment Standards Act, 2000, the Human Rights Code and the Occupational Health and Safety Act. Ashon L. Simpson has appeared before the Superior Court of Justice, the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal and the Canadian Human Rights Commission.
Estate disputes and dual wills
The Wills and Estates Group handles contested matters such as executor and trustee disputes, will challenges, passing of accounts and trust variations. A single Will is enough for most people, but owners of private companies or significant personal property may be better served by both a Primary and a Secondary Will.
Bankruptcy and consumer proposals
Daniel W. Veinot's civil litigation practice puts an emphasis on construction, bankruptcy and municipal law. The firm's insolvency lawyers help with bankruptcy proceedings and with structuring consumer proposals, and explore alternatives as well.
Family law in Waterloo Region
The Waterloo-based family team has extensive experience with the family court in Waterloo Region. Alongside divorce and separation, the Family Law Group takes on child or spousal support, custody disputes, and the division of property and assets. Nolan Wilson's practice centres on family law and draws on negotiation, trial and appellate work.
Our guide: How to Get a Divorce in Ontario
Good to know
Wheelchair accessibleHow Duncan, Linton LLP works
Lawyers from Duncan, Linton's different practice groups regularly work on files together, with the aim of spotting every risk and dealing with it. On the business side, the firm commits to spending real time with each corporate client so it understands how the business runs and what the client is aiming for, both now and in the long run. Where it can, the firm works to protect a client's legal and financial position without drawn-out, costly litigation.
Milestones & recognition
- In 2020 the firm marked 160 years by publishing a blog series profiling past partners who'd been leaders in Waterloo Region's business, legal and political life.
In the community
- Peter A. Hertz has coached football in the area, at Waterloo Collegiate Institute and with Twin Cities Minor Tackle Football.
- Irwin A. Duncan has been involved with the Waterloo Rotary Club and Junior Achievement of Kitchener-Waterloo, and is a past chair of the Waterloo-Guelph Regional Airport Commission.
- From 1978 to 1989, J. David Linton taught a second-year course in law at Wilfrid Laurier University and Conestoga College and took part in seminars for business groups and financial institutions.
- Nolan Wilson coaches Osgoode Hall Law School's team for the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court competition.
Affiliations & connections
- Ontario Expropriation Association: Peter A. Hertz of Duncan, Linton is a member of the Ontario Expropriation Association.
Lawyers 15
Adrian L. Rosu
Associate
Civil Litigation & Dispute ResolutionAdministrative & Regulatory Law
Alain D.L. Grenier
Associate
Real Estate Law
Andrew H. Willcox
Associate
Business & Corporate LawCivil Litigation & Dispute Resolution
Ashon L. Simpson
Associate
Employment & Labour LawCivil Litigation & Dispute Resolution
D. Justin Darroch
Associate
Civil Litigation & Dispute Resolution
Daniel W. Veinot
Associate
Civil Litigation & Dispute ResolutionAdministrative & Regulatory Law
David M. Steele
Civil Litigation & Dispute ResolutionConstruction Law
Irwin A. Duncan
Partner
Civil Litigation & Dispute ResolutionBusiness & Corporate Law
J. David Linton
Partner
Business & Corporate LawReal Estate Law
Justine A. Dalton
Associate
Civil Litigation & Dispute ResolutionEmployment & Labour Law
Mark E. Day
Associate
Civil Litigation & Dispute ResolutionConstruction Law
Michael A. van Bodegom
Partner
Civil Litigation & Dispute ResolutionConstruction Law
Nolan Wilson
Associate
Family Law
Peter A. Hertz
Partner
Construction LawAdministrative & Regulatory Law
Zachary D. D'Amico
Associate
Civil Litigation & Dispute ResolutionWills, Estates & Trusts
This firm’s lawyers at a glance
- Called to the bar
- 1991–2025 · median 6 years in practice 12 of 15 lawyers
- Law schools
- Osgoode Hall Law School (3), University of Western Ontario (3), Bora Laskin Faculty of Law at Lakehead University, Lincoln Alexander School of Law at Toronto Metropolitan University, McGill University, Osgoode Hall Law School at York University and 4 more 14 of 15 lawyers
- Languages on the roster
- English, French
Who handles what
The neighbourhood
The Erb Street East office is a short walk from two ION light rail stations, Waterloo Public Square and Willis Way. The firm has moved since 1906 but has stayed on Erb Street, a few minutes on foot from where Arthur B. McBride practised.
The corner of King and Erb is one of Waterloo's most photographed intersections. Back in the 1850s both streets were barely more than dirt tracks, with Erb Street known as Erb's Road and King Street as the Great Road.
Frequently asked questions
- Can I work with a lawyer at Duncan, Linton in French?
- Duncan, Linton's Daniel W. Veinot is a graduate of the University of Ottawa's French common law program and practises in both of Canada's official languages.
- Does Duncan, Linton advise municipalities on expropriations and ratepayer challenges to by-laws?
- Duncan, Linton's Michael A. van Bodegom works regularly for municipalities and public boards in Waterloo Region and elsewhere in Southern Ontario. Expropriations, tendering questions and challenges by ratepayers to by-laws and council resolutions are a particular focus of that work.
- Will the firm take on an appeal that another lawyer refers?
- Duncan, Linton regularly takes on appeals referred by other counsel. Its appeal lawyers have handled judicial reviews, tribunal appeals (including to the Ontario Municipal Board), and appeals to the Divisional Court and the Court of Appeal.
- Can I see Duncan, Linton at the Erb Street office after 5 p.m.?
- Duncan, Linton keeps business hours of 9:00 to 5:00, Monday to Friday, and also meets by appointment. If your appointment falls outside those hours, ring the bell to the right of the front door.
- Why does a boardroom at Duncan, Linton carry Frederick Colquhoun's name?
- Duncan, Linton named a boardroom after Frederick Colquhoun, and the room displays deeds Colquhoun prepared. Colquhoun's Ontario Reports, going back to 1882, are shown in another boardroom, and a further boardroom is named in honour of Arthur B. McBride.
- How does Duncan, Linton treat its articling students?
- Duncan, Linton treats incoming articling students as future partners. Two-thirds of the firm's current lawyers, and the same share of its partners, started out in law as students at Duncan, Linton.
- Has anyone at Duncan, Linton talked about student loan debt and bankruptcy on a podcast?
- Duncan, Linton's Daniel W. Veinot discussed the topic in an interview with Doug Hoyes of Hoyes, Michalos & Associates Inc. for the podcast Debt Free in 30.
Where to find them
Waterloo, Ontario · 519-886-3340
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Insurance 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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