HD Collaborative Law
Automatically compiled listing. Details may contain errors.1 lawyer · Waterloo Region
One of 54 law firms listed in Waterloo.
About HD Collaborative Law
HD Collaborative Law is a Waterloo firm dedicated to collaborative practice and mediation, and Debbie Hoffman is one of its founding lawyers. People come to the firm for help in three areas: collaborative divorce, mediation and conflict coaching.
Hoffman's career started well outside Ontario. Called to the bar in both the Yukon and British Columbia in 1995, Hoffman spent 22 years in the Yukon, focused on family law and general civil litigation. More than two decades of litigation left Hoffman looking for a way to help separating couples keep a healthier co-parenting relationship and talk to each other better. A move back to Southern Ontario followed in 2016, and from then on the family law practice was given over to collaborative conflict resolution and mediation.
Hoffman was born in Renfrew, Ontario, and is Woodland Métis, an Algonquin of the Pikwàkanagàn First Nation. Hoffman holds a University of Waterloo certification in conflict resolution and mediation, and works as a Collaborative Team Trainer in the Region of Waterloo, teaching legal, financial and family professionals about collaborative team practice, along with sessions on power imbalance and interpersonal violence, unconscious bias, and practising law in a trauma-informed way.
The northern ties are still active. Hoffman keeps practising status with the Yukon Law Society and offers collaborative divorce, mediation and conflict coaching to every community in the territory.
Practice areas
Collaborative team practice
Collaborative team practice often brings in a family professional, who works with both spouses on a parenting plan for the children, and a financial professional, who can help value a business or work out income. HD Collaborative Law treats that extra help as a cost-effective way for both spouses to gather what they need to make fully informed decisions.
Family mediation
As a mediator, Hoffman helps spouses negotiate a settlement covering parenting, the split of property and debts, and financial support. Hoffman can then prepare a separation agreement that each former spouse takes to a separate lawyer for independent legal advice before signing.
Cohabitation and marriage contracts
For couples about to move in together, planning to marry or already married, Hoffman prepares cohabitation agreements, prenuptial agreements and marriage contracts that set out what happens if they separate or one partner dies. Where a couple has negotiated such an agreement on their own, Hoffman can give independent legal advice on it.
Conflict coaching
Coaching clients get an explanation of their options and the law, plus practical tips for talking with a spouse and children through and after a separation. The coaching also works on spotting and defusing triggers, setting healthy boundaries and keeping emotions in check.
Good to know
Accessible parkingHow HD Collaborative Law works
A collaborative file rests on a binding contract in which both sides commit to resolving how assets and debts are divided, along with parenting time and decision making, without a trip to court. Around that, the firm uses a wrap-around model: financial, family and other professionals stay involved throughout, so clients decide things with support and full information. The lawyers design the process and sit on the support team, but the decisions belong to the clients.
Collaborative practitioners here are communication coaches as well as lawyers, helping clients talk to each other in healthier ways. Half in jest, the aim is to work themselves out of a job, because the goal is for families to learn to settle their own issues.
Milestones & recognition
- In 2018 the Minister of Health and Social Services appointed Hoffman as the lawyer member of a six-person committee reviewing the Yukon's Child and Family Services Act. Its report, "Embracing the Children of Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow," sets out 149 Required Actions and was tabled in the Yukon Legislature in October 2019.
- HD Collaborative Law placed Gold for Best Family Law Firm in the Waterloo Record's 2021 Reader's Choice Awards.
In the community
- Hoffman has been a guest on "Ask The Expert" on 570 City News in Kitchener-Waterloo and on Divorce Solutions with Jamie West and Tracy Miller.
- Hoffman co-presented "The Art of Reading the Room," Collaborative Divorce Waterloo Region’s 2026 online course on IPV and power imbalance screening, held September 17, 18 and 25.
Affiliations & connections
- Collaborative Divorce Waterloo Region: Debbie Hoffman of HD Collaborative Law is listed among the member professionals of Collaborative Divorce Waterloo Region.
Who handles what
Offices 2
The neighbourhood
In 2018 the office was at 256 Buttonbush Street in Waterloo. It was a private home office, which the firm found more comfortable for meeting clients than busy commercial premises.
Frequently asked questions
- Is the one-hour introductory consultation at HD Collaborative Law a flat rate?
- HD Collaborative Law books a one-hour first consultation with Debbie Hoffman at an introductory flat rate of $300 plus HST, arranged by calling 519-591-1962. (Fees as of October 2026.)
- Can HD Collaborative Law take on collaborative or mediation clients who live in the Yukon?
- HD Collaborative Law accepts new collaborative and mediation clients based in the Yukon, and asks people to get in touch to check availability.
- Can my spouse come with me to a first meeting at HD Collaborative Law?
- Not to a collaborative consultation. On a collaborative file the firm can represent only one spouse, and the other spouse retains a different collaborative lawyer. Mediation is the exception: couples attend the first mediation consultation together. Once the firm has met a couple as mediators, it won’t act as lawyer for either of them.
- I reached minutes of settlement with a different mediator. Can HD Collaborative Law advise me and draft the separation agreement?
- HD Collaborative Law gives legal advice to people using another mediator, whether before, during or after the sessions. Debbie Hoffman will also review or draft a separation agreement based on those minutes of settlement.
- Will Fermin, the rescue dog at HD Collaborative Law, turn up during my meeting?
- Fermin comes from the Dominican Republic, was rescued by Fetch and Release, spent a few months in foster care in Guelph and moved in on August 10, 2019. Fermin sometimes makes cameo appearances on Zoom, stretching, yawning, napping or doing yoga. An office dog is sometimes around, so let the firm know ahead of time if you’d rather not have one present.
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Civil Litigation & Dispute ResolutionThis 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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