THE LAWYERS at GIESBRECHT, GRIFFIN, FUNK & IRVINE
Theodore G. Giesbrecht
B.A., J.D., Adoption Licensee
Ted is the senior partner in the law firm of Giesbrecht, Griffin, Funk & Irvine, which he founded in April of 1981 upon his call to the bar. He completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Waterloo and the University of Mannheim in Germany. Ted obtained his law degree from Queen’s University at Kingston, Ontario, in 1979.
Ted enjoys practising in the areas of adoption, wills, estates, residential real estate, and elder law. He has an international clientele and can conduct business in the German language. Ted is a frequent speaker at seminars on issues relating to legal matters. Ted has served and continues to serve on many Boards of Directors generally dealing with social justice and affordable housing issues. He is presently serving as a Governor on the Board of Conrad Grebel University College, and as a Director on the Boards of Fairview Mennonite Home and Parkwood Mennonite Home. Ted has served as the legal advisor to the Waterloo Region Elder Abuse Response Team for over twenty years.
Ted was the recipient of the Ontario Adoption Award presented by the Adoption Council of Ontario and the Outstanding Volunteer Award by the Province of Ontario.
Ted contributed the chapter on adoptions in the 2004 text book Canadian Child Welfare Law. This text is used across Canada to teach law students and social work students about legal issues affecting children and is used as an authoritative text in judicial proceedings.
In 1999, Ted was appointed by the Ontario Ministry of Children and Youth Services to serve as a Director. In his role as a Director, he has adjudicated hearings between Children’s Aid Societies and foster families regarding the placement of children with prospective adoptive families.
Over the years Ted has been called upon by the Province of Ontario to assist in the drafting of legislation relating to adoption law and to reviewing and developing provincial standards and guidelines used to regulate and improve adoption practices in Ontario.
More recently, during July and October 2009 Ted travelled to Ethiopia and volunteered to stabilize a children’s transition home. He assisted in completing adoptions and permanent resident Visa applications for forty-seven children stranded in Addis Ababa. This has opened a challenging and satisfying sub-speciality wherein Ted provides assistance in emergency international adoption crisis situations. Following the devastating 2010 Haitian earthquake, Ted has been assisting a number of Haitian children whose adoption proceedings were disrupted.
Ted, his wife and two children are residents of Waterloo.
