John S. Doherty

Partner - Leader of the National Expropriation Law Group, Gowling WLG


John Doherty is a partner in Gowling WLG's Waterloo Region office. He practises in the area of civil litigation, with a focus on municipal and commercial litigation. John is recognized in Best Lawyers in Canada and Lexpert for his expertise. John is the leader of the National Expropriation Law Group.

John's municipal litigation practice leads him to appear before municipal boards and councils, and a variety of administrative tribunals and courts, including the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal, with a focus on municipal planning and expropriation matters. John predominately acts for property owners, tenants and business owners with respect to planning, zoning and expropriation matters involving land development and public project / land acquisitions. In his commercial litigation practice, John is an advocate before the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, Divisional Court and Court of Appeal for Ontario.

John has written and lectured on a variety of topics relating to the law of expropriation, including a case comment on his success in Jordan's Garden, a leading no land taken case, as a panellist on business loss valuation issues at the Ontario Expropriation Association Annual

Seminar, the annual case law update at the Ontario Expropriation Association Annual Seminar and on Mediation in Expropriation Cases at the Ontario Municipal Board. John is a past chair and current member of the board of directors of the Ontario Expropriation Association, where he chairs the OEA Legislative Reform Committee.

John served as the managing partner of the Waterloo Region office and a member of the national executive committee of the firm from 1999 through 2009.

John's community involvement includes: