Colleen McKeown

Colleen’s practice focuses on criminal trials and appeals. She has argued appeals in the Ontario Court of Justice (Provincial Offences Act appeals), the Superior Court of Justice, the Federal Court of Canada and the Court of Appeal for Ontario. She has repeatedly appeared on behalf of the Criminal Lawyers’ Association on significant criminal law appeals at the Supreme Court of Canada. She also has experience acting as counsel to a party with standing at a Coroner’s Inquest and at the Public Order Emergency Commission, and previously acted as research lawyer to a committee of the Canadian Judicial Council.

Colleen is also interested in legal writing and education. She contributed a chapter about historical sexual offences to the second and third editions of Prosecuting and Defending Sexual Offence Cases and was an adjunct professor at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law where she taught a course on Legal Research & Writing and supervised students participating in the Criminal Appellate Externship Program.

In 2022, Colleen received a Precedent Setter Award, a recognition from Precedent Magazine, for excellence and leadership in her first ten years of practice.