There are lots of capable criminal defence lawyers out there, but if you want to be represented by a lawyer who: (a) is regularly consulted by criminal lawyers across Canada who want his advice on challenging questions; (b) runs a business providing educational services for other lawyers demonstrating how to excel; (c) has literally “written the book(s)” on persuasive legal writing, criminal law and evidence; and (d) gives you the best chance to win your appeal – you want to hire Peter Sankoff. He is one of Canada’s most successful and prolific appellate lawyers, conducting appeals across Canada. Though he only returned to legal practice in 2018 after a long period as an academic, he run more than 50 appeals and consistently wins a high rate of them. 

Peter’s special talent is finding appeal grounds that other lawyers might miss. That comes from him knowing the law in a special way. In addition to his litigation practice, Peter Sankoff is a law professor, author and podcaster who, in 2020, was recognized by Canadian Lawyer Magazine as one of the country’s 25 Most Influential Lawyers. He has spent the past 25+ years conducting research and teaching about the law of evidence, the substantive criminal law, the criminal trial process and the relationship between animals and the law. He is the recipient of numerous awards for teaching, podcasting, research and service to the community. In short, he knows what he’s talking about, and the judges he advocates in front of tend to trust him as a result. 

Peter has acted successfully on a number of important cases in front of the Supreme Court of Canada, including R v DLW (considering the legal definition of bestiality), R v Suter (reversing the Alberta Court of Appeal’s decision to raise sentence from 4  months imprisonment to 26 months imprisonment for refusing to provide a breath sample) and R v Barton (major case on sexual assault, murder/manslaughter). He has won significant appeals at the Alberta Court of Appeal including R v Churchill (sentence reduced in trafficking case); R v Al-Askari (unlawful search and seizure); R v Sunderji (assault causing bodily harm conviction struck – this resulted in the law being invalidated in Alberta) and, most recently, R v Whiskeyjack (first degree murder conviction overturned and new trial ordered). Along with William van Engen, in 2019 he brought a successful constitutional challenge in the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench against a section of the Criminal Code that imposed disclosure requirements on accused persons. This resulted in the law being invalidated in Alberta. Peter also has considerable expertise in seeking bail pending appeal, and has won a large number of contested applications.