CLA Women's Committee Presents: Demystifying Sexual Offence Litigation

Sexual offence prosecutions represent a significant number of the cases in the criminal justice system, and they’re only getting more complicated. Even two-witness, “he said/she said” cases are accompanied by numerous pre-trial applications and complex evidentiary rules. Most significantly, there’s confusion about what you can ask a sexual assault complainant without engaging sexual assault myths and stereotypes. Likewise, the state of the law after Bill C-51 ushered in changes to how the court deals with evidence in the possession of the defence and 276 applications is in flux. Join Lindsay Board and Colleen McKeown as they deliver a primer on litigating these issues.

This event is open only to current CLA members that are females, those that identify as female, two spirited persons and non-binary persons - FREE OF CHARGE.

Speakers:

Lindsay Board

Lindsay practices exclusively in criminal law at Daniel Brown Law. Her practice is made up of both trials and appeals. Before joining the team at Daniel Brown’s, she practiced both civil and criminal law at Stockwoods and clerked for the Court of Appeal for Ontario.

Lindsay’s practice has a focus on sexual offences. Most recently, Lindsay argued R. v. Steele at the Court of Appeal, which addressed permissible reasoning based on evidence engaging myths and stereotypes. She’s currently co-counsel for the Criminal Lawyers’ Association on R. v. J.J. and R. v. Reddick, two cases interpreting the constitutionality of the Bill C-51 amendments that the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear this fall.

Colleen McKeown

Colleen has practiced exclusively in criminal law at Daniel Brown Law since her call to the bar. Before that, she clerked at the Court of Appeal for Ontario and she has carried her interest in appellate litigation into her practice. Sexual offences cases make up a large percentage of the cases coming across her desk.

Colleen has twice raised the issue of common-sense and mythological reasoning at the Court of Appeal – first in Cepic, in which the trial judge’s faulty reasoning led to a new trial, and then in Jesso. She was also co-counsel for the Criminal Lawyers’ Association on two sexual offences cases at the Supreme Court: Morrison and Goldfinch.

Moderated by: Maya Shukairy, SHUKAIRY LAW 

This event will be recorded, and pending quality of recording, made available for purchase at a later date.