Michael Edelson (lawyer)
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Michael Edelson (born 1949) is a Canadian criminal defence lawyer based in
Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...
,
Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...
. He has represented numerous high-profile clients in Canada.


Education

Edelson earned a bachelor of arts in English from
Carleton University Carleton University is an English-language public university, public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1942 as Carleton College, the institution originally operated as a private, non-denominational evening college to se ...
, and graduated from the
University of Ottawa Faculty of Law The University of Ottawa Faculty of Law () is the law school at the University of Ottawa, located in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Established in 1953, the faculty is today divided into Civil Law and Common Law sections, the two formally recognized l ...
in 1975. He was admitted to the
Ontario bar The Law Society of Ontario (LSO; ) is the law society responsible for the self-regulation of lawyers and paralegals in the Canadian province of Ontario. Founded in 1797 as the Law Society of Upper Canada (LSUC; ), its name was changed by statu ...
in 1977.


Career

Edelson started out practicing family, criminal, and commercial law, before shifting his focus exclusively to criminal law. By 2010, he had represented 55 clients accused of murder. He is known for "a tough, direct style" and "intense preparation and meticulous cross-examinations."


Clients

Edelson successfully defended
Margaret Trudeau Margaret Joan Trudeau ( Sinclair; born September 10, 1948) is a Canadian activist and the mother of Justin Trudeau, the 23rd prime minister of Canada. She married Pierre Trudeau, the 15th prime minister of Canada, in 1971, three years after h ...
, former Prime Minister
Pierre Trudeau Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau (October 18, 1919 – September 28, 2000) was a Canadian politician, statesman, and lawyer who served as the 15th prime minister of Canada from 1968 to 1979 and from 1980 to 1984. Between his no ...
's ex-wife, on a 1988 charge of
marijuana Cannabis (), commonly known as marijuana (), weed, pot, and ganja, List of slang names for cannabis, among other names, is a non-chemically uniform psychoactive drug from the ''Cannabis'' plant. Native to Central or South Asia, cannabis has ...
possession, and on a 2004 charge of impaired driving, both times getting the charges thrown out; Ottawa mayor
Larry O'Brien Lawrence Francis O'Brien Jr. (July 7, 1917September 28, 1990) was an American politician and commissioner of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1975 to 1984. He was one of the United States Democratic Party's leading electoral strat ...
, who was accused of influence-peddling and acquitted in 2009; Nova Scotia Roman Catholic bishop Raymond Lahey, who was accused of possessing and importing child pornography;
Michael Cowpland Michael Cowpland (born April 23, 1943 in Bexhill-on-Sea) is a British-born Canadian businessman. He is the founder and one-time president, chairman and CEO of Corel, a Canadian software company. Career Mitel Cowpland worked for Bell Northern Re ...
,
Corel Corporation Cascade Parent Limited, doing business as Alludo ( ), is a Canadian software company headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario, specializing in graphics processing. Formerly called the Corel Corporation ( ; from the abbreviation "Cowpland Research Laborat ...
founder and former CEO, accused of insider trading; and Riadh Ben Aïssa, former vice president of SNC-Lavalin, who faced money laundering charges related to $139 million in payments from the company to the Libyan government. Since 1980, Edelson has successfully defended a number of police officers against criminal charges, including Constable
Martin Cardinal Constable Martin Cardinal is an Ottawa Police Service member who sparked national outrage on November 25, 2000, when an amateur video taken by Darcy Peterson from his balcony showed an officer repetitively slamming a handcuffed and restrained fem ...
, who won a conditional discharge after pleading guilty following a videotaped assault on a woman during her arrest; Constable Daniel Montsion, an Ottawa police officer who was found not guilty on charges of manslaughter, aggravated assault, and assault with a weapon while arresting Abdirahman Abdi, who died during the arrest; and Steven Desjourdy, a police sergeant accused of sexually assaulting a female prisoner. In 2006, he initially represented
David Frost Sir David Paradine Frost (7 April 1939 – 31 August 2013) was an English television host, journalist, comedian and writer. He rose to prominence during the satire boom in the United Kingdom when he was chosen to host the satirical programme ...
, a former
NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...
agent who was charged with 12 counts of sexual exploitation and one count of assault, related to alleged incidents involving boys and girls between the ages of 14 and 16, taking place from 1995 to 2001. Edelson later passed the case to
Marie Henein Marie Therese Henein (born 1966) is a Canadian civil litigator and criminal defence lawyer. She is a partner of Henein Hutchison Robitaille LLP, a law firm in Toronto. Early life Henein was born in Cairo, Egypt, to a Lebanese Maronite father an ...
. In 2010, he defended Col. Russell Williams, a pilot in the
Canadian Armed Forces The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF; , FAC) are the unified Military, military forces of Canada, including sea, land, and air commands referred to as the Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Army and the Royal Canadian Air Force. Under the ''National Defenc ...
who was accused of raping and murdering two women near the Trenton air base he commanded. He was also charged with two counts of forcible confinement and 82 break-ins, after a four-year string of burglaries. He pled guilty and was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years. In 2014, he defended Khurram Sher, a former pathologist living in
London, Ontario London is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River (Ontario), Thames River and N ...
, accused of joining an
al-Qaeda , image = Flag of Jihad.svg , caption = Jihadist flag, Flag used by various al-Qaeda factions , founder = Osama bin Laden{{Assassinated, Killing of Osama bin Laden , leaders = {{Plainlist, * Osama bin Lad ...
-inspired terrorist cell in Ottawa. Sher was found not guilty of conspiring to facilitate terrorism. It was the first time in Canada that a person accused of terrorist offenses had gone to trial and been acquitted. Edelson represented Liban Hussein, a Canadian entrepreneur who was one of the first in Canada to be accused of terrorism financing; he was ultimately cleared. Edelson also represented
Maher Arar Maher Arar () (born 1970) is a telecommunications engineer with dual Syrian and Canadian citizenship who has resided in Canada since 1987. Arar was detained during a layover at John F. Kennedy International Airport in September 2002 on his way ...
, who was suspected of terrorism activity but was not charged (and would later receive a $10 million settlement from the Canadian government), and Abdullah Almalki, who was imprisoned and tortured for two years in a Syrian jail after being falsely considered a terrorist threat.


Personal life

Edelson is married with two children.


Bibliography

*


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Edelson, Michael 1949 births Living people Carleton University alumni Lawyers from Ottawa University of Ottawa Faculty of Law alumni