Our team

Colleen McKeown.

Partner and criminal defence lawyer. Trials and appeals, up to the Supreme Court of Canada.

Colleen’s practice focuses on criminal trials and appeals. She assists those charged with or convicted of all Criminal Code offences. 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.

Recognition

In 2022, Colleen was recognized by Precedent Magazine as “one of the defence bar’s most talented appellate lawyers” when she was awarded a Precedent Setter Award for excellence and leadership in her early years of practice. In 2027, Colleen was recognized in Best Lawyers in Canada for appellate practice and criminal defence.

Colleen has been named by Post City Magazine as one of Toronto's Top Criminal Lawyers.

Court sketch of Colleen McKeown in court

From Colleen’s bio

Court of Appeal experience, applied to crafting an effective appeal argument.

Teaching and writing

Colleen is also interested in legal writing and education. She was an adjunct professor at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law for four years, teaching a course on Legal Research & Writing for three years and supervising students participating in the Criminal Appellate Externship Program. Colleen contributed a chapter about historical sexual offences to the second and third editions of Prosecuting and Defending Sexual Offence Cases. She has also presented on criminal law and advocacy topics to students, lawyers, and judges at events hosted by organizations including the National Judicial Institute, the Criminal Lawyers’ Association, the Law Society of Ontario, and Legal Aid Ontario.

Background

Colleen first developed a passion for criminal law at the University of Oxford, where she completed a master’s degree, with distinction, in criminology and criminal justice. Colleen went on to complete her J.D., also with distinction, at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law. During law school, she worked on criminal trials and appeals and prosecuted provincial offences on behalf of the Ministry of the Attorney General at the Crown Law Office — Criminal. She was also a leader at Downtown Legal Services, where she represented low-income clients in some of the most difficult circumstances of their lives.

After law school, Colleen served as a law clerk to the judges of the Court of Appeal for Ontario. In this role, Colleen worked alongside and advised some of the most experienced and influential criminal court judges in the country, and saw firsthand how judges make decisions. Colleen’s experience at the Court of Appeal gives her insight into crafting an effective appeal argument.

Colleen is a member of the Law Society of Ontario and the Criminal Lawyers’ Association. She joined Daniel Brown Law following her call to the Bar of Ontario.

Notable appeals

Colleen McKeown is a criminal appeal and trial lawyer at Daniel Brown Law. The decisions below are appeals she has argued, including before the Supreme Court of Canada; each links to the full decision on CanLII.

Decisions13

R. v. Gandhi, 2026 ONCA 407

Sexual assault; Crown appeal dismissed and the acquittal upheld where an in-dock identification conducted by video years after the incident was too weak to support a conviction.

R. v. K.F., 2026 ONCA 357

with Robert Nanni. Right to a trial in the official language of choice (s. 530); conviction quashed and a new trial ordered.

R. v. Saboon, 2026 ONCA 113

Acting for the appellant Kenneth Morrison; first-degree murder conviction set aside and reduced to manslaughter on a party-liability (s. 21(2)) mens rea error.

R. v. Abdullahi, 2023 SCC 19

Jury instructions on the structure-and-continuity element of a criminal organization; the conviction on that count was set aside. Intervener, Criminal Lawyers’ Association.

R. v. Murphy, 2022 ONCA 615

Aggravated sexual assault (HIV non-disclosure); fresh expert evidence of an undetectable viral load undermined the realistic-possibility-of-transmission finding and an acquittal was entered.

R. v. Janeiro, 2022 ONCA 118

Armed robbery; verdicts found unreasonable on misapprehended identification evidence, with a s. 7 breach from negligently lost security video; acquittals entered.

R. v. K.G.K., 2020 SCC 18

Section 11(b); whether the time a judge takes to deliberate and deliver a verdict counts toward the trial-within-a-reasonable-time ceiling. Intervener, Criminal Lawyers’ Association.

R. v. Cepic, 2019 ONCA 541

Sexual assault; a leading decision on impermissible stereotypical reasoning in credibility findings; conviction set aside and a new trial ordered.

R. v. Goldfinch, 2019 SCC 38

Section 276 admissibility of a complainant’s prior sexual history and the twin myths; new trial ordered. Intervener, Criminal Lawyers’ Association.

R. v. Morrison, 2019 SCC 15

Child luring; the s. 172.1(3) presumption of belief in age struck down as unconstitutional. Intervener, Criminal Lawyers’ Association.

R. v. Gandhi (Superior Court of Justice, Brampton)

Sexual assault; conviction appeal allowed.

R. v. Lombardo (Superior Court of Justice, Toronto)

Sexual assault; conviction appeal allowed.

R. v. Mehra (Superior Court of Justice, Milton)

with Robert Nanni. Sexual assault; conviction appeal allowed on consent.

Credentials

Courts: Ontario Court of Justice; Superior Court of Justice; Federal Court of Canada; Court of Appeal for Ontario; Supreme Court of Canada
Clerkship: Law clerk to the judges of the Court of Appeal for Ontario
Education: J.D. (with distinction), University of Toronto Faculty of Law; master’s degree in criminology and criminal justice (with distinction), University of Oxford
Recognition: Precedent Setter Award, Precedent Magazine; Best Lawyers in Canada, appellate practice and criminal defence; Post City Magazine, Toronto's Top Criminal Lawyers
Memberships: Law Society of Ontario; Criminal Lawyers’ Association

Writing and teaching

Adjunct professor, University of Toronto Faculty of Law
Prosecuting and Defending Sexual Offence Cases, 2nd and 3rd editions (chapter)
National Judicial Institute
Criminal Lawyers’ Association
Law Society of Ontario
Legal Aid Ontario

Colleen defends every kind of criminal charge

Here are some of the charges we defend most often. We also defend charges not listed here.

See all practice areas

The strength of the whole firm, on every case

Colleen is one of 16 criminal defence lawyers at Daniel Brown Law. Every client has the firm’s collective trial and appeal experience behind them, in courthouses across Ontario.