Alexander Ostroff is a criminal defence lawyer with Edward Royle & Partners LLP, whose practice focuses on his special expertise in criminal appeals. He is a member of the Criminal Lawyers’ Association and the Ontario Bar Association.
Mr. Ostroff graduated from McGill University Faculty of Law’s transsystemic program in 2014, with degrees in both common and civil law. In law school, he worked with the Center for Research-Action on Race Relations on cases of discrimination and racial profiling by law enforcement, and on related complaints to the Québec Human Rights Commission and the Commissaire à la déontologie policière (Police Ethics Commissioner). He also co-developed and co-facilitated the Faculty’s first Critical Race Theory course. These experiences strengthened his interest in criminal law, his commitment to the pursuit of justice, and his dedication to advocacy for marginalized people facing structural inequality in the criminal justice system.
Prior to joining Edward H. Royle & Partners, Mr. Ostroff was an appellate associate at a premier Toronto criminal defence firm, where he worked with, and learned from, some of the country’s most prominent wrongful conviction and criminal appeal lawyers. Mr. Ostroff has appeared regularly at the Court of Appeal for Ontario, arguing a wide range of conviction appeals, both independently and with senior partners, including a significant number of complex murder appeals, as well as appeals from convictions for firearms, criminal organization, and sexual offences on his own. Mr. Ostroff has also obtained reductions in sentence on appeal, including in cases where the trial judge failed to properly consider the client’s experiences as an indigenous person.
In addition to his work on complex criminal convictions, Mr. Ostroff has successfully litigated criminal and quasi-criminal appeals at every level of court in Ontario. At the Ontario Court of Justice, he obtained a new trial for a client convicted of multiple provincial regulatory offences, and an acquittal on multiple counts at the re-trial. On a summary conviction appeal to the Superior Court of Justice, he recently obtained a new trial for a client convicted of assaulting prison guards due to the trial judge’s refusal to consider the client’s allegations that he was violently beaten by prison guards and a series of related Charter violations. After this successful appeal, the charges were withdrawn.
Mr. Ostroff has also successfully obtained Court-ordered funding for multiple criminal appeals that had been denied funding by Legal Aid Ontario, secured the release of numerous clients on bail pending appeal, and obtained Legal Aid funding to advance Test Case litigation to the Supreme Court of Canada.
Education
McGill University Faculty of Law, B.C.L.
McGill University Faculty of Law, LL.B.
McGill University, B.A., Joint Honours First Class
Memberships
Criminal Lawyers’ Association
Ontario Bar Association
