Scott Wright

Scott Wright is one of the founders of Pender Litigation. Since his call to the Bar in 2007, he has developed an extensive trial and appellate practice focusing on criminal law and related administrative matters such as security clearance applications and revocations, professional discipline, extradition, civil forfeiture proceedings and driving prohibitions. He has also represented individuals facing disciplinary action from professional bodies resulting from alleged criminal or other misconduct. He has acted as counsel for clients at all levels of court in British Columbia, Alberta, and Manitoba and the Federal Court of Canada. In addition to working on his own cases, Mr. Wright has been retained to act as an Ad Hoc prosecutor, counsel for witnesses in criminal proceedings and as amicus curiae (counsel for the Court). These experiences position him to see a case from all sides.

Prior to his call to the Bar he earned a bachelor of arts degree at Simon Fraser University. He then completed law school at the University of Manitoba where he volunteered in the Legal Aid Clinic and represented a number of clients in the Provincial Court of Manitoba. He also won awards in advocacy competitions and represented the University nationally. 

Outside of the courtroom he has written papers for the CBA National Criminal Justice Conference and The Verdict, the quarterly publication of the Trial Lawyers Association of British Columbia (TLABC). Mr. Wright has been involved with legal education doing presentations for TLABC and the Criminal Defence Advocates Society. He has also supervised trials as part of the Law Students Legal Advice Program and coached a team of UBC students competing in the Peter Burns Moot competition.

Outside of law he has volunteered his time as a youth basketball, soccer and football coach.

Representative Cases

• R. v. Struss, 2008 BCSC 1674 (BC Supreme Court)

• R. v. El-Amine, 2010 BCSC 2022 (BC Supreme Court)

• R. v. Crawford, 2013 BCSC 932 (BC Supreme Court)

• R. v. Kim, 2013 BCPC 337 (BC Provincial Court)

• Petrov v. British Columbia (Superintendent of Motor Vehicles), 2014 BCSC 274 (BC Supreme Court)

• R. v. Chand, 2015 BCSC 484 (BC Supreme Court)

• Petrov v. British Columbia (Superintendent of Motor Vehicles), 2015 BCCA 486 (BC Court of Appeal)

• R. v. Leung, 2016 BCSC 214 (BC Supreme Court)

• R. v. Lopez, 2016 BCSC 2543 (BC Supreme Court)

• R. v. Bansal, 2017 BCCA 93 (BC Court of Appeal)

• Laframboise v. Canada (Attorney General), 2017 FC 832 (Federal Court of Canada)

• R. v. T.B.K., 2018 BCSC 1536 (BC Supreme Court)

• R. v. Nuttall, 2018 BCCA 479 (BC Court of Appeal)

• R. v. Sandoval, 2019 BCSC 1337 (BC Supreme Court)

• R. v. Veeken, 2020 BCCA 54 (BC Court of Appeal)

• R. v. Chan, 2020 BCSC 189 (BC Supreme Court)

• R. v. Chan, 2020 BCSC 776 (BC Supreme Court)

• R. v. Gauthier, 2021 BCPC 221 (BC Provincial Court)

• R. v. Handule, 2022 BCSC 1018 (BC Supreme Court)

• Tremblay v. British Columbia (Superintendent of Motor Vehicles), 2022 BCSC 1516 (BC Supreme Court)

• R. v. Handule, 2023 BCSC 1031 (BC Supreme Court)

• R. v. P.A., 2024 BCCA 93 (BC Court of Appeal)

Education

• Vancouver College, 1998

• Simon Fraser University, Bachelor of Arts, 2003

• Robson Hall at the University of Manitoba, Bachelor of Laws, 2006

Published Works

• “Murder v Manslaughter – a question of intent” prepared for the 2013 CBA National Criminal Justice Conference

• “Lost Evidence” prepared for the 2014 CBA National Criminal Justice Conference

• “Post-Trial Criminal Justice: Sentencing Considerations” published in The Verdict Issue 150 – Fall 2016

• Canlii Criminal Law E-book chapters:

  • Conspiracy

  • Attempts

  • Sentencing

Professional Associations and Memberships

• Criminal Defence Advocates Society

• Advocates Society

Contact Scott Wright
604-669-6699
srw@penderlitigation.com
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