Mission
I am proud to be a partner at BARR LLP, which is one of Edmonton's leading multi-service law firms, and to have successfully defended a wide variety of clients against a wide variety of charges--many serious, many less serious, and everything in between.
Our firm is made up of leaders in family law, real estate law, corporate/commercial law, civil litigation, and (of course) criminal law, and I’m involved in making sure all of our lawyers receive the resources and opportunities needed to meet their full potential.
All I do is defend individuals and organizations against criminal, quasi-criminal, and regulatory charges. I have appeared regularly before both the Provincial Court of Alberta and the Alberta Court of Queen's Bench, and have successfully argued appeals against both sentence and conviction at the Alberta Court of Appeal. I am well known and respected by all levels of Court, and have a close relationship with Crown Counsel as well as by other members of the Criminal Defence Bar.
I have also successfully defended clients in British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Ontario, and am proud to have helped thousands of people get through what is often one of the most difficult times they will every experience.
Get in touch
I know that finding the right lawyer to represent you is a choice not to be taken lightly. That’s why I offer free consultations to walk you through your needs, the scope of your goals, and your budget.
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Biography
Partner
Derek Anderson
Born and raised in Alberta, I received a BA(Honours) in English Literature at Acadia University in Nova Scotia in the early ‘90s where I received the University Medal for the top student the graduating class. I returned to Acadia a year-and-a-half ion a full scholarship, and finished a Masters Degree in English Literature.
After a brief spell back in Edmonton by way of the west coast, I moved to Seoul, South Korea, where I ran the ESL Program at the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies for most of the following 8 years.
At the same time, I started publishing widely as both a freelance journalist and a regular CBC Online columnist. I focussed my reporting on vulnerable people (including foreign migrant workers, elderly former sex-slaves, and North Korean defectors) who were forced to endure degrading, if not inhumane, conditions.
And all of that made me happy, because life is hard for many, and it felt good to help. It still feels good.
But absolutely my greatest blessing was my wife, the family we started, and all of the wonders that family life has opened up for me.
By the time our first son was approaching his 4th birthday, we decided it was time to move back to Edmonton, and soon expanded our family from a trio to a quartet. And law school came and went, and articles came and went, and life continued to be very good to us.
I graduated from the Faculty of Law at the University of Alberta in 2008, and was admitted to the Law Society of Alberta in 2009.
It’s no secret: I found my calling as a criminal defence lawyer as a result of being hired first as a summer student, then as a part-time student, and last as an articling student at what was then Dawson Stevens Shaigec, one of Western Canada’s (if not Canada’s) preeminent boutique criminal defence firms (three of my mentors from the firm, including my principle, have since been appointed to the Bench).
Within years, I was partner in another of Edmonton’s leading boutique criminal defence firms (Knisely Nagase Anderson) which, a few short years later, merged with, and operated as, Barr Picard Law.
Which brings me up to the newest naming iteration: BARR LLP.
And here we are.
Education
UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA LAW SCHOOL
LLB, 2008
ACADIA UNIVERSITY
B.A. (Honours), English Literature, 1993
ACADIA UNIVERSITY
M.A. (Honours), English Literature, 1995
Activities & Affiliations
• Criminal Trial Lawyers of Alberta, Member
•Canadian Bar Association, Member-at-Large
• Alberta Lawyers' Assistance Society, Volunteer
Bar Admissions
•Alberta Law Society (2009)