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Ken has been a lawyer in Ontario since 1977, and has been active since 1983 in the railway & transportation sectors as counsel, advisor and advocate. After serving CN in-house and as General Counsel (Ontario), he rejoined private practice in January, 1998. Since then Ken’s advocacy & counsel has continued especially in rail & transportation law; and in working on dispute resolution in injury, contract, commercial and shipping cases and on railway regulatory & rights of way issues. Ken has also assisted clients with employment disputes, labour injunctions, inquests, or grievance dispute resolution. In addition, Ken has experience in drafting and interpreting commercial agreements in the rail sector, and in dealing with rail operators and industry and municipal representatives. Ken’s work has also addressed aboriginal claims & consultation issues (in relation to both railway and non-railway operations and lands).

Ken Peel has dealt with ‘all the usual suspects’ of federal & provincial regulatory agencies in matters of transportation, accident investigation, labour and employment, health and safety, and human rights. He has appeared in various arbitration & mediation proceedings, and in all levels of the courts - including in the Supreme Court of Canada [participating in the argument of human rights issues in Bhinder and CN, and as counsel in a 2009 motion for intervention for the railway industry in an injury & crossing management case, CPR ats Zsoldos], and in the Court of Appeal for Ontario [in railway, municipal, aboriginal law and other matters].

Ken has spoken at various proceedings of the National Association of Railroad Trial Counsel & the Association of Transportation Law Professionals, discussed the defence of railways with the Defence Lawyers Association and elsewhere, spoken to the 2012 Railway Age conference in Washington on passenger trains on freight railroads, and co-chaired and presented to various continuing education conferences. Ken is an associate member of the Canadian Association of Railway Suppliers, the Railway Association of Canada, the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association, and the Canadian Urban Transit Association, and a Director of the industry’s Toronto Railway Club. He is a member of various professional bodies, and has since 1993 been recognized by the Law Society as a Certified Specialist in Civil Litigation.

His great-grandfather was a locomotive engineer with the Grand Trunk Railway in Ontario in the late 1800’s and early 20^th century.