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Login to watch this video if you have a subscription. Learn more about subscriptions.Quoted by CBC and featured across national coverage of the Hockey Canada sexual assault trial, Sam Puchala was the go-to legal voice inside the courtroom and is a prominent London, Ontario criminal defence lawyer.
In Case Comment: R. v. McLeod, et al., 2025 ONSC 4319 (Hockey Canada Sexual Assault Trial), she unpacks the decision in depth, analyzing how credibility and reliability shaped the acquittals, how consent law operates when tested against conflicting evidence, and what the ruling signals for public understanding of sexual assault prosecutions in Canada. The presentation also explores the evidentiary role of video and text records, the limits of intoxication and trauma in reliability assessments, the significance of a judge-alone trial in producing detailed reasons, and the broader lessons for both lawyers and the public on the importance of proof beyond a reasonable doubt in sexual assault cases.
Sam Puchala is a criminal lawyer and the founder of Velox Law Professional Corporation / Société professionnelle Droit Velox. Called to the bar in 2019, Sam practices exclusively in criminal law in both English and French with a focus on litigating offences against the person, including all levels of assaults, homicides, and sexual offences. She has offices in both London, where she resides, and Woodstock, her hometown. Sam is known as being a trailblazer in the legal community, including in her roles as Regional Women’s Director of the Criminal Lawyers’ Association, Treasurer of the London Criminal Lawyers’ Association and her involvement within the Association des juristes d’expression française de l’Ontario (AJEFO). Sam is the winner of the 2022 Middlesex Law Association Rising Star Award, and when she’s not in court, you can find her riding her motorcycles and her Velox Law vehicle Sam Puchala dubbed the “NO JAIL” mobile.
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*see individual programs and jurisidictional allowances for accredited hours/requirements for Canadian law societies.
