Kirstin Macrae

Kirstin Macrae is a partner at Bayne Sellar Ertel Macrae and has been at the firm since she began her articles in 2004. She was called to the bar in 2005 and has been practicing exclusively criminal law since then, with significant experience in a number of serious criminal cases. Kirstin has experience representing clients in both Provincial and Superior Courts. She has successfully represented people charged with all types of offences including: theft, fraud, assault and domestic assault, sexual assault, robbery, kidnapping, break and enter, drug offences, proceeds of crime, criminal organizations, extradition, murder, conspiracy, terrorism, and driving offences including impaired, over 80, and fail to remain.

After receiving her Honours Degree in Criminology with a concentration in law, Kirstin attended Queen’s University where she completed her LLB. She received the Bayne Sellar Boxall award for criminal law while at Queens. Kirstin also completed a Comparative Criminal Law program run by University of British Columbia and Southwestern University. She was employed for one summer with the Crown Law Office in Toronto working on criminal appeals and prosecuting Provincial Offences and Highway Traffic charges.

Kirstin is the Past President of the Defence Counsel of Ottawa. In the past she was the Vice President, Director and Junior Director of the Defence Counsel Association of Ottawa. During her time on the executive of the DCAO she co-chaired the annual Defence Counsel Association conference in 2022 and 2023 and organized and ran three two-day advocacy conference for junior lawyers. Kirstin is actively involved in the Youth Mental Health Court in Ottawa and is the defence lawyer representative on the core committee which oversees the running of this specialized court. Ms. Macrae has lectured at the University of Ottawa as a guest lecturer. She is a member of the Criminal Lawyers Association and the Ottawa Youth Justice Services Network.