Featured Interview With Philip Slayton
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
Philip Slayton was born in London, England, and studied law at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. Having immigrated to Canada as a child, he returned upon graduation to clerk at the Supreme Court of Canada. In the first chapter of his professional legal career he was a law professor and dean of law at Western University.
Philip then went into legal practice with a major Canadian law firm in Toronto, and worked on many of the biggest corporate and commercial transactions of the time. After seventeen years, he retired from the practice of law in 2000.
Upon leaving Big Law, Philip Slayton wrote the best-selling book Lawyers Gone Bad: Money, Sex and Madness in Canada’s Legal Profession. Philip and his book were the subjects of a Maclean’s magazine cover story with the controversial headline “Lawyers are Rats.” The Toronto Star labeled Slayton “Public Enemy #1.” His second book was Mighty Judgment: How the Supreme Court of Canada Runs Your Life.
Most recently, Philip independently published his first novel, Bay Street.
Slayton is a regular contributor on law-related topics to Canadian magazines and newspapers, and is an occasional commentator on television and radio. He is president of PEN Canada. He divides his time between Toronto, and a small rural community in Nova Scotia.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I have loved books from the moment I could read. As a passionate reader throughout my adulthood, I harbored a great desire to write; I did not truly have the opportunity until I retired from practicing law.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
Bay Street is my first novel. I drew from my experience of almost twenty years as a corporate lawyer on Bay Street, (the heart of Toronto’s legal and banking businesses,) and had fun with it. I imagined a conflicted female junior partner, because women have a particular set of difficulties in big law. Surrounding her with a colorful array of questionable characters and corrupt motives, allows for an entertaining fly-on-the-wall effect, while the intrigue of a murder mystery keeps you hooked.
Buy the book on Amazon.
Connect with the Author on their Websites and Social media profiles