"[5] Edelson successfully defended Margaret Trudeau, former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau's ex-wife, on a 1988 charge of marijuana possession,[7] and on a 2004 charge of impaired driving, both times getting the charges thrown out;[4][8] Ottawa mayor Larry O'Brien, who was accused of influence-peddling and acquitted in 2009;[5][9] Nova Scotia Roman Catholic bishop Raymond Lahey, who was accused of possessing and importing child pornography;[10] Michael Cowpland, Corel Corporation founder and former CEO, accused of insider trading;[11] and Riadh Ben Aïssa, former vice president of SNC-Lavalin, who faced money laundering charges related to $139 million in payments from the company to the Libyan government.
[17] In 2010, he defended Col. Russell Williams, a pilot in the Canadian Armed Forces who was accused of raping and murdering two women near the Trenton air base he commanded.
[18] In 2014, he defended Khurram Sher, a former pathologist living in London, Ontario, accused of joining an al-Qaeda-inspired terrorist cell in Ottawa.
[21] Edelson represented Liban Hussein, a Canadian entrepreneur who was one of the first in Canada to be accused of terrorism financing; he was ultimately cleared.
[4] Edelson also represented Maher Arar, who was suspected of terrorism activity but was not charged[22] (and would later receive a $10 million settlement from the Canadian government),[23] and Abdullah Almalki, who was imprisoned and tortured for two years in a Syrian jail after being falsely considered a terrorist threat.