Kyla Lee is a partner at Acumen Law Corporation and one of Canada's most recognized criminal defence lawyers in the area of impaired driving and driving-related offences. Widely known as "The IRP Lawyer," she has built her practice around the defence of Immediate Roadside Prohibitions (IRPs), criminal impaired driving charges, refusal allegations and driving prohibitions, and is regarded as a leading authority on roadside driving prohibitions in British Columbia.
Kyla has appeared as counsel at every level of court in British Columbia and as lead counsel before the Supreme Court of Canada. She is a regular presence in the BC Supreme Court conducting judicial reviews of IRP decisions, and her office has handled more Immediate Roadside Prohibition matters than any other in the province. She has appealed thousands of cases over the course of her career and has been involved in a number of precedent-setting challenges to BC's administrative driving prohibition regime. She is also counsel in British Columbia (Attorney General) v. Lee, 2017 BCCA 219, a decision now regularly cited in Canadian legal commentary on solicitor-client privilege and inadvertent disclosure.
Practice Areas
- Immediate Roadside Prohibitions (IRPs) and Administrative Driving Prohibitions
- Impaired driving / DUI and "over 80" offences
- Refusal and breath/blood demand matters
- Driving while prohibited and traffic offences
- Judicial review and appellate advocacy
Authorship & Education
Kyla is the author of Immediate Roadside Prohibitions in Western Canada, the leading text on defending 90-day IRPs, and of Cross-Examination: The Pinpoint Method (LexisNexis). She regularly teaches cross-examination and DUI defence to lawyers across Canada and the United States. She holds a JD ('11) from the Peter A. Allard School of Law at the University of British Columbia and a Bachelor of Arts from UBC.
Legal Media & Public Education
Kyla is a prolific legal commentator and one of the most followed legal voices in the country. She hosts the weekly Driving Law podcast and produces the video series Cases That Should Have Gone to the Supreme Court of Canada, But Didn't! and Weird & Wacky Wednesdays on YouTube, and reaches a wide audience through her TikTok legal-education videos. She is a regular source for major news outlets, including CBC, CTV, Global BC and CKNW.
Professional Involvement
- Vice President, Women in Canadian Criminal Defence (WiCCD)
- Member, Canadian Bar Association — contributing author to the CBABC publication BarTalk
- Canadian Ambassador and Vice President, Education & Events, DUI Defence Lawyers Association (DUIDLA)
- Member, National College for DUI Defense (NCDD)
- Member, Trial Lawyers Association of British Columbia
Recognition
- Simon Fodden Award — the Clawbies' (Canadian Law Blog Awards) top honour for Canadian legal commentary (2024)
- Clawbies Award, Best YouTube Series (2025), with earlier Clawbies recognition in 2018 and 2019
- DUI Lawyer of the Year — British Columbia (2025)
- Canadian Legal Businesswoman of the Year, Global Business Awards (2025)
- Top 25 Most Influential Lawyers in Canada, Canadian Lawyer magazine (2019)
- "BadAss" Award, DUI Defense Lawyers Association — the association's highest honour
- Woman of Inspiration (Indigenous Leader), Universal Women's Network
- Leading Immediate Roadside Prohibition Lawyer in Canada, Corporate Vision
Beyond the Courtroom
A Métis lawyer, Kyla funds the Kyla Lee Indigenous Law Students Award at Allard Law, supporting one student each year.
kylalee.ca · Acumen Law Corporation · TikTok · Tel: 604-685-8889