After studying law at Oxford University as a Manitoba Rhodes Scholar, Philip Slayton clerked at the Supreme Court of Canada in Ottawa. Then, for thirteen years, he pursued an academic career, teaching at McGill University and becoming dean of law at the University of Western Ontario. 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. He retired from the practice of law in 2000.

Since leaving legal practice, Philip Slayton has written Lawyers Gone Bad: Money, Sex and Madness in Canada’s Legal Profession, published by Viking Canada, an imprint of Penguin, in August 2007. He has been a regular contributor on law-related topics to Canadian magazines and newspapers, and has been a legal commentator on CBC television and radio.

Most recently, Philip Slayton has been visiting professor of law at the University of Cape Town in South Africa, and has worked at a pro bono legal clinic in one of Cape Town’s black townships.

In Canada, Philip divides his time between Toronto and Nova Scotia. He is married to the writer Cynthia Wine.