The law firm that represented former Surrey mayor Doug McCallum in his public mischief trial last year was paid more than $300,000 by the city, according to municipal financial records. The city's statement of financial information for 2022, which was posted online last week, includes a payment of 316,663.50 to Peck and Company Barristers. Richard Peck, the named partner of that firm who also defended Huawei's Meng Wanzhou, was one of a team of lawyers that secured an acquittal for McCallum, who was accused of lying to authorities when he made a report saying his foot was run over during by a political opponent during a heated altercation about policing in the city. The judge in the case, who handed down a verdict in November of 2022 after a five-day trial, found that McCallum did not intentionally or deliberately mislead police. In addition, the judge said that the evidence showed that the then-mayor's foot was – in fact – run over outside of a Save-On-Foods in the fall of 2021. News that Surrey taxpayers would be on the hook for McCallum's legal fees in the case drew the ire of his opponents on city council, including Brenda Locke, who has since replaced McCallum as mayor.
