A Montreal native with Nova Scotian roots, Peter attended Dalhousie University, graduating with an LL.B in 1982.

Peter joined Sealy Cornish in 1999 after fifteen years of practice in Halifax. He became a partner in Sealy Cornish Coulthard in 2010 and received his QC designation the same year. His practice has focused on civil litigation (for individual clients as well as family-owned corporate clients and small institutional clients), commercial transactions, corporate financing, re-organizations, sales and acquisitions and real estate transactions.

Peter has appeared in all levels of court in Nova Scotia, and he has also appeared in Federal Court and the Federal Court of Appeal. Peter has represented clients before administrative tribunals including the Labour Relations Board and the Residential Tenancies Board.

In addition, Peter has acted as counsel or provided advice to several not-for-profit groups and sports organizations such as the Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia, Wrestling Nova Scotia, the Nova Scotia Crafts Council and the Nova Scotia School Athletic Foundation.

Peter has also been significantly involved in the legal community. He has acted as a workshop instructor in Civil Procedure at Dalhousie Law School for over 15 years, and has also lectured on Litigation Negotiations at the Bar Admissions Course since 2001. Peter is a member of the sub-committee on E-disclosure and he also prepared commentary on Orders and Enforcement of Orders for the Civil Procedure Rules. Peter has also organized and chaired panel discussions for the Canadian Bar Association Professional Development Conference and he has presented at past conference on various topics related to his areas of practice.

Peter is a member of the Canadian Bar Association as well as the Atlantic Provinces Trial Lawyers Association. He is also the founding member (1995) and the past chair (1997-8) of the Eastern Admiralty Law Association.

Peter is involved in the community. He is a dedicated member of Fort Massey United Church. He has been involved in amateur wrestling in Nova Scotia for over 20 years, including coaching, organizing tournaments and serving on the Executive of the Nova Scotia Amateur Wrestling Association. He particularly enjoys seeing the young men and women from his club wrestle competitively at a national level; his athletes have won over 40 national medals.