Mr. Copeland is a human rights lawyer and avid supporter of Legal Aid. He co-founded the Law Union of Ontario in 1974, was the Vice-President of the Criminal Lawyers Association from 1985-1991, and was, for several years, the Co-President of the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted until the fall of 2008. He has been a Bencher of the Law Society of Upper Canada since 1990. Since 1988 he has been active working with the democracy movement for Burma.

Toronto-based, he is a partner at Copeland Duncan Barristers and Solicitors, primarily practicing criminal law, immigration law (including national security cases), and civil litigation. He holds an LLB from Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, and a BSc(Physics) from the University of Waterloo.

He has participated in various educational programs in criminal law, immigration law, ethics, and freedom of information held by the CBAO, the Criminal Lawyers' Association, the Law Union of Ontario, and the Institute on Continuing Legal Education of CBAO.

Since 1979, he has appeared as a regular columnist for the Criminal Lawyers' Association Newsletter, For the Defence.

He has lectured and/or participated in seminars at York University, University of Toronto Law School, University of Western Ontario Law School, Osgoode Hall Law School, Queen's University Law School, University of Calgary Law School, University of Windsor, and University of Waterloo.