Why hire me?
Consider what you want in the lawyer you hire. No Queen's Counsel defending criminal cases in Alberta is other than skilled, credible and respected, but there are profound differences in style. If you have the luxury of choosing, I think you should try to find the right fit for you. Here are some of the things I believe:
- The client matters. Much more than the lawyer. The lawyer gets to go home at the end of the day. Sometimes the client does not. It may well be stressful for the lawyer but the lawyer is getting paid. It's massively more stressful for the client. Defending you is about you. It's not about me, and it's never about my ego.
- The result matters more than anything else. The best possible result in a criminal case is zero - and a bill! But if it's not going to be zero, then the best possible result is the least bad stuff that has to happen. It's absolutely crucial to find out as early and as clearly as possible what is at stake, and make careful, informed choices accordingly.
- Keeping the client informed matters. The lawyer may have done it a dozen times but (hopefully) the client hasn't. An uninformed client is stressed, frustrated, cannot plan for what may happen and cannot be expected to make complex decisions if the lawyer confronts him with those decisions at the last moment. A client who is fully informed can deal, in my experience, with just about anything.
- Talking to the Crown matters. In most cases, Crown counsel has significant discretion as to how to approach a prosecution. Crown counsel are called upon to make decisions of great consequentiality every day. It is they who determine whether or not to prosecute, how seriously a matter is to be characterised, what charges are to be proceeded with, what facts should be put forward, what sentence should be sought. My most important work is often done at the Crown Prosecutors' office. My credibility with that office is absolutely essential to my clients.
- Skill and complete credibility in Court matters. Judges have enormous responsibility and a great deal of discretion in how they deal with the cases which are brought before them. My skill and credibility in the Courtroom are absolutely essential to my clients.
- Keeping a low profile matters. I'm not the right lawyer for you if you want to parade outside the courthouse with a billboard saying that your charges are a conspiracy. Assuming that isn't you, you may well share my perspective that the less anyone says or writes about the fact that you are charged with an offence, the better. So I have a simple approach. I avoid publicity.
- Above all, confidence in you lawyer matters. If you hire me, you need to have complete confidence in my ability, my motivation, and my credibility. You can have confidence in my ability because I have been doing this work successfully for well over 25 years. Your problems will be unique, but they will not be unfamiliar to me. You can have confidence in my motivation because, as you will find, I actually do care about what happens to you and will work at it and worry about it until I have come up with the best possible way to help you. You can have confidence in my credibility because I have an unblemished record of being competent, straightforward and reasonable, earned in literally thousands of professional appearances, conversations and transactions.