Criminal charges can result from false, malicious or even outright ridiculous allegations which police act on for reasons that may never become fully known. Cases can arise from egregious police misconduct, routine error or anything in between. The evidence may seem non-existent or may appear to be overwhelming. It could result from a single 911 call, a two minute traffic stop or a multi-month ‘project’ investigation involving wiretaps, search warrants and confidential informants receiving unknown benefits from police and the crown.

However it may have arisen, once a criminal charge is laid the system starts to move accused persons steadily toward an outcome that could affect them for the rest of their lives.

To protect our clients to the greatest degree possible, criminal defence lawyers must appreciate that each case and every accused are unique. We are, after all, the last line of defence for individual liberty. The justice system too aspires to try every case on its unique merits, with the highest possible regard for individual liberty. But the justice system is above all a ‘system’ – a government bureaucracy in every sense, albeit a fundamentally important and powerful one.

The fact that the justice system is charged with a duty of fairness truly essential to the democratic nature of our society makes it more rather than less likely to be rife with the proverbial frustrations of government bureaucracy.

Much of what the justice system does day-to-day cannot be taught at law school. It can thus be painful to watch self-represented accused persons struggle in Court, even if they have done extensive preparation in good faith. Sometimes the same can be said of lawyers who are inexperienced in criminal matters attempting to navigate the system. Knowing only the high principles to which the system aspires but not the practical routines by which it tries to fulfill them may sometimes be worse than knowing nothing at all.

There are many tasks over the course of a lifetime that can be the subject of a ‘do it yourself’ approach. In my respectful submission, defending oneself against criminal allegations should never be on that list. I respectfully suggest that a criminal charge should be treated as one of the most serious emergencies one might ever face, and that resources should be allocated accordingly.