I am a Barrister, a term which can be fairly defined as “a British or Canadian lawyer who speaks in the higher courts of law”.

Accused persons seeking counsel sometimes ask “do you handle cases involving the offence I am charged with?” Naturally, people want to know if a lawyer has experience dealing with their particular situation. In my respectful submission though, what really matters is that a criminal lawyer have real experience and proven expertise in fighting back against the crown attorney, police and other hostile witnesses, no matter what the particular charge may be.

Each criminal case is different, as is every accused person. I have acted in homicide matters that were factually less complicated than some impaired driving matters, although the stakes for the accused could not have been higher. Any given drug possession case  could end up in court being more like an ‘average’ firearm storage case than another drug case. In fact it is not safe to assume that there is any such thing as an ‘average’ case, any more than there is such a thing as an ‘average’ accused person.

Whatever the charge or accusation, what matters most is not whether your counsel has repeatedly dealt with that particular offence but whether or not your counsel is able and willing to put the crown and police to every burden known to law, and to use the rules of evidence and substantive and constitutional law to control the outcome.