I have practiced criminal law for longer than I care to say. In embarking on this blog journey, it appears I should have some focus, even something more specific than the very general subject of Canadian criminal law. On the other hand, I am not sure I need to be specific about anything. It might be simply enough to write about my experiences and thoughts as they relate to my daily practice.
Let me then have the opportunity to develop this blog and when I have figured out if I have a special theme, I can let my reader or readers know. I say reader or readers to imply there will be at least one reader, for starters, myself.
I have figured I would create a log on a regular basis, but do not plan on making it daily. Confidentiality requirements will not permit me to detail my activities, as I might otherwise be able to do. That said, nothing prevents me from reporting about many of my experiences.
Today, for instance, was extremely slow. Most days for me will involve a court appearance of sort or the other. There are several kinds: There might be one or more trials, or preliminary hearings, or bail hearings, many of these are only set to take a day or less. Today, I had none and so nothing to prepare for. Of course, there are always things to do in the office in the management of files, but today I had to be over in court for adjournments and to do duty counsel. Because there was nothing pressing at the courthouse, I was able to start working on my blog in the barristers' lounge right on the 6th floor of the building.
I am the most senior duty counsel in Windsor. Why I still do it, I wonder. Sometimes, the work can be demanding, but being assigned to do bail court in Windsor normally does not require much of a challenge. I will probably have more to write about this in later blogs, but for now, I will just say a bail court posting requires me to speak to cases on behalf of unrepresented individuals or for other lawyers. Normally, at least six or seven hearings would be scheduled in the bail court, but today there was only one, then another, neither of which proceeded. It was not even necessary for me to speak to either case because their lawyer or lawyers were there when the matters were called. The court finished early, before lunch.
So I started my first blog...
