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The police called. Your teen has been arrested.

It’s the call that no parent wants: a late-night call from the police. Your teen has been arrested.

Talk to a lawyer before talking to the police

One of the biggest mistakes people who’ve been arrested make is believing that if they just tell their side of the story, everything will be okay. If your teen is arrested, you need to talk to an experienced criminal defence lawyer before talking to the police or making a statement.

Be ready if the police call

You can help your teen today by doing some advance homework yourself. Know who you would call if the police told you they have your child in custody. The stakes are high. You need an experienced criminal defence lawyer in your teen’s corner protecting their rights now and in the days ahead.

An experienced criminal defence lawyer can help alleviate your fears about the unknown and answer your questions at a time when what’s happening may seem overwhelming. He or she will:

  1. Answer your questions about the process in the days ahead
  2. Gather facts
  3. Develop a plan for moving forward

Don’t wait for the phone to ring. Do your research now and decide who you would contact if the call comes in. And hope that it never does.

Call us; we can help you. We are criminal defence lawyers with decades of specialized experience in criminal law.

Spousal assault and “no contact” conditions

As criminal lawyers, we see certain fact patterns over and over. One of them typically happens in spousal assault cases. If you’ve been charged with assault, you need an experienced criminal defence lawyer. Contact us. We can help you.

This is how the story usually goes

A couple—let’s call them Jack and Diane—get into an argument. Things get heated. Things get physical. Let’s say Jack slaps Diane, who calls the cops.

Then Jack:

  • gets arrested,
  • has to move out,
  • gets put on conditions like “no contact” and “no go,” and
  • is charged with spousal assault.

This couple are now part of the life of what the BC Criminal Justice Branch calls a “K” file.

BC Crown Counsel take spousal violence cases seriously. How seriously? There’s a 21-page Practice Bulletin on the topic in the BC Crown Counsel Policy Manual.

In spousal violence, or “K”, files it’s a standard condition for guys like Jack to be subject to a condition that he have no contact with the victim of his alleged assault, in this case Diane, and not go to places where she lives, works, goes to school, etc.

Then things get worse

What often happens though is that Jack and Diane may find it difficult to be apart from one another. One of them texts the other. Before you know it, they’re texting back and forth. But because they’re in a bad relationship to begin with, it isn’t long before things go sour. Diane reports Jack’s breaches of the “no contact” order to the police. Now Jack faces a new charge: breach of undertaking. And the courts take that very seriously.

This chain of events happens all the time in criminal law cases.

So now Jack has two criminal charges. It isn’t unusual for a guy in Jack’s situation to find that a prosecutor will use Jack’s breach of the “no contact” condition with Diane as evidence that Jack can’t—or won’t—follow the conditions of his release, that he’s a loose cannon, that the court needs to be tough on him. We can guess how this story could end for Jack.

My advice: Just block it

As a criminal defence lawyer, I tell my clients to block the number of anybody they are forbidden to have contact with. Simple as that. Just block it. Don’t have contact with them – just disappear from the story—while I deal with your criminal charges.

If you’ve been charged with assault, you need a criminal defence lawyer. Contact us. We can help.

Sometimes no news is good news

At the risk of making you hungry, I want to talk about cake. Picture a thin layer of icing covering a fluffy filling.

In a criminal case, the icing is the stuff that goes to trial in court. Maybe it gets media coverage, maybe it doesn’t. Hidden beneath the icing however is lots of other stuff, criminal law problems which get resolved before they ever see the inside of a courtroom.

Resolving criminal law problems early and quietly

As a criminal defence lawyer, I’m always up for a good courtroom battle when necessary. Mostly though, my clients want to avoid a trial, court, and potential media stories. Their best result often involves resolving criminal law problems early, and quietly. And I’m pretty good at that too. I have a lot experience defending clients charged with criminal offences but many of my matters never go to trial or even to court.

Preparing and negotiating

For those that are likely to be picked up by the media, I make sure my client and I have a solid media strategy in place beforehand. Either way, through negotiation and proper early criminal law advice, I can help my clients quietly find their way through life’s stickier situations.

So now you have a new perspective on cake. Sure, there’s the icing, but there’s also a lot going on under the surface – sometimes the best part of the cake is the part you don’t see!

Who you gonna call?

I wouldn’t say I was happy when the police called me at 3 a.m., but I was definitely prepared.

One of my clients had been arrested and needed criminal law advice. I was really glad he called me. I was able to give him the advice he needed to protect him – both in the moment and down the road.

Because my client exercised his right to call me, his criminal defence lawyer, it meant he didn’t make his situation any worse. He didn’t talk to the police. I was able to explain to him that even though he thought he’d done nothing wrong, the police investigate when they think there’s been a crime and they gather evidence against the person they think is responsible. They wanted to talk to my client as part of the evidence gathering process. It wasn’t in my client’s best interest to talk to the police and, following my advice, he didn’t.

Another time I like to hear from clients, and new clients in particular, is right after something bad happens, even if the police aren’t yet involved. If it’s something the police are likely to be interested in, you can bet it’s good to have the advice of an experienced criminal defence lawyer, right away. Even at 3 a.m.

Stuff happens. Who you gonna call?

Who is really the best criminal lawyer in Vancouver?

If you’re like me, when you want to find a local business for a particular service, you’ll pick up your smartphone and do a quick Google search. Depending on what you’re interested in, and where you are, you’ll likely discover there are dozens of listings. Type in “Criminal Lawyer Vancouver” and see what I mean – it’s a crowded field indeed!

5 steps to hiring a lawyer

There are many extremely good criminal lawyers out there. If you’re in trouble with the law or have been charged with a crime and need a lawyer, follow these steps:

  1. Don’t be dazzled by hype.
  2. Do your homework.
  3. Call a few.
  4. Get a sense of whether you can work with them.
  5. Make your decision.

Ever Googled “best criminal lawyer in Vancouver”?

Perhaps it’s not surprising that if you’re looking to hire a criminal lawyer in Vancouver you’ll see some listings which are meant to stand out from the competition. You’ll see things like “Best Criminal Lawyer in Vancouver” or “Top Criminal Lawyer.”

This is obviously to entice you to call one of them rather than one of the many others listed there. After all, if you’re in trouble with the law or have been charged with a crime, don’t you want the “Best Criminal Lawyer in Vancouver” representing you?

Lawyers are like apples and oranges

The reality is that there is no “Best Criminal Lawyer in Vancouver.” The lawyer I’d hire if I was charged with assault probably isn’t the one I’d hire if I was charged with a white-collar crime, such as embezzlement.

When it comes to hiring the “Best Criminal Lawyer in Vancouver” or any of the top criminal lawyers in Vancouver there is no one size fits all. Use the five steps above to find the lawyer that is the best fit for you.

Getting off on a “technicality”: Criminal charges and your rights

Critics of Canadian criminal law sometimes complain about people getting off on a “technicality.” Usually the so-called “technicality” is that the police violated an accused person’s Charter rights. The prosecution often can’t use evidence that was gained that way. As a result the prosecution’s case falls apart. No surprise then, that your average person may think the Charter mostly protects criminals.

But what is the Charter, and what does it stand for?

The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is a guarantee that everyone in Canada has certain rights when dealing with the government. It’s such an important guarantee that it’s part of the Canadian constitution.

Basically, Charter rights are aimed at ensuring that we receive fair treatment at the hands of the government. Things like the right to call a lawyer upon being arrested by the police, or to expect that they won’t show up to search your home without a warrant.

Sounds reasonable, right?

I’ll bet that if you happened to be the one whose rights were violated you’d want to make sure someone was held accountable. That’s what the Charter does. It’s the legal means by which individuals like you and me can hold the government accountable for the rights we all enjoy.

Sure, when a judge tosses evidence in a criminal case because police violated rights of an accused it may mean a guilty person gets acquitted. But that’s only part of the picture. What most people don’t realize is that when judges uphold the constitution they’re protecting us all. It’s called the rule of law – that the law applies to everyone, including the police – and it’s one of the reasons we live in such a great country.

So talk to a criminal defence lawyer

You need an experienced, knowledgeable and skilled criminal defence lawyer in your corner when your liberty is at stake. Someone who isn’t afraid to hold the government accountable. Guilty or not, you need to have your rights protected and defended. It protects you. It protects us all.