THE TRUTH AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH ABOUT FEES

I want to tell you some facts of life that most criminal lawyers don't discuss openly. I am going to tell you the truth about criminal lawyers and fees:

A) ALL LAWYERS SELL THEIR TIME AND EXPERTISE.

B) JUST LIKE IN REAL LIFE: YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR.

C) Considering Legal Aid? Please consider the harsh fact that Legal Aid Ontario  generally allows criminal lawyers to bill only 8.5 hours in TOTAL to fight what is known as a "SIMPLE" assault case. Within this 8.5 hours a lawyer is supposed to get a detailed interview with you and your witnesses about your case, make all the court appearances needed, do all the legal research required, prepare you to potentially testify, prepare for the actual trial itself which involves preparing cross examinations for police officers etc, and also do the actual trial itself! The truth is that 8.5 hours is not a fair or a realistic time frame to do all this work. For fighting "SERIOUS" Assaults or Indictable drug cases, Legal Aid Ontario allows a lawyer just 13.5 total hours.  I don't quite know how a lawyer is supposed to get real justice for you and protect your rights with these time restrictions. I personally would not want my lawyer fighting on my behalf with one arm firmly tied behind his back. Would you? 

D) Unlike many lawyers I focus on only one area of the law. I defend people charged with criminal offences. I have been doing my job as a criminal trial lawyer for a long time. I am excellent at what I do. The fee that I will charge you will depend entirely on how much time is reqired to properly defend your charge. For example, a matter that involves many witnesses taking two weeks of trial time and lots of legal research and related preparation will most likely cost a lot more than a charge involving two witnesses and two hours of trial time. I have defended cases where I had more than twenty five boxes of disclosure delivered to my office. The legal steps involved in defending some charges also vary greatly. Each case is unique and it will be unfair for a lawyer to quote you a fee unless he knows what actual work is involved in properly defending the charge.   

E) Most criminal lawyers get paid by "block fee rates". In other words, they quote a lump sum fee for doing the whole case and do not charge the client by the hour. Accordingly, within the block fee all the work done from the initial meeting to the actual trial is covered and the client does not have to worry about payinng hourly rates that can quickly add up.  

F) I  want to tell you simply that my main motivation for defending people has never been about money only. Defending people is what I do. It is who I am. It is my passion. I urge you to come and see me at my office, we can sit down and discuss who you are, what your trouble is, and how we can work things out together. I always keep my word.