This is it! My practicum is coming to an end.
These last three months went so fast, I can’t believe it! And to be honest (and I never thought I would say that), I’m pretty sad this is over! I never knew I would learn so much and be involved in so many various court proceedings! I was really enabled to appreciate what the daily life of a lawyer is like. I would like to thank Guillaume and Adi from the bottom of my heart for their warm welcome and for taking the time to teach me so many legal principles! I don’t really know what to say or where to start to summarize my whole experience, but if there’s one thing that I learn is that Guillaume really cares for his clients, and the word rehabilitation truly has a sense for him. This is exactly what I wanted to see, as I wrote in my first post: to understand the other side of the story. I couldn’t hope for a better experience. I’ve seen: trials, court applications, client interviews, client preparation, bail hearings, resolutions discussions, etc. Not only have I seen the legal aspect of a criminal case, but also the psychological aspect. I’ve seen what it takes to work in that profession. And all I can say is that, if you want to become a Defence Criminal Lawyer, it has to be more than just a business. You need to have a passion for it. Guillaume and Adi definitely have that passion for people, for law, and for their profession. Guillaume, Adi, I wish you all the best, and as we say in French: “J’espère que ce n’est qu’un au revoir!” (I hope this is just a goodbye!)
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DISCLAIMER: Please note that the information contained in this post does not constitute legal advice. The law is in perpetual evolution, and this information may be outdated. Furthermore, this information may have little or no relevance for your particular legal predicament. Retaining a lawyer is the surest way to obtain useful and accurate legal advice.
Hello! My Practicum is coming to an end, in approximately 2 weeks. However, before my final post, I’d like to talk a bit about the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Mr. Garih suggested I read some sections of the Charter: here is a summary of some parts of section 7, 9 and 10. It is impossible to talk about all the rights comprised of in the Charter, but I will try to sum up parts of it. Section 7: “everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of the person and the right not to be deprived thereof except in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice.” For me, the most important topic of section 7 is the right to silence: “the right to remain silent is protected as a principle of fundamental justice and is broader than the common law confession rule and the rule against self-incrimination”. A person arrested has the right to remain silent, and has the right to counsel: “ss. 7 and 11(d) of the Charter require funded counsel to be provided if the accused wishes counsel, but cannot pay a lawyer, and representation of the accused by counsel is essential to a fair trial.” Section 10 expresses the right to know and access to Counsel: 10. everyone has the right to know on arrest or detention a) to be informed promptly of the reasons therefor; b) to retain and instruct counsel without delay and to be informed of that right; Finally, one of the most fundamental rights is expressed in section 9. It is “the right not to be arbitrary detained or imprisoned”. See you in a couple of weeks for my final post! 11/5/2019 My impressions half way through the internship, and a few comments about S. 718 CCCRead NowDISCLAIMER: Please note that the information contained in this post does not constitute legal advice. The law is in perpetual evolution, and this information may be outdated. Furthermore, this information may have little or no relevance for your particular legal predicament. Retaining a lawyer is the surest way to obtain useful and accurate legal advice.
Here we go, I’m already half way through this practicum and I have to say, I never thought I would be learning so much! Guillaume is truly passionate about his profession and has the soul of a pedagogue. I learn from every conversation I have with him. I’ve been involved in every stages of a trial proceeding, every parts of a lawyer's duty, and I feel the trust, the importance and the appreciation of my inputs in every case I’m working on. It pushes me to work harder for him. It seems very hard to summarize all that I’ve learned. All I can say is that coming to the office has become a real pleasure over the last few weeks. We evoked mental illness (Not Criminally Responsible due to Mental Disorder), the rules of evidence, principles of closing submissions, cross-examination, all the psychological aspects when dealing with clients, how to organize a joint submission, resolution discussions, etc. However, Guillaume has asked me to read and to talk a bit about section 718 of the Criminal Code for this post. What must be underlined from this section is that: “a sentence must be proportionate to the gravity of the offence and degree of responsibility of the offender.” According to section 718.01 and 718.02, sentencing judges MUST give primary consideration to deterrence and denunciation when sentencing offenders, in many cases. I’d like to focus on these 2 aspects of this section of the Criminal Code, and rehabilitation. Why? Because these 3 factors are, in my opinion, the most important and what judges, Crown counsel and Defence counsel consider to be the most important topics of that section of the criminal code. Deterrence (section 718 (b)): The primary goal of deterrence is to discourage members of society from committing criminal acts out of fear of punishment. The objective of deterrence in a sentencing is to ensure that a person guilty of a crime will be punished sufficiently to deter the guilty person from committing the same crime. Denunciation is a principle that the sentence sends a clear message to the general public that the offence is serious and the punishment just. Finally, Rehabilitation of the accused is an aspect in a sentencing hearing that takes more and more importance. The Court wants to ensure that the accused will be re-inserted into society without committing new crimes. There also are other aspects, like the principle of parity or totality. For example, parity is the principle that a sentence should be similar to sentences imposed on similar offenders for similar offences in similar circumstances. According to section 718.2(e), imprisonment should be considered as last resort: all available sanctions other than imprisonment that are reasonable in the circumstances should be considered for offenders of Indigenous descent. On another note, next week will be particularly exciting as I will be accompanying Guillaume on his day, going from court appearances to court appearances! I can’t wait to discover that part of Guillaume’s duty! Till next time! My name is David Cohen. I am French (and soon to be a Canadian citizen, woohoo!). I have been living in Vancouver for 7 years now, and really enjoy it, especially during the Summer season!
Welcome to this blog, a new adventure and chapter in my career: my Practicum at Lower Mainland Law supervised by Guillaume Garih! As I was saying earlier, I was born and raised in France. I graduated with a Master degree in Political Science and another one in Business. Seven years ago, I decided to experience a new challenge by moving here, to B.C. I decided to do a Paralegal certificate at the Vancouver Community College (VCC) after working for 2 year in a Law firm called Klein Lawyers. There, I was a bilingual researcher and legal assistant in the Class Action department. I found it was necessary for me to get a degree here as getting a "local degree" would help grow my career. Besides, France isn't governed by Common Law. Indeed, even if I studied a little bit of Law back in France, it is governed by a Civil Code Law, which is a different approach. Nowadays, I work as a bilingual court clerk at the New Westminster Law Courts. I estimate that 50 to 60% of my work is related to Criminal Law, which is good since it’s my favourite part of the Law. Thanks to my job, I get the opportunity to work with many different lawyers and witness different style of pleadings. As I was getting close to the end of my certificate program, it was time for me to decide where I would do my Practicum. There was no doubt in my mind that I wanted to do it in Criminal Law. As a court clerk and at the classes I attended at VCC, the approach is slightly more "Crown oriented" and I wanted to have the Defence perspective. That's why I asked Guillaume if he wanted to be my supervisor for my Practicum. Why him? for several reasons:
He did not hesitate, not even for a second, before saying yes to my request. This Practicum will help me greatly to see the ''Defence'' side, how Guillaume is preparing for his trials, the organization of his pleadings, how he communicates with his clients, the psychological aspect, the legal research aspect, in a nutshell, the ''other side of the story''. ("Audi Alteram Partem") I expect to graduate by the end of next year and my goal is to become a paralegal in a Criminal Law firm. I've met with Guillaume last week in order for us to prepare this Practicum, and I can already tell that I will learn a lot by his side. His level of involvement and commitment to teach is already remarkable. This is the beginning of an exciting journey! |
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December 2019
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