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CROWN LAW OFFICE - CRIMINAL — STUDENT PROGRAMS



INTRODUCTION


Are you interested in an exciting, challenging, and rewarding career in criminal law?

If so, the Crown Law Office - Criminal may be the place for you. We are one of the premier criminal law offices in Canada. With over 70 lawyers engaged in all aspects of criminal practice, from arguing appeals in the Court of Appeal for Ontario and the Supreme Court of Canada, to providing advice to the police, to conducting jury trials, we offer a unique and unparalleled experience to our students. We are committed to providing our students with excellent training and the tools to become successful members of the criminal bar. Whether your ultimate interest is in being a prosecutor or defense counsel, in working at the trial or appeal level, a student experience at the Crown Law Office - Criminal is a decision you will never regret.

Crown counsel are an integral part of the administration of criminal justice in Ontario. The Crown's crucial role of serving the public interest requires counsel to balance the dual responsibilities of vigourous advocate and minister of justice - work that is always stimulating and fulfilling.

This brochure is designed to give you a description of the work that we do, an idea of what students experience at the Crown Law Office - Criminal, and the information you need if you are interested in applying to work in the office.


THE WORK OF THE OFFICE


APPEALS


The office is responsible for virtually all criminal appeals of indictable matters in Ontario. The majority of the office's work involves the preparation and argument of appeals to the Court of Appeal for Ontario and the Supreme Court of Canada. Counsel is responsible for determining the Crown's position on the appeal, as well as preparing the factum and making oral argument at the hearing of the appeal. We are also responsible for dealing with all motions arising from appeal-related matters, such as conducting bail pending appeal applications. While most of our appeals involve responding to appeals by those convicted of criminal offences, we are also responsible for determining whether a Crown appeal against either an acquittal, stay or sentence is appropriate.

counsel in this office handled many of the leading cases that you study in law school. For instance, we appeared at the Supreme Court of Canada in K.G.B., Keegstra, Askov, Stillman, Proulx, Darrach, Handy and Mann.


TRIALS


Another major component of the office's important role in the administration of criminal justice is in conducting trials throughout the province. A significant component of the trial matters in the Crown Law Office - Criminal are designated within the Ministry as "special prosecutions", which often include significant commercial crime offences, complex homicide cases, stock market manipulations, organized crime enterprises, and a wide variety of offences against the public at large, such as health frauds, telemarketing schemes and the wilful promotion of hatred.

Another significant segment of the trial practice in the office is known as "justice prosecutions" and involves the prosecution of serious offences committed by people involved in the administration of justice, including police officers and lawyers.


OTHER LEGAL SERVICES PROVIDED BY THE OFFICE


The Crown Law Office - Criminal is privileged to have a rich diversity of responsibilities in the criminal law sphere. In addition to our appellate and trial work, counsel in the office regularly:

  • provide legal advice to police investigating criminal offences, and to Crowns prosecuting cases, throughout the province;
     
  • assist police agencies in the areas of search warrants and wiretaps;
     
  • assist the federal Department of Justice with requests for the extradition of alleged fugitive offenders from foreign jurisdictions around the world;
     
  • facilitate international requests for evidence made under the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty;
     
  • assist in the ongoing education of Crowns, police, and judges throughout the province;
     
  • participate in the restraint, management and forfeiture of the assets of criminal organizations and terrorist groups;
     
  • facilitate requests for all matters requiring Attorney General consent under the Criminal Code including dangerous offender applications, direct indictments and the institution of hate crime charges; and
     
  • respond to applications to the federal Minister of Justice under s.696.1 of the Criminal Code where it is alleged there has been a wrongful conviction.
     

A STUDENT EXPERIENCE AT THE CROWN LAW OFFICE - CRIMINAL


OUR ARTICLING STUDENT PROGRAM


The Crown Law Office - Criminal hires approximately 10 students per year for the 10 month articling term. This represents the largest hiring pool of any criminal law office in the province.

Each of our students is supervised by a principal, who is an experienced lawyer eager to ensure that articles in the office are as fulfilling and varied as possible. Principals are responsible for monitoring workload, and providing guidance and support throughout the articling term. They ensure that students work with a variety of counsel on a wide range of projects throughout their articles, including facilitating work on particular issues that may be of interest to individual students.

Students are introduced to the office through an orientation week that includes seminars on such topics as research tools, oral and written advocacy, the conduct of provincial offences prosecutions and inmate appeals. During the year, a series of ongoing educational seminars are provided. In the past, these have included tours of the Centre of Forensic Sciences, the Coroner's Office, a federal penitentiary and a provincial jail. In addition, students have been able to meet with judges and defense counsel on a variety of subjects. Students are also included in all office-wide educational programs.

Most of our students spend the majority of their articles assisting counsel in the preparation of appeals. This involves working closely with a variety of counsel in the office and performing such tasks as researching legal issues, drafting legal memoranda, summarizing trial transcript and writing draft facta. This work provides students with a unique opportunity to develop strong skills in research, legal analysis, and written advocacy.

Students also have the opportunity to attend in court for the oral hearing of any appeal that they work on, whether the appeal is being heard in the Court of Appeal or the Supreme Court of Canada. This experience enables students to see the judicial response to arguments that they have helped formulate. We try to ensure that each student has the opportunity to participate in, or observe, an appeal in the Supreme Court of Canada.

Another valuable experience we offer is the opportunity to assist counsel in responding to appeals by unrepresented inmates. The Court of Appeal hears these cases once a month in Toronto and every second month in Kingston. The Court hears a significant number of cases in one day, and Crown counsel rely heavily on student assistance in preparation for these appeals.

In addition, most students have the opportunity to assist in a prosecution being handled in the office. This may involve such tasks as participating in witness interviews, summarizing court proceedings, conducting legal research and attending at court. This trial experience gives students the exciting chance to watch evidence unfold in court and to assist shaping how a case is presented.

In recent years, a number of our students have been assigned to work as members of a team on a major trial or appeal. These projects may consume as much as half of the articling term. They are wonderful opportunities to gain in-depth insight into all facets of a particular case and to become fully integrated into a team of experienced counsel.

In order to ensure that students also develop their oral advocacy skills, they are trained by provincial prosecutors and then have the opportunity to prosecute provincial offences regularly on their own. This provides students with a valuable opportunity to hone their litigation techniques in an optimal learning environment - a courtroom.

As many of our students go on to become Assistant Crown Attorneys in trial offices across the province, we provide all of our students with the opportunity to shadow a trial Crown for 1 week during the articling term. This provides students with a sense of life as a trial Crown.


OUR SUMMER STUDENT PROGRAM

We offer a summer student program for approximately 6 second year law students. The summer program is generally run as a condensed version of our articling program and offers a similar variety of work experiences. Each summer student is assigned a counsel as mentor to ensure that the student has a well-rounded summer experience. Many of our summer students choose to return to the office for their articles.


STARTING YOUR CAREER AFTER ARTICLES

The majority of counsel in the office began their careers as articling students here. The office relies heavily on the articling program as its main source of new counsel. In addition, because trial offices around the province recognize that we provide an excellent training program to a large group of students, they consistently seek to hire our students to become trial Crowns. You will find former articling students of the Crown Law Office in every trial office in Toronto, and in many offices around the province.

There are other career paths for students as well. A number of our former students and counsel are successful members of the defense bar. Others have pursued careers as law professors. Two counsel from the office have recently spent time conducting war crimes prosecutions in The Hague and Arusha.

While the salaries offered to students and counsel in the public sectors are lower than what may be available in some offices in the private sector, the variety and quality of criminal law work available to those employed at the Crown Law Office - Criminal is unequaled. You will never regret an experience in this office.


OTHER IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT APPLYING TO THE CROWN LAW OFFICE - CRIMINAL

  • We conduct all of our hiring in accordance with the guidelines set out by the Law Society of Upper Canada.
     
  • A cover letter, résumé, copy of transcripts, and a letter of reference should accompany all applications for student positions.
     
  • Articling interviews are generally conducted in August. Please check the dates on our website or at your law school career office. Applications for articling positions should be addressed to the co-chairs of the articling program, Karen Shai and Jennifer Woollcombe.
     
  • Summer student interviews are generally conducted in the fall. Please be sure to check out the dates for applications and interviews on our website or at your law school career office. We do not conduct on campus interviews. Applications for summer positions should be addressed to the co-chairs of the summer student program, Gillian Roberts and Riun Shandler.
     
  • Applications may be submitted to the following address. We will send you a letter confirming receipt of your application:

    Crown Law Office - Criminal
    720 Bay Street, 10th floor
    Toronto, Ontario
    M5G 2K1

  • We ask that articling students write both the Barrister Examination and the Solicitor Examination before starting the articling term. This means that articles begin in August.
     

If you need to make an inquiry with respect to the articling student program, please send us a note by e-mail to the following address:

Karen.Shai@jus.gov.on.ca, or
Jennifer.Woollcombe@jus.gov.on.ca.

If you need to make an inquiry with respect to the summer student program please send us a note by e-mail to the following address:

Riun.Shandler@jus.gov.on.ca, or
Gillian.Roberts@jus.gov.on.ca.


OUR ALUMNI


The Crown Law Office - Criminal has an impressive and distinguished group of alumni. A number of former counsel or students in the office are now members of the judiciary. This includes approximately 21 judges of the Ontario Court of Justice, 8 judges of the Superior Court of Justice and 1 judge of the Court of Appeal for Ontario. Here is a sample of some prominent former articling students or counsel:

Justice of the Court of Appeal for Ontario

The Hon. David Doherty

Justices of the Superior Court of Justice for Ontario

The Hon. S.Casey Hill
The Hon. Edward Then
The Hon. Brian Trafford
The Hon. David Watt
The Hon. Bonnie Wein

Justices of the Ontario Court of Justice

The Hon. W.James Blacklock
The Hon. Miriam Bloomenfeld
The Hon. Beverly Brown
The Hon. Hubert Campbell
The Hon. Jeff Casey
The Hon. David Fairgrieve
The Hon. Ian MacDonnell
The Hon. Gary Trotter

Senior Members of the Ministry

Murray Segal, Deputy Attorney General for Ontario
Paul Lindsay, Assistant Deputy Attorney General for Ontario
John Pearson, Regional Director, Central West Region
James Ramsay, Crown Attorney for St. Catharines
Jocelyn Speyer, Crown Attorney for Guelph

Defence Counsel

Michael Code
David Humphrey
Brian Greenspan
Edward Greenspan Q.C.