Canadian Lawyer

The leader of Alberta's defence bar is fighting mad D 'Arcy DePoe doesn't look like a firebrand. He's 60 years old, balding, a graduate of the law school at Dalhousie University, and has been practising since the early 1980s. He has all the comfortable trappings of success: a good suit, a nice downtown Edmonton office, an enviable reputation, and a BMW. "I've made a comfortable living," he says. "That I don't apologize for." But beneath his trim and controlled exterior there beats the fierce heart of a fighter. Of the defence bar, he says, "there's no other collection of persons who on a daily basis stand up and fight for the rights of Canadian citizens. There are only 3,000 or 4,000 of us right across the country. I think what we do is vital." DePoe, the outgoing president of Alberta's Criminal Trial Lawyers Association, has been the outspoken face of criminal lawyers around Alberta for the last two years. He has blasted both Ottawa and the province especially when he detects political agendas getting in the way of justice matters. "I feel a great responsibility to speak up," he says. And speak up he has. Take preliminary hearings. Alberta Justice officials argue modern rules requiring the full disclosure of evidence by the prosecution to the defence make preliminaries, in all but the most serious cases, redundant. There is talk of the province eliminating preliminaries as a cost-cutting measure. An exasperated DePoe has repeatedly called that "a deceptively simple solution to a problem that doesn't exist." Far from wasting taxpayers' dollars, DePoe believes "a properly conducted preliminary hearing" actually saves time and court resources. He says it clarifies issues, focuses minds, and can lead to resolutions rather than trials. DePoe insists a two-day preliminary often eliminates the need for "two or three weeks of trial time." Then there is tough new provincial D'Arcy DePoe is one of the most outspoken criminal lawyers in Alberta. drinking and driving legislation. Today in Alberta, drivers charged with impaired driving lose their licences from the moment they are charged until the matter is resolved in court. So someone who chooses to fight a charge can't drive until they get their day in court. With current backlogs that can amount to a year or more. "It's simply a means to coerce guilty pleas out of people," fumes DePoe. That is just some of what irritates DePoe. There is the underfunding of legal aid, increasing number of self-represented litigants, court backlogs, a lack of judges and prosecutors, and crowding in jails. While emphasizing criminal law is a federal responsibility Alberta's Justice Minister Jonathan Denis rejects much of DePoe's criticism. "Public safety remains our primary concern," and the smart approach to crime, Denis believes, is one "that puts the rights of victims ahead of offenders." But in DePoe's view the federal government's tough-on-crime agenda that is at the root of the malaise and it works him into a fine and acid fury. "The tough-oncrime approach is shallow and simplistic." It is a policy, he believes, based on vengeance. "Dealing with crime is a very complex thing, but what they [the Harper government] sell is simplicity." He points to "the ridiculous number of criminal offences that [now] have mandatory mini- mum sentences prescribed." That increases the possibility of more wrongful convictions, and means more people treated unfairly by the system. "We in the defence bar wonder," DePoe says, shaking his head, "what are we accomplishing?" He says Ottawa is pandering to a minority, which has uncritically embraced U.S.-bred ideas: Ideas he says are already changing. So, with all that dissatisfaction would DePoe consider running for politics himself? "I don't think I could get into politics." He says he plays a more useful role raising issues from the outside. Law is the only thing he wants to do, besides play a little golf and occasionally sip a single malt. — GE Geoff Ellwand West News Feed Class Action Blog Launched! We are pleased to announce the launch of our Class Actions Blog. This blog, authored by our experienced class action counsel, follows and provides commentary on class actions decisions. Drop by! http://lernersclassactionplaintiff.ca/blog/ Summer Trial Advocacy College Jason Squire, Commercial |Litigation Partner, will be speaking at the Advocates' Society's Summer Trial Advocacy College held on Thursday, June 13 and Friday, June 14, 2013. lerners.ca/news/288/ Extraordinary Women's Extravaganza The photos from Lerners' 8th Annual Extraordinary Women's Extravaganza are out! Check them out at http://lerners.ca/news/283/ www.CANADIAN www.lerners.ca L a w ye r m a g . c o m erners_CL_June_13.indd 1 June 2013 11 13-05-07 4:27 PM

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