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Gangsta Rap penitentiary in Laval. Bertrand was a close associate of Mom Boucher and one of a few independent drug dealers toler- ated by the Hells Angels in Montreal dur- ing the bloody biker war. Besides being accused of conspiring to traffic in cocaine and of conspiring to traffic in coke with Bertrand, Cliche was also charged with trafficking in drugs for the profit, or under the direction of, a criminal orga- nization and facilitating a crime for the benefit of a gang. Despite a mistrial in November 2007, Cliche remained charged with gangster- ism until being acquitted in April 2008. Cases like Cliche's and Pasquin's are exceptional, however. "Lawyers are not above the law, they're citizens like any other," Giauque told reporters the day known in Quebec for being a preferred lawyer of mobsters and gang members and who worked primarily alone because "big firms are more apt to represent bankers and not Hells Angels." Robert La Haye, a veteran crimi- nologist often called on as an expert by Quebec media to comment on unusual or high-profile cases, agreed with Beaudry by stressing the importance of lawyers always keeping a distance between their offices and their clients — especially if those clients are members of recognized criminal groups. "It's very, very delicate for a lawyer [with such clients] not to appear to be engaged in crime," La Haye told Canadian Lawyer. "They must be prudent not to get caught up in things that can be interpreted by police or "Lawyers are not above the law, they're citizens like any other. But we shouldn't take from this that a majority of lawyers engage in dishonest practices. It's very much to the contrary." — Madeleine Giauque, Crown prosecutor St-Cyr handed down the guilty verdict. "But we shouldn't take from this that a majority of lawyers engage in dis- honest practices. It's very much to the contrary." "It presents a picture to the public that doesn't make us look good," said Rénald Beaudry, past president of the province's defence lawyers' association. "It's not great." Calling it sad and unfortu- nate "to know that we have a rotten apple in our ranks." He said, Pasquin's situation is a perfect example of what can happen when certain lawyers get too close to their clients. "You have to keep your distance from those clients and not fraternize," said Beaudry, whose two-year term as head of l'Association des avocats de la défense ended in May. "When that hap- pens, sometimes you get results like this." He acknowledged Pasquin is well the courts as being a co-conspirator by being seen as acting as a gofer or mes- senger." Even more important is to be "very careful not to be trapped, espe- cially in wiretaps" where conversations can be misinterpreted. In Pasquin's case, La Haye said "as soon as he was arrested, I wondered how he got there. Even when they aren't charged, [lawyers with known criminal clients] live with that fear, the Sword of Damocles, that they will be brought down too." La Haye knows well the potential perils of being associated with the crimes that his clients are charged with. He is a specialist in representing people accused of being where indecent acts take place, from bawdy houses to swingers' clubs. Unlike Pasquin's gang- sterism conviction, La Haye has never been involved in a sex scandal despite having had numerous clients involved in highly-publicized cases of that nature. He even has a pair of Supreme Court victories on behalf of those clients. In 1999, the high court overturned a 1998 Quebec Court of Appeal decision that had found a La Haye client guilty of operating a bawdy house by permitting lap dancing at her Joliette strip bar. Six years earlier, the Supreme Court acquit- ted the owner of Les Salons Pussy Cat in Montreal, where customers could mas- turbate while watching nude dancers, of the same offence. Pasquin has had similar clients over the years, in particular Montreal hooker Chantal Daoust. She began a one-woman crusade in late 1991 to stop police harass- ment of streetwalkers by arguing that federal anti-soliciting laws hadn't curbed prostitution, but rather either scattered it throughout the city or drove it under- ground. Helping her defend against a soliciting charge in Montreal Municipal Court in 1992, Pasquin argued the coun- try's anti-soliciting law contravened the Canadian Charter of Rights by asking the judge why dentists or carpenters can advertise their services, but not a pros- titute. He tried unsuccessfully to have Canada's 1985 anti-soliciting law — upheld by the Supreme Court in 1990 — struck down on the argument: "We all sell ourselves. If you're going to select which part of the body to sell, it's dis- crimination." Pasquin also once co-defended two Montreal men charged with plotting to blow up a loaded airliner in 1986. Although both were convicted the fol- lowing year and sentenced to life terms, they were acquitted in March 1992 on the eve of a new trial. Pasquin and his partner had filed their notice of appeal in January 1987, but it wasn't heard until November of 1990. Quebec Superior Court Justice Henry Steinberg agreed with Pasquin and the other lawyer that the delay violated their clients' constitu- tional rights to speedy judicial process and fundamental justice by describing the nearly six-year wait as "exquisite agony." www. C ANADIAN Law ye rmag.com JULY 2009 39