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the courtroom at 2201 Finch Ave. W. in the north end of Toronto was filled with riot police, who further clogged hallways and courtrooms filled with accused per- sons' family and friends, and the defence lawyers who scrambled to find infor- mation on the individuals whose cases they'd been assigned, and their where- abouts. Defence lawyer Adam Goodman worked pro bono at the special court, and says the system ran as smoothly as could be expected for this type of unprecedented situation. He credits duty counsel, Crown lawyers, and justices of the peace for making the most of an unprecedented situation. Some courts kept running until midnight to get as many accused processed as possible. Yet Goodman recalls things turn- ing "noticeably chaotic" when police began releasing large groups of peo- ple, and a courtroom set up to handle large guns-and-gangs cases overflowed with accused. "A lot of people didn't get what I would classify a meaning- ful first appearance," says Goodman. "Somebody's arrested and they don't get a chance to call a lawyer, and they arrive to court at nine, 10 o'clock at night. They're not really going to get an oppor- tunity to get bail that day. That was a lot of the frustration." He reflects on the difficulties he and his colleagues faced at the bail courts. Lawyers simply received the name of an accused and were left to their own devic- es to track them down. Unfortunately, officers and court staff seemed to be as in the dark as the lawyers about the individuals' locations. On top of that, the trickles of information that were avail- able were often inaccurate. That made it impossible to compile bail plans in advance. "We had no way of finding these people," says Goodman. "They cer- tainly didn't have full access to call us and to call counsel. So we'd just walk around the courthouse trying to find them." The accounts of Goodman and others at the courthouses certainly raise some issues in terms of the justice system's prep- aration for potential mass arrests. Morton has criticized the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General for failing to assign an adequate number of justices of the peace to the special courts, but says he's simply CLL_2011_C.L. Full pg..indd 1 been told no one thought so many arrests would be made. Meanwhile, Des Rosiers and the CCLA aren't holding their breath or step- ping aside while the various reviews go about their work. The association quickly released a pair of reports in the days and months following the summits. A third, chronicling key information gleaned from a series of CCLA-hosted public hearings, is also scheduled to be released. Those reports, along with the many reviews, lawsuits, and criminal prosecutions, will gradually spit out more insight into the weekend when Canada's largest city more closely resembled a brutal dictatorship. But for Des Rosiers, the true legacy of the event will be "whether we are able, in a democratic society, to get some account- ability for what went on, or whether indeed we are unable to do so. That would be the real tragedy." Inside you will find: • an up-to-date alphabetical listing of more than 57,000 barristers, solicitors and Quebec notaries, corporate counsel, law firms and judges in Canada; • contact information for the Supreme Court of Canada, the Federal Court of Canada, Federal Cabinet Ministers, departments, boards, commissions and Crown corporations; • legal and government contact information related to each province for the Courts of Appeal, Supreme Courts, County and District Courts, Provincial Courts, law societies, law schools, Legal Aid, and other law-related offices of importance. More than a phone book Hardbound • Published February each year On subscription $146 • P/C 0600140999 One-time purchase $162 • P/C 0600010999 • ISSN 0084-8573 For a 30-day, no risk evaluation call 1.800.565.6967 Canada Law Book, a Thomson Reuters business. Prices subject to change without notice, to applicable taxes and shipping and handling. www.CANADIAN Lawyermag.com M A RCH 2011 31 2/8/11 10:47:01 AM