Canadian Lawyer

42 M A Y 2 0 1 8 w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m TOP BOUTIQUES P rotecting clients from the intrusion of an increasingly technologically equipped state has been a preoccupation of many of the firms in Canadian Lawyer's top criminal law boutiques. But a lack of public investment in other areas such as white collar crime enforcement and legal aid, according to Marie Henein of Henein Hutchison LLP, is a challenge. "No, I don't think [white collar crime enforcement is] a growing market for criminal lawyers at all. And that is because white collar crime requires resources to investigate and prosecute and, though there have been attempts to improve that, it's not done with remotely the same force that you have in the United States," she says. "So, our large white collar crime prosecutions are few and far between actually when you compare us to the United States." This affects how much work is coming through the doors at criminal firms. "We're trying, but it's certainly something that really sits with government," she says. Canadian Lawyer asked our readers to rank firms whose primary focus is criminal law. The top vote-getting firms shared a culture where the younger associates are expected not to stand aside until they learn from their seniors but hit the court- room and take on files independently right out of the gate. "That's a very significant aspect of our firm. We spend a great deal of effort directly mentoring the lawyers that work here. Their development, in terms of their litigation skills, is very specifically addressed. So, you start out by junioring on files and then graduate to junioring on larger files and then depending on where your capacity is you begin to do com- ponents of pieces of litigation in court," Henein says. Frank Addario of Addario Law Group says that when he began the firm, he did not want a bunch of junior lawyers who were good at preparing cases for him; he wanted them in court themselves. He says rookie lawyers at his firm typically work on a major appeal factum, a major charter motion and do three or four trials on their own, all in the first year. "Beginning on day one, people here start doing trials. . . . So, they learn how to cross-examine and how to address judges from the beginning and I think it is unique for a firm of our size manag- ing complex cases to have lawyers who can switch comfortably back and forth between preparing complex cases and liti- gating trials," he says. Brad Greenshields of Greenspan Part- ners LLP will soon argue R. v. Reeves at the Supreme Court of Canada, which will put s. 8 of the Charter under the microscope to show how the court sees protection against unnecessary search and seizure. "There's some infighting or something that's happening inside the Supreme Court of Canada, so this will be an important case to watch," Julianna Greenspan says of the case regarding seizure of property from a jointly owned home, where only half of a common-law couple consented. Thomas Reeves was required by court order to stay away from the home he shared with Nicole Gravelle, short of her consent. In a phone call made to withdraw Protection against the state As police methods continue to evolve, so, too, have the top criminal boutiques By Aidan Macnab

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