Canadian Sentencing Hearing Best Practices

This webinar will be focused exclusively on best practices during a criminal sentencing hearing and how to best represent your client.  Topics to be covered include:

 

1. Getting instructions to plea – Example - client says not guilty as charged but wants to accept crown position such as discharge.  

2. Entering the plea - getting instructions from the client in writing.   What to say to a client who wants to plead but only if judge won't impose jail.

3. Evidence on plea - should the accused give evidence under oath? Is it ever wise to make victim testify, use of presentence reports, victim impact statements etc.?

4. Sentencing submissions – Best practice for filing material in advance of plea.  Having a judicial pretrial to gauge sentencing range.

5. Bail conditions awaiting sentencing - Should a defendant agree to bail variation to attend counseling program in exchange for discharge at end, but they may face more severe penalty for breach than offence charged?

6. Sentence appeals - strategies in applying for bail right away or having some time served and getting a progress report from the institution?

 

The program will explicitly deal with Rule 4 (8) and Rule 4 (9) as they relate to guilty pleas, and administering justice in the public interest.  It will also deal with Rule 4 generally, as the counsel acting as advocate for the client and serving the client’s best interests, not simply in the name of expediency.

 

Presenters

 

Mr. Justice Rick Libman was appointed to the Ontario Court of Justice in November, 1996. He is Chair of the Rules Committee of the Ontario Court of Justice. Justice Libman is the Associate Editor of Motor Vehicle Reports and co-author of Annotated Ontario Provincial Offences Act, Handling Provincial Offence Cases in Ontario, the Annotated Contraventions Act and is co-editor of the regulatory offences newsletter RegQuest.

 

DALE E. IVES, B.Soc.Sc. (Ottawa), LL.B. (Dalhouse), LL.M. (Leicester)

Dale is a partner in Ives & Farmer LLP. Her practice is restricted to criminal trials and appeals. She also prosecutes federal drug and regulatory offences as a Standing Agent for the Director of Public Prosecutions. Before entering private practice Dale was a full time law professor for seven years specializing in the area of criminal law, evidence and procedure. She has also worked as a full-time federal prosecutor for the Public Prosecution Service of Canada, a research lawyer for the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, and as counsel for the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General’s Constitutional Law Division. She is the co-author of a leading casebook on sentencing and is currently writing a book on effective assistance of counsel. She has published numerous articles and case comments in leading criminal law journals in Canada, England and the United States. She is the Director of Education for the London Criminal Lawyers’ Association and a past Regional Director for the Criminal Lawyers’ Association. She is also a member of the Advocates’ Society and the Middlesex Law Association. Dale is a frequent contributor to continuing legal education for a variety of organizations including the Law Society of Upper Canada, the London Criminal Lawyers’ Association, the National Judicial Institute of Canada and the Ontario Court of Justice.

 

This program has been accredited by the Law Society of Upper Canada for 1 Professionalism Hour.