Crime and representation

Nexus/Spring 2022

by Paul Fraumeni

When Emily Hill was in high school in the western Toronto suburb of Etobicoke, she knew she had a growing passion for the law, especially criminal law.

Some of that passion was influenced by what she saw on TV dramas and news broadcasts, but the majority of her interest was fueled by volunteer roles she had – with the food bank, a women’s shelter, an organization that served survivors of childhood sexual abuse and through research she did in her undergraduate studies at the University of Guelph into violence against women.

Today, as a student in the criminal law division of Downtown Legal Services (DLS), she’s taking that passion one big step further.

“It’s one thing about learning about criminal law or any area of law in the classroom, and it's completely different when you're out there doing the work and really hearing about the impact of the law as well,” says Hill, who is in her third year at U of T Law, combining that degree program with work toward a Master’s in social work.

Like all programs in DLS, the criminal law division has two mandates – to provide legal assistance, free of charge, to people who could not otherwise afford to pay, and to enable U of T Law students to learn the practice of law by actually doing just that.

Stuart Rothman (JD 2010) was one of those students. He’s been Assistant Crown Attorney at the Toronto West Crown Attorney’s Office since graduating. His experience at DLS was profound.

“They say law school teaches you how to think like a lawyer. DLS teaches you how to be a lawyer.”

While the Criminal Law division represents U of T students who have been accused of academic offences such as plagiarism, more than half the cases are for people in the community who have been accused of crimes such as assault, theft, or possession of small amounts of illegal drugs.

“So, let’s say someone got into a fight with their spouse and it doesn't result in significant injuries and it didn't involve a weapon. Or fraud. We've had clients who pretend that they bought something from a store that they actually shoplifted it and are returning it for the cash,” explains Karen Bellinger (JD 2002), supervising lawyer for the DLS Criminal Law and Student Offences Division.

When someone becomes a client of DLS, students enrolled in the program represent them.

“We represent people from the first stages of their offense after they've been charged to the end,” says Bellinger, who joined DLS in 2007 after a number of years as a defence lawyer in private practice.

While the immediate image that may come to mind is the law students representing their clients in a trial, the work involves much more than that.

“There are appearances throughout. They're called set dates. And so the students are attending court on all those appearances. Those are administrative appearances to make sure that everything that needs to happen on a case is happening – that we received full disclosure, that we have spoken to the Crown in what’s called a pretrial, and ensuring that it’s moving towards either resolution or trial. They'll also appear on guilty pleas and withdrawals.”

If a case does go to trial, the students are in charge of the process – but they aren’t alone.

”The responsibility for the work is the student’s but it's all under my supervision. So before every appearance we have a conversation. Before they speak to the Crown, we talk about it. Before they speak to the client they’ve already talked to me about it and everything they write and draft and say in court is vetted by me in advance. If they go to trial, I'm there in person to support them if necessary, but they run their part of the trials themselves.”

Bellinger will not sit at the counsel table with the student and client. She will sit in the court room and the judges will know she is there.

“The criminal court judges are extremely patient and kind to my students as a whole. If the student says, ‘May I have a moment to speak to my supervising lawyer?,’ the judges always grant that.”

The benefit to the students of this kind of on-the-ground learning may seem obvious, but Bellinger points out that in addition to getting the experience of how courts work, DLS “gives the students the hard and soft skills that you'll need going into practice. A lot of our work is client counseling, learning to work with clients, beyond just how to speak in court and to draft professional writing. A lot of students talk about how it really animates the law for them. They spend a lot of time in law school just reading case law and it seems so far removed from real life. They're reading very high level decisions as well. They're reading mostly Supreme Court cases. But with our cases, these are cases at the very lowest level of court. And it helps the students to understand that it's real people that the law effects.”

That has certainly been the benefit for Hill. As she has done her client work in DLS, she says what has surprised her the most is how much she values the interaction with her clients.

"I speak with them during some of the toughest moments of their lives and often hear impactful stories about ​adversity that they've faced in or out of the criminal justice system. I learn so much from the clients. They are the best teachers. By talking with them and helping them work through the process, you really get to hear about the different issues within the system and understand the resilience of community members.”

Rothman remembers one of his DLS client experiences well.

“I had the opportunity to run a multi-day trial at Old City Hall and do exactly what a lawyer would do. It was an assault with a weapon trial. A bar fight. The outcome was that the client was found guilty but he appreciated my help and it was certainly beneficial for him rather than if he had gone through the trial by representing himself. Many people in our criminal justice system are forced to do that, so having DLS available to offer that service is very helpful to them.”

Rothman says his DLS experience continues to have a positive impact on his career.

“Honestly, I’m not sure I’d be where I am if it wasn’t for that.”

And Bellinger believes the DLS criminal law work will benefit a student, no matter which type of law they practice.

“A number of my students go on to practice criminal law, both for the crown and the defence. I've always been a defence counsel. Some of my students have asked whether I'm disappointed if a student ends up going to the crown's office. And I say, ‘Absolutely not.’ We need good crowns. But also the students have seen and worked with clients who are marginalized and facing mental health concerns and addictions and so on. And that will inform the work that our students do as a crown or a defence lawyer in future.”

Paul Fraumeni is an award-winning Toronto freelance writer and editor. To learn more visit his website: paulfraumeni.com