What can I expect at our first meeting?
At Weisberg Law, clients are met immediately upon being retained to strategize and discuss potentially helpful evidence that may need to be preserved. When significant evidence must be preserved, action must be taken quickly.
Innocence can, in some cases, be proven with security footage. Sometimes footage can be erased inadvertently or just automatically. Many security systems delete footage automatically every seven days. In one case, Mr. Weisberg was able to have impaired driving charges against a client withdrawn by the Crown because he acted quickly to secure video footage. This security footage demonstrated that his client was not the driver at the time of a serious car accident.
People are often highly emotional and scared when they are first charged. Potential clients have inadvertently destroyed helpful evidence prior to meeting with our lawyers. Intelligent people make mistakes when they are under stress. We have seen clients that have deleted text messages, emails, or Facebook posts that would have been helpful to their case before coming to our office.
Even worse, clients have gone to the first appearance and accepted a Crown offer and then regretted their decision to plead guilty. Arranging to have a plea struck (reversed) is not always possible and will often add monetary expense to defending the matter.
Seeing a lawyer as soon as possible is always the best policy. Having a legal professional document and photograph injuries can be crucial to a case. It is important to document injuries in most cases, including: domestic assault, bar fights, or injuries that happened in police custody. Pictures should be taken immediately because injuries heal and sometimes the accused’s injuries are not documented as well as the complainant’s injuries.
Adam Weisberg will always meet with clients immediately. Another and more detailed interview will occur as soon as substantial disclosure has been received. The meeting at this stage is one of the most important meetings that will occur between a criminal lawyer and a client.
The disclosure in your case will be thoroughly reviewed in advance of this appointment so that we know the strengths and weaknesses of the Crown’s case against our client. Very often, the trial strategy and future course of the case is decided upon at this meeting. It is important to realize that an experienced criminal lawyer may not ask for a full detailed account of what happened, but may instead ask very specific questions to determine the most effective defence against the criminal charges.
A criminal lawyer will usually identify the best defence available to a client at this early stage. Often it will be necessary for the lawyer to also work on gathering helpful evidence and witnesses at this point as well.
This is the first in-depth consultation, which is related to reviewing disclosure and future strategy. If the case must go to trial, there will be future meetings that are much more in-depth which will involve extensive preparation for trial.
It is because of this detailed and work-intensive process that Adam Weisberg has to be selective about accepting new clients. At times, he may refuse new clients to maintain his high standards.
Contact Adam Weisberg today at 416.605.4811 to see if we can assist you with your criminal matter.