EXPERTISE

If you’ve been charged with driving under the influence (DUI), impaired driving, or refusing to provide a breath sample in Toronto, the GTA or anywhere in Ontario you may need to hire a criminal defence law firm experienced in drinking and driving cases. The sooner you hire the right firm, the odds of winning your case increase. For decades our team has earned its reputation as leading Canadian criminal lawyers with proven success in handling DUI and impaired driving cases.

A charge of impaired driving means operating a vehicle (including cars, trucks, boats, snowmobiles and off-road vehicles) while your ability to do so has been compromised by consuming alcohol, drugs or a combination of the two.

• Keep your driver’s license
• Avoid a criminal record
• Protect against devastating automobile insurance costs
• Prevent problems crossing the U.S border
• Preserve your reputation in the community

Posner Craig Stein – in Toronto and throughout Ontario – defends every kind of drinking and driving charge, including impaired driving, driving over the legal limit, and failing to provide breath samples at the roadside or at the police station. We have the experience to handle your case and achieve the best result. We also understand how stressful it is to face a drinking and driving charge.

Any drug related charge has serious ramifications and impact on your life. If you’ve been charged with a drug crime or narcotics offence in Toronto, the GTA or anywhere in Ontario you may need to hire a criminal defence law firm experienced in handling drug related cases. The sooner you hire the right firm, the odds of winning your case increase. For decades our team has earned a reputation as leading Canadian criminal lawyers with proven success in handling drug and narcotics cases involving cocaine, heroin, non-prescription opioids and other substances.

If you have been charged with a crime in Toronto or anywhere in Ontario, it is generally in your best interest to consult and retain a criminal lawyer. The fact is, even if you have not been charged with a crime, you could benefit by hiring a criminal lawyer if an investigation has been opened as is the case with sexual assault and criminal complaints — an investigation is immediately opened. The benefit of hiring a criminal lawyer means having an advocate with a comprehensive and current working knowledge of the law; access to resources you may not have; time you may not have; negotiation skills; and emotional and psychological support as you move through the court system in Ontario.

• Possession
• Possession for the purpose of trafficking
• Trafficking
• Importing

A possession charge means you are found with drugs in an amount for personal use. Possession for the purpose of trafficking means that you are in possession of an unlawful substance for the purpose of selling or giving the substance to another person. This usually means you are in possession of a large amount of an illegal substance – not for personal use but with an intention to sell the drugs. Trafficking in illegal drugs means selling or giving them to other individuals, including undercover police officers. Importation of drugs occurs when you enter Canada with an illegal substance and can include drugs not in your direct possession, but drugs that have been sent or couriered to you.

Choosing the right lawyer to handle your sexual assault case is the most important decision you will make when you are facing charges. It can mean the difference between winning and losing, between a criminal record and no record, and between a jail sentence and walking away free. The consequences of being convicted of sexual assault are serious. No one wants to end up on the sex offender’s registry, and have their reputation in the community ruined.

• Our track record of Sexual Assault cases is outstanding
• PCS is among the most respected law firms in Canada
• Our fees are highly competitive

PCS handles Sexual Assault everywhere in Ontario and is respected by judges and prosecutors throughout the Province. Let’s meet to discuss your options today. Put your trust in PCS’s team of highly skilled and experienced Sexual Assault lawyers.

If you have been accused of or charged with a domestic violence or domestic assault in Toronto or throughout Ontario, you need a criminal lawyer who can help increase the odds of winning your case. You should speak with a criminal lawyer experienced in domestic violence cases before speaking with the police about any allegation of a domestic violence as anything you say can be used as evidence against you at your trial.

A domestic violence or domestic assault conviction can result in jail time or a criminal record, leading to future challenges such as employment, not being able to travel or enter the United States and perhaps most importantly, it may result in not being able to see your children or fulfill an active role in their lives.

In most instances, once the police receive a complaint of domestic violence, they will lay charges. Until your charge has been dealt with in court, you will be prohibited from having contact with your spouse and possibly your children.

• Our track record of winning is outstanding
• We are among the most respected criminal law firms in Canada
• Our fees are highly competitive

In order to obtain a conviction of domestic violence, the Crown must prove its domestic violence or family violence case beyond a reasonable doubt.

Domestic violence or domestic assault charges are often laid for aggravated assault, partner assault, criminal harassment, stalking, threatening death or bodily harm, or forcible confinement.

If you have a restraining order against you in a domestic violence case, which prohibits contact with your family, a criminal lawyer can assist in having the order lifted in a court of law, should circumstances warrant it.

The principles and procedures of administrative and public law that govern proceedings before tribunals in Ontario draw significantly from Canadian criminal law. Also, as in criminal law, stellar oral and written advocacy (a PCS hallmark) is the key to success in the administrative law context. Unlike most of the lawyers who practice at large Bay Street firms and take on administrative law cases, PCS lawyers have a vast amount of trial and appellate experience.

We appear before judges and juries daily. This places us in a distinctly advantageous position – over our Bay Street peers – to represent clients before administrative tribunals. And our results establish this. Our firm has a broad range of experience before administrative tribunals in Ontario, including the Law Society of Upper Canada, the Alcohol and Gaming Commission, the License Appeal Tribunal and Colleges governed by the Regulated Health Professions Act. PCS represents commercial trucking companies against MTO Suspension and Seizure orders and the drivers and owner operators of such companies who face prosecution under the Highway Traffic Act.

We have successfully represented lawyers and health care professionals against allegations of misconduct before their regulatory bodies and at the Divisional Court. We frequently represent bar and restaurant owners in liquor license cases and assist individuals and corporations under audit by the Canada Revenue Agency. PCS has also expanded the scope of its administrative and regulatory law practice to the Ontario Securities Commission and the Tax Court of Canada.

The justice system makes mistakes. They may result from inadequate investigations, flawed forensic evidence, lying or mistaken witnesses, prosecutorial tunnel vision, or simple human error. Whatever its cause, the consequences of a wrongful conviction are inevitably devastating—lives are destroyed and reputations are ruined. Canadian criminal law provides an appellate process that allows some miscarriages of justice to be identified and corrected. But the appellate process comes to an end and history shows that injustices sometimes continue. Posner Craig Stein occupies a unique position in securing justice for the wrongly convicted in Canada.

Our lawyers have represented some of the best known victims of miscarriages of justice and seen them reversed, sometimes with apologies and compensation from governments. It is a difficult area of litigation, requiring a specialized set of skills and experience. We have pioneered the preparation of applications for Ministerial Review by the Minister of Justice under Part XXI.1 of the Criminal Code. We work regularly with leading forensic scientists who help correct the mistakes of government laboratories. We have a close and continuing relationship with the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted (AIDWYC) which draws miscarriages of justice to the attention of the media and the public.

We work with highly qualified investigators to track down fresh evidence which can emerge years—even decades—after a conviction. Posner Craig Stein formed to allow its founding partners to concentrate on this very challenging but uniquely rewarding area of law and it remains one of the firm’s core priorities.

PCS is renowned for its expertise in appellate advocacy, most notably at the Court of Appeal for Ontario and the Supreme Court of Canada. Our firm has conducted literally hundreds of criminal appeals, likely more than any other in Canada, and our achievements in this sphere of practice are unparalleled. We have played a transformative role in Canadian criminal law through the advancement of novel factual and legal issues, and along the way, have secured the exoneration of many Canadian men and women wrongly convicted of crimes.

PCS approaches each and every appeal with microscopic scrutiny of the proceedings that unfolded at the trial below with a view toward exposing possible miscarriages of justice. We advance the interests of our clients on appeal in many different ways. A few examples include establishing that the trial judge made a significant error by admitting or refusing to admit evidence, improperly instructing the jury on a point of law, failing to permit cross-examination of a witness on an important issue, demonstrating bias against the person charged, or imposing a sentence that was unreasonable. In some cases, evidence of innocence not presented at trial comes to light after a conviction and we are able to gather it for presentation to the court of appeal. Our long list of appellate cases, many of which have resulted in fundamental changes to the law, are reported in legal journals and are frequently cited by judges throughout Canada. LPC’s vast experience, encyclopedic knowledge of the law and passion for justice make us Canada’s leading criminal appellate firm.