Technically yes. Anyone can also fix their car, but if you have a major problem with your car it is usually safer and more effective to hire a mechanic. Criminal defence lawyers have spent their careers learning the ins and outs of court proceedings, offences, available defences, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and advocacy. Our team has decades of collective experience defending clients against a full range of charges from driving under the influence of aggravated assault and beyond. If you want to know what we can do for you, come see us for a free 30-minute consultation and we can go over your case entirely free of charge.

It depends on what you are going to court for. Many of your court dates will be to handle more administrative tasks, like adjourning while we await disclosure from the Crown or requesting a modification to a bail condition, that sort of thing. For these things, you may not even need to be in court once you have retained a lawyer. We can go on your behalf and act as an agent, leaving you free from interruptions to your personal and professional lives. If you need to be in court we will let you know in advance. In that case a few things you should keep in mind:

1. Turn your cellphone off before you go into the courtroom.
2. Sit quietly in the provided seating, try not to stand unless you are leaving, or the court calls on you to speak.
3. Try to stay quiet unless the court calls on you to speak.
4. Let your lawyer do most of the talking. The court might ask you simple yes or no questions, or to state your name, but detailed answers should come from us.

Don’t be so fast to assume the police have an easy win in your case. Often they make mistakes following procedure when they gather evidence, and if we can show that those mistakes violated police guidelines or the Charter the evidence can be deemed inadmissible. This could completely ruin the Crown’s case and leave them little choice but to withdraw the charges. For example, if the police waited too long after arresting you to give you a chance to retain a lawyer, the evidence taken after the moment of arrest can be found inadmissible. You have a Charter protected right to retain a lawyer, and if the court finds they violated this right even a full signed confession could be deemed unusable as evidence. These are the sorts of things we look for so talk with us before you make a decision.

Aitken Robertson firmly believes that all those facing criminal charges deserve quality legal services and should not be impeded by finances. We offer three things designed to make our services easier to pay for:

Free 30-Minute Consultations: These consultations allow you to discuss the details of your case with a member of our team free of charge. We’ll let you know what kinds of outcomes you might expect if your goals in the case are realistic, and what the cost would be. We want you to know all the details before you make this major decision.

Block Rate Billing: Many law firms still rely on the “billable hour”. That means as lawyers, paralegals, clerks, and law students work on your case, they track their time spent in detail so that their client can be billed as much as possible. This means you wouldn’t know the cost of your defence until after the case had concluded and the hours and rates calculated. Aitken Robertson believes you should know from the beginning what the cost will be, so we hear the details of your case and provide you with a total. This typically only changes if you decide later on that you’d rather go to trial, and so the amount of work we need to put in increases. We can provide you with his figure shortly after our free consultation.

Custom Interest-Free Payment Plans: Most people do not pay for expensive services or products like cars or university tuition in a lump sum payment. Having that amount of money upfront in at once can be difficult. Instead, you make small payments over a period, paying off that item or service. We offer the same for our legal services and without interest. Our team will consider your financial situation and create a custom plan that works for you. If you would prefer to make bi-weekly payments over a few months to fit with your paycheque schedule then we will gladly set that up for you.

You can have the Interlock Ignition device installed at:

LifeSafer Ignition Interlock
675 The Queensway
Peterborough, ON
Telephone: 1-888-769-6080

Apple Auto Glass
494 The Parkway, Unit 1
Peterborough, ON
Telephone: 705-745-7772