Law Times

Page 4 February 23, 2015 • Law Times www.lawtimesnews.com "In Brampton, my clients have been kept at Maplehurst [Cor- rectional Complex] and their families are often nowhere near Maplehurst and often don't have transportation and certainly can't go out there on a regular basis," says lawyer Jennifer Myers. "Maplehurst would take clothes once a week from a fam- ily member who would deliver them to the jail and the accused person has to put in a request for the clothing change and that has to be approved before the clothing change happens," she adds. The jail would keep only one set of clothes, so if an accused is facing a jury trial that goes on for months, it's nearly impossible for the family to deliver several changes of clothing to the jail- house, according to Myers. "So either your client wears exactly the same thing for every day of his trial or we're forced, es- sentially, to assist in the process because I certainly don't want my client to be in the same clothes ev- ery single day before a jury." Either the delivery schedules should change or family members should be able to bring clothes and hand them directly to court- house staff, says Myers, who adds that while the incident involving Liscio won't deter her from help- ing her clients, "it frightens me." Even when lawyers thoroughly check the clothes they receive on behalf of their clients and they happen to find drugs, they're still in a bind because they'll then be- come a witness and compromise their ability to represent their cli- ent, says Neuberger. But when drugs turn up in clothing handed to court staff, the immediate reaction need not get the lawyer in automatic trouble, he says. "There is an innocent explanation and simply because [lawyers] are a conduit, it doesn't mean they should be charged." After collecting the clothes from the client's family, the law- yer is often in possession of the items for just a few minutes before handing them over to court staff, Neuberger notes. "I don't see why the lawyer cannot be interviewed and asked, 'When did you receive it, who did you receive it from?'" he says of situations where the clothes contain drugs. "In the normal course, the lawyer is simply a conduit; they're handing over the clothing from the family to court security and they expect . . . that they'd check it," he adds. "That's why this case [Liscio's] seems almost unbeliev- able to me. This isn't an exchange in jail during a visit; this is at the courthouse while clothing is be- ing handed to court security." While he doesn't know all of the facts in this case, he assumes Liscio wasn't aware of the drugs. "I understand that she got this file, she turned up at court right away to do it. I don't think there was any time to provide clothing to the ac- cused in custody, so this is what had to happen. I cannot imagine that she would want to engage in criminal behaviour." Pringle goes even further to say "there's absolutely no way" Liscio is a drug trafficker. "She's a hardworking, diligent, honest, and ethical lawyer. Whatever happened, I have no doubt that it happened without Laura's knowledge." LT NEWS Injury Litigation Eastern Ontario It's Different. Civil. Respectful. Competent. Enter Warren WhiteKnight, our newest team member. Referrals honoured. 1.866.384.5886 Untitled-3 1 2015-02-17 10:40 AM Paperless options sought Continued from page 1 'Absolutely no way' lawyer a drug trafficker Continued from page 1 reluctant, says Obagi, since lawyers wouldn't be able to control which documents the jurors were looking at. But Roccamo had said no one controls which pages jurors are looking at even when there are paper copies involved. The plan was to reach an agreement at the end of the trial on which documents weren't referenced and delete them. "The old-fashioned way would be to pull out the books and start rip- ping pages out," says Obagi, noting that with something like an iPad, it's possible to delete unnecessary documents from one device. Counsel had agreed to share the cost of the iPads and could later sell them or keep them for future proceedings. "If you want to always main- tain cutting-edge technology, you can always just sell them and wait for the next trial to start and buy another batch," says Obagi. "They're not cheap but they're not inordinately expensive either when you think about the photocopying cost." Three years ago, Obagi acted in a trial that included the use of iPads at the counsel table and the witness box but not among the jurors. Copying documents in that case resulted in costs "in excess of $14,000," he says. "And the entire thing went into the recycling bin." In another complex trial in Ottawa, the cost of technology to the law firms involved was nothing thanks to a fully equipped courtroom. In a bid-rigging trial estimated to take eight months, Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP partner Peter Mantas says he's grateful for computer screens that make it possible for the jury to work without paper. "I am told — I don't know this for sure — but there's never been a case like this in Ontario because of the combination of documents involved," says Mantas, who notes there are about a million pages of documents before the court. There are 14 jurors in the case, which is two more than required in criminal jury trials and more than double the usual num- ber of jurors in civil matters. "They redesigned one of the courtrooms in Ottawa and wired it so that there are computer screens throughout the courtroom," says Mantas. "We thought about using individual devices, but for this particular case it wouldn't serve the needs of the parties in the courtroom. So this is an example of another method." While jurors and the judge follow along on the screens with the judge taking notes electronically, Mantas says he relies on his Surface Pro 3 tablet. If the case had proceeded on paper, it would have taken about a year to complete, he says, adding a bigger space would have been neces- sary as well as a room where counsel could leave boxes of documents. But the benefit of using screens and tablets instead of paper isn't just a matter of efficiency but also of the quality of the advocacy as well, says Mantas. "There have been times when the other side has been conducting examinations and we had some concerns about the questions we were being asked and we were able to do a search of the documents so fast that we knew right away that we'd be able to make an objection that will likely be sustained," he says. 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