What: The Criminal Lawyers’ Association 2014 Past Presidents Gala
Where: The Ritz-Carlton Toronto
When: Wednesday, October 29, 2014
In its biggest event ever, the Criminal Lawyers’ Association hosted more than 450 lawyers and judges at the Ritz-Carlton last week to honour the organization’s long list of past presidents.
By and large, the evening maintained a lighthearted tone.
“I am somewhat troubled by our display of success,” quipped Eddie Greenspan, one of Toronto most prominent criminal defence lawyers, and the keynote speaker. “Be warned, there are several people here from Legal Aid. And they’re here with their iPhones taking pictures of every one of us, and you can expect a review to occur to figure out how in the hell a bunch of criminal lawyers can afford to be here.”
But above all, he concluded, it is essential for “criminal lawyers to stand guard, raise our voice, rage against injustice. We all believe in this and that is why we can all be so very proud of this association.”
Also, the MC of the event — for which Precedent served as the media sponsor — was defence lawyer Marie Henein, who as of yesterday is representing ex-broadcaster Jian Ghomeshi, who faces an onslaught of accusations of violence and sexual assault.
All told, the Criminal Lawyers’ Association hopes the money it raised from the party will help fund future efforts to lobby the government for increased Legal Aid funding, defend the wrongfully convicted and appear before Parliament to critique new legislation.
Photography by Yvonne Bambrick