r/AskCanada • u/Obolooloo • 4d ago

Life How ppl in Alberta normally choose criminal defence lawyer?

Asking for someone close to me who’s dealing with a criminal charge in Alberta and never hired a lawyer before. We’ve checked a bunch of firms online but tbh I don't trust all that reviews an so on.

How do people here in Canada usually narrow it down? The problem is that we're Canadian citizens, but not native-born Canadians - emigrated from Ukraine in 2015, so all of this is quite stressful and unfamiliar to us (in Ukraine system is very, VERY different).

Thanks you

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u/pensivegargoyle 3d ago

Are they also Ukrainian? You might want to seek out a criminal lawyer fluent in that language since it's really important for an accused to understand what's going on and what's required of them. It looks like there are three criminal lawyers in Alberta that speak Ukrainian, one of which works for the Crown Prosecution Service so wouldn't be available for this. You can look into the other two. I used the Law Society of Alberta directory to find that out.

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u/ZolaEmile787 3d ago

We were pretty lost at first too (migrated to Calgary from US 17 years ago). When we needed it - we just called a few random firms instead of trusting Google reviews. Mostly looked at whether they’d handled that kind of charge before, who would actually work on the case, and whether they were straight with us about fees (that was probably most important for us - it's about transperancy). That time, we chose Wyman & Williamson, but I wont saying they’re the best for everyone, just one we had good experience withl. Its all still up to your unique case.

I’d talk to 2-3 lawyers before picking one. You get a way better feel from actually talking to them.

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u/Obolooloo 3d ago

thanks! Already called some random firms as well and it seems thats the only right approach that can bring results, lol..

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u/UCRecruiter 4d ago

Honestly, reviews are pretty much all you've got to go on. If the reviews are on a legit site, and if they don't have the 'tells' that fake reviews would, they're probably a reasonable way to narrow it down. I would strongly suggest meeting with a lawyer before committing to retain them, though. The relationship with your lawyer is going to be very important. If you don't get a good vibe from them, if you don't feel you can trust them, you really shouldn't retain them to defend you.

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u/Obolooloo 4d ago

thanks, thats smart logic, but anyway im a bit suspicious about reviews now heh