If you’re facing sexual assault charges in Ontario, you should seek out a highly experienced sexual assault lawyer. Sexual assault charges carry the risk of severe penalties if convicted, with likely jail consequences, probation and inclusion on the provincial and federal sex offender registries.
A sexual assault charge covers a wide range of allegations and includes any form of unwanted sexual touching from an unwanted kiss or to non-consensual sexual intercourse. In addition to receiving a criminal record, a person convicted of sexual assault is automatically placed on a sex offender registry with onerous reporting conditions placed on that person impacting their life for a minimum of 10 years. In some cases a person can be placed on Canada's federal sexual offender registry for life.
Use Reputable Sources to Find Potential Lawyers
With so many sexual assault lawyers to choose from in Toronto and beyond, figuring out which ones are the best may seem like a difficult challenge.
Online Reviews and Their Limitations
To start your search, you could check out any number of lawyer review websites. Most of these sites rely on reviews based on clients’ experiences with specific lawyers. While this might be helpful, the methodologies used by many of these sites may limit the value of such reviews (see below).
The Best Lawyers Peer-Review Process
Best Lawyers takes a different approach by basing its reviews on a peer assessment process. The company prides itself on delivering “the most reliable, unbiased source of legal referrals anywhere.” During its 40 years in business, Best Lawyers has conducted more than 13 million lawyer evaluations with a process that utilizes peer-review surveys to identify the best lawyers in a given area, such as the Greater Toronto area. Those lawyers receiving enough votes for recognition by Best Lawyer must then maintain the level of votes in subsequent surveys to keep their recognition. Unlike some other lawyer review sites, lawyers named the best are not permitted to pay any fees to participate or otherwise influence how they might be portrayed in their reviews.
Choose an Experienced Lawyer
Once you have identified promising lawyers for sexual assault cases through reviews, you should assess how much experience they have and try to determine their level of success in favorably resolving cases for their clients.
Specialization in Criminal Defence
In particular, you want to make sure that they specialize in criminal defence and have defended clients in sexual assault cases. While this information may be available on the lawyer’s website, you might need to determine the level of experience and success through your initial consultation. An experienced criminal lawyer will be happy to highlight successful cases they’ve defended.
How Much Will the Lawyer Cost You?
Hiring an experienced sexual assault lawyer in Ontario is expensive due to the amount of complexity and preparation requires to successfully defend this type of accusation, but the preservation of one’s freedom and/or otherwise limiting the severity of other potential penalties—such as protecting a criminal record or avoiding registration as a sexual offender —may be invaluable.
Factors That Affect Legal Fees
Whether on an hourly or block fee rates, criminal defence lawyer fees will be based on:
- Number of years of the lawyer’s experience.
- Complexity of the case.
- Amount of related evidence involved.
- Whether the case proceeding by indictment or summary conviction.
- Likelihood of negotiating a plea deal.
- Length of trial and/or pre-trial proceedings.
- Whether case heard by judge or jury.
- Any number of other factors.
Turn to Daniel Brown Law for Your Toronto Sexual Assault Defence
If you need an experienced lawyer to defend you against sexual assault charges in the Greater Toronto Area, consider Daniel Brown Law. With nearly two decades of criminal law experience and success, Daniel Brown Law is intimately familiar with sexual assault provisions in the Criminal Code and with navigating the criminal justice system.
Proven Experience and Recognition
Daniel Brown, Lead Counsel at Daniel Brown Law, is recognized as a top sexual assault defence lawyer and has written a best-selling textbook on prosecuting and defending sexual offences used by lawyers and judges across Canada. As your sexual assault defence lawyer, Daniel Brown Law will strive to get charges withdrawn, secure an acquittal, or otherwise obtain the most favorable outcome possible. To learn more about our approach to sexual assault defence cases, review this recent article on defending sexual assault charges.
