Queen’s Counsel, 40-year-veteran of the bar, Vancouver defence lawyer, Larry Myers is reeling from a thrashing by provincial court Judge Bonnie Craig.
He tried to shrug off the slap-down: “It’s just the nature of our business. We’re not going to make everybody happy. But most of the time, most judges and Crown kind of enjoy my antics.”“If she’s saying my conduct fell below a professional standard and she was going to grant the remedy, that’s one thing,” he complained.
Aside from having no written records, Craig said Myers failed to challenge the search warrant for Lam’s apartment; advised Lam to plead in unfair circumstances; sent a newly minted lawyer, Chantal Pacquette, to proceedings without proper instructions; and wasn’t in court for Lam’s guilty plea. Myers told her it was not his standard practice to make notes “because I feel that they are – the notes themselves are vulnerable.
She went on to say: “Lam pleaded guilty to a serious offence with a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. He should not have been permitted to plead guilty without the supervision of a lawyer in court … on the evidence before me, I am unable to find that Mr. Myers breached his professional obligations in this regard.”