Pure theatre.. Lawyer Peter Henein is a partner at Cassels Brock and is a part of the firm's Advocacy Group. She is known for being the most popular sought-after defense lawyer in the country. Marie Henein (born 1966) is a Canadian criminal defence lawyer. Darren Calabrese/THE CANADIAN PRESS. You think of how the Charter was brought about. MARIE HENEIN: Well, thats a great question. And in terms of current Canadian clients, no one has as high a profile as former CBC Radio host Jian Ghomeshi, charged with. That sort of impassioned idealism proved irresistible to another of the young lawyers on Greenspans staff. Wikipedia and some other popular wiki sites have presented Maries bio on their web pages. I dont think its any different than Washington. The perception of lawyers is that theyre hustlers, pulling the wool over peoples eyes, she says, but thats not good advocacy., While most criminal lawyers specialize in either trial or appeals, Henein is now equally adept at both, and colleagues have watched in disbelief as she addresses the Court of Appeal with a brashness few would dare. Very bold. But after reinvestigating her new witnesses, he came to trust her assessments. Ms. Henein is the Past President of The Advocates' Society (2010-2011). Then, homing in on a pivotal 28 secondslater the title of Bryants memoirshe set about dissecting every millisecond in that time frame. Big., Some lawyers only take cases they know they can win, but Henein never turns down a client. I was becoming like a surly teenager. Greenspan felt sideswipedit was a breach that would take time to mendand for months after her departure, whenever a crisis came up, he would storm through the office fuming, Where the hell is Marie?. No framed degrees or family photos mar the pristine sleekness of the lobby. At a two-day hearing in October that was closed to the press, Henein was expected to argue one of the most contentious aspects of the Ghomeshi case: why the court should give her access to third-party records that may contain personal information about his accusers, including their medical and psychotherapy histories. Marie Henein is one of Canada's top criminal defence lawyers, and now a household name after she successfully defended Jian Ghomeshi in his criminal trial earlier this year. Either her new evidence would convince Peck the case was unwinnable and he would drop the charges, or he would proceed to trial anyway, having seen her trump card. She is known for being the most popular sought-after defense lawyer in the country. There was nothing else I wanted to do that would interfere with that, she says. As Anthony Moustacalis, president of the Criminal Lawyers Association, points out, Theres traditionally been a macho culture of wanting a tough guy to fight for you.. I cant believe you did this, he roared. And then not allowing students to engage with people. When she hasnt been in court for a while, she admits, she gets as agitated as a junkie: I need the fix, she says. In 1998, she became the partner of the firm but she left it in 2002 in order to establish her own firm named Henein and Associates. Could the Bryant case serve as a template for Ghomeshis defence? I have never seen anybody with more naked confidence in a courtroom, says Martha McCarthy, the president of the Advocates Society, who recently called on Henein to assist with a complex case. Within the year, she was back at their firm as a junior associate. Talking about her education, Marie went to the St. Josephs Morrow Park Catholic Secondary School. Popularly known as the Lawyer of Canada. You would never go to a surgeon and ask them, How comfortable are you [to] operate on me? You expect them to do the job, Henein said. After briefly moving to Vancouver, then less than a year later to Lebanon, the family finally settled in Toronto when Marie was four years old. Not the way you might be thinking, Henein replied. But no, not her. Jian Ghomeshi makes his way through a mob of media with his lawyer Marie Henein at a Toronto court on November 26, 2014. On her first day of school, Henein didnt speak a word of English and remembers her grandmother dropping her off, leaving her wailing in Arabic, Teta, Teta, I cant understand what theyre saying.. ADVERTISEMENT Diana Davison Montreal QC It was. Maybury is an African-American woman with a nose stud much like Marie's, gold streaks in her hair and a taste for beaded-and-embroidered jeans. The rock star criminal defence lawyer captivated the audience at Moses Znaimer's ideacity Wednesday the way she captivates and convinces judges, . I wont be bullied no matter how many lawyers the government brings to court. And for me, it was the very first time in a 30-year career where I fully understood the power of the state against an accused person. That leaves four remaining accusers, and at his first trial next February, Henein will confront three of them for the first time. It was a pastime that would amuse them both for years. Now she intends to do the same for Jian Ghomeshi, even if it. Every object in these spare quarters has been edited by the same exacting eye that she brings to each caseall part of a controversial exercise in building her own edgy legal brand. Ironically, Henein has emerged as a riveting role model at the very moment when young women are leaving the profession in droves. For your client, its his life., Of all her cases with Greenspan, the biggest media sensation was the 1998 trial of former Nova Scotia premier Gerald Regan, charged with 18 counts of sexual assault. Lisa Marie, 54, died of cardiac arrest on Jan. 12, just two and a half years after the tragic suicide of her son Benjamin at age 27. A third testicle would be hard to miss., Seven years after his acquittal, Frost still speaks of Henein with wary awe. During one forum nearly two decades ago, she slyly noted that, although a complainants sexual and medical histories may be technically inadmissible, in a trial before a judge alone, not a juryas Ghomeshis will bethere was no harm in arguing for their relevance anyway. He loved the oral advocacy part, she says. A slash of scarlet lipstick hints at her sense of showmanship, and the brisk clip of her black patent stilettos leaves no doubt about her flinty reputation. Updated March 30, 2016. At the CLAs first womens conference in Ottawa last spring, Henein doled out helpful hints to young lawyers on how to build their careers, but Jessyca Greenwood, a 31-year-old with her own Toronto firm, was puzzled that Henein never once mentioned the problem that confounded Greenwood daily: how to manage her fledgling practice while raising two toddlers. She is seen as one of the most successful Lawyer of all times. It was how he lived his lifeliving out loud, living proudly, her style., His legacy persists not only in some of Heneins more outr fashion statements, but in larks like her firms campy holiday videos that send up her barracuda image. Its not my area, but if I were a leader, Id want to make sure the public understands whats at stake and why youre making the decisions youre making. SEAN SPEER: Thats great. I believe that if you talk to the public, because I have talked to them about this issue, they engage with you and they want to know. Despite the obvious time and attention she has devoted to that artful presentation, she waves off questions about her designer wardrobe. Even one of her most grateful clients, former attorney general Michael Bryant, has described her as someone who seemed to channel Hannibal Lecter, and another, one-time minor league hockey coach Dave Frost, dubbed her my shark.. Seven years later, the numbers have barely budged. Without uttering a word, Marie Henein commands the room. A Toronto doctor named Marvin Sazant was accused of forcing sex repeatedly for young boys by tying them. He never once told me to tone it down, she says. In one video, released for Christmas 2012, she stomped through the office on a mock rampage, knocking over eggnog and Christmas trees to Youre a Mean One, Mr. Grinch. When it went viral, she topped it the following year with a hilarious takeoff on the movie American Hustle, prancing in 70s bell-bottoms and a blonde Farrah Fawcett wig as her associates shouted raunchy taunts. I would not have seen it in any other context, so it was extremely eye-opening to me. In religion class, where most students chose heartwarming essay topics, Henein argued the merits of abortion and premarital sex. But Perry Mason would have saved his big reveal for a courtroom ambush. My uncle was my stylist, she says. Only 10 years older, he was more best friend than uncle and, she says, one of the great loves of my life. Flamboyant, wildly creative and gaywhich no one in their devout Catholic family wanted to acknowledgehe was obsessed with fashion and treated her as his model and muse. Its wrong to treat your citizens that way. Where once the legal system seemed stacked against women who dared to blow the whistle on sexual assaulttheir motives suspect, their past sex lives fair gamethere has been a sharp shift in the culture. Marie Henein is the smartest, toughest, most sought-after defence lawyer in the city. The kids will be okay.. SEAN SPEER: You mentioned, in an earlier answer, issues around communication and speech engagements. Male lawyers, she protests, never get queried about their clothes. Her client Daniel Weiz was defended by Henein and was successfully acquitted of the charges of killing a teen named Dmitri Baranovski. And a lot of it is who you know, and where youre being positioned. I just dont feel a need to justify what I do or explain myself., Thats hardly an unexpected riposte from a woman who has never been constrained by what others thinkone who refuses to be limited by the usual definitions, whether as a lawyer, a mother or a feminist. But in Grade 12, when she and Nemchin were co-editors of the student paper, The Echo, her iconoclasm proved too much for the principal. Despite that pre-emptive caution, Henein showed up to emcee the annual awards gala for the countrys in-house corporate counselpossibly the most staid members of the legal communityin knee-high, lace-up dominatrix boots. The Toronto lawyer is a key go-to barrister for high-profile accused. A diamond-encrusted serpent ring is her only jewellery, slithering up one ornately manicured finger, each opaline nail inscribed with a delicate black deco design. Im a defence lawyer, which historically, by the way, has been a well-regarded profession. We represent people who have committed heinous actsacts of violence, acts of depravity, acts of cruelty, she quipped. Its a perception that Henein knows all too well. She started working and learning under Edward Greenspan. They have two sons. 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