GFN lawyer David Layton has recently published an article entitled "Defence Counsel's Ethical Duties and Frivolous Charter Applications" in The Verdict, Issue 110, October 2006, at p. 25. The Verdict is published by the Trial Lawyers Association of B.C.

It's with sadness that GFN says goodbye to Talman Rodocker, long a mainstay at the firm and a true barrister who is much respected by clients and colleagues alike. Talman has moved to Toronto to pursue new opportunities. He will be sorely missed, and we wish him all the best.

Several of the GFN lawyers are participating in this year's Trial Lawyers Association of British Columbia criminal law conference, to be held at the Century Plaza Hotel in Vancouver this coming Friday. Richard Fowler, Matthew Nathanson and David Layton will be on a panel entitled "When Your Client Sings Like a Canary: Statement Exclusion Strategies". Richard Fowler and Peter Schmidt (co-authors) and David Layton have written papers that will be included in the conference materials.

Gibbons Fowler Nathanson legal assistant Aurora Mendoza made the cover of the yesterday's Vancouver edition of the Metro News. To see Aurora leaving work, looking very relaxed and happy, click here.

In todays Globe and Mail, p. S1, Shannon Kari writes about so-called Mr. Big cases. Mr. Big is the moniker given to undercover operations in which the police pose as criminals in order to obtain a confession from a suspect. The ploy is usually confined to murder investigations where the police lack sufficient evidence to proceed with charges. Mr. Big operations are especially popular in Western Canada, and a great many have been conducted in B.C. over the last 15 years or so.

Defence lawyers have from the beginning expressed serious concern about the reliability of confessions obtained via the Mr. Big conceit. In essence, the confessions are enticed from the suspect with a promise of money and power in a criminal organization. While such inducements would render a confession to non-undercover police officers inadmissible at trial, courts have refused to apply the same rule to Mr. Big statements because the suspect does not believe himself to be speaking to a person in authority (see R. v. Grandinetti (2005), 191 C.C.C. (3d) 449 (S.C.C.)). Other court challenges to the admissibility of Mr. Big confessions have met a similar fate, as described in an article by Peter Schmidt and Richard Fowler entitled, "Role-Playing RCMP Style: General Overview of Defence Challenges to Mr. Big Confessions and Areas of Other Possible Challenge", presented at a Trial Lawyers Association of British Columbia Conference in September 2005.

The July 21, 2006 edition of the Globe and Mail reports that, despite widespread perception to the contrary, incidents of homicide, car theft, counterfeiting and overall youth crime were all down in British Columbia for 2005 (see p. S1). The article offers commentary from Richard Fowler, who says, tongue in cheek, "I wonder if the chief of police will ask the City of Vancouver for a smaller budget next year". Richard also offers the view that rather than rely on the judicial system as the primary response to crime, the better option is to implement social programs and improve infrastructure with a view to crime reduction.

The Marine Building which features prominently in our new website has one of the most interesting histories of any piece of architecture in Vancouver. To learn more about the building's past, including which Super Heroes used the building as their headquarters in a recent movie, visit the "about the firm" section of our new website.

Gibbons Fowler Nathanson has recently undergone a brand makeover, with the development of a new logo, corporate identity package, website and now the launch of our new blog. The brand visuals are drawn from the Marine Building, where our offices are located. So while our packaging looks different, we are fundamentally unchanged - the core of this law firm remains what it has always been; a collegial group of trial lawyers committed to providing excellent legal service to our clients.

We welcome your feedback on our new brand identity - please drop us a line and share your thoughts with us!