Stuart O'Connell Criminal Law Blog

If counsel seeks to withdraw far enough in advance of any scheduled proceedings and an adjournment will not be necessary, then the court should allow the withdrawal.  In this situation, there is no need for the court to inquire into counsel’s reasons for seeking to withdraw or require counsel to continue to act. Assuming that timing is an issue, the court is entitled to inquire further.  Counsel may reveal that he or she seeks to withdraw for ethical reasons, non-payment of fees, or another specific reason (e.g. workload of counsel) if solicitor-client privilege is not engaged.   R. v. Cunningham , 2010 SCC 10 (CanLII), [2010] 1 S.C.R. 331 at para. 48.   If counsel asserts that ethical reasons (or, to put it more broadly, a breakdown in the client-solicitor relationship) require that he/she no longer act for the client, the trial judge is obliged to order counsel removed without any inquiry into the particulars underlying the request. R. v. Cunningham , a...

A client is entitled to discharge counsel at any time for any reason. If a client does not want to be represented by a particular counsel, the court cannot force that representation on the client. On an application by trial counsel to be removed from the record, it is imperative that the client’s position be known to the judge hearing the application. Some inquiry, albeit one carefully circumscribed to avoid entrenching on client-solicitor privilege, is necessary.                R. v. Short , 2018 ONCA 1, a t para. 40 ( obiter ).         Stuart O’Connell, O’Connell Law Group, www.leadersinlaw.ca