Many clients wonder exactly what our quoted flat rate fee includes. Our Invoices have recently been revised to include a brief description of our fee. I’ve left our description as it reads on the Invoice, but I’ve expanded the description somewhat for further clarification.
Our invoice reads:
Receipt and review of Certificate of Offence from client. Correspondence to client throughout matter, telephone calls to Court and client.
What this means:
We will answer your initial telephone call regarding the ticket and you will be asked to fax/send in the ticket to our office. You will not be charged for every letter that is written, nor for every telephone call made as our fee includes all of this.
Our invoice reads:
Preparation and receipt of signed Authorization from client, preparation of Trial request forms, preparation of file contents including open file into data base system.
What this means:
Once we receive the ticket, the information from the ticket will be transcribed onto our Authorization. As we are acting as your agent in court, the Court requires that the driver or company signs an Authorization which states that we have been authorized to act in this matter. The authorization must be personally signed by the individual driver, or by a person with signing authority on behalf of the company.
We will also be sending a general information sheet that must be completed, as well requesting your “story”. It is important, especially if this a driver charge, that we get the driver’s version of the facts as soon as possible. Sometimes we find that the version changes as we get closer to trial, so we always ask for this information early on.
We will either file a Notice of Intention to Appear or arrange for an agent to personally file the ticket/Notice of Intention to Appear in the appropriate jurisdiction. Some courts require the original ticket, and others require that the ticket or Notice of Intention be filed in person.
Our invoice reads:
Further correspondence with court re: receipt of trial request form, including telephone or written contact. Receipt and review of Trial Notice and correspondence to client confirming same.
What this means:
We will continue to call the Court on a regular basis to see if a trial date has been set in this matter. Once the Court provides us with a trial date (or we have set the trial date in Part III matters), we will write to you to advise of the trial date and which paralegal will be handling your matter on that date.
Our invoice reads:
Request to enforcement agency for disclosure, review of disclosure material, and preparation of disclosure review memo. Correspondence to client enclosing disclosure review memo and requesting further instruction. If applicable, request for documents and preparation of Notice of Intention to File Business records.
What this means:
Once we have a trial date, we can then write to the Court to ask for disclosure. Disclosure is basically all documents and information the prosecution will be relying on at trial. This will include officer notes, copies of police reports, copy of CVIR, pictures, witness statements and certified copies of vehicle registrations and licensing information.
Our office will carefully review the disclosure to discover the grounds for the charge, as well as to discover if there are any weaknesses in the prosecution’s case. It is as this point that the paralegal determines how we are going to mount a defence to the charge.
A copy of this memo will be provided to you for your comments. At this time, any further information that you or your driver can provide would be helpful in determining the proper approach to defending the charge.
If the defence is going to be based in part on documents, you will be provided with a detailed checklist and will be asked to send in documents to help in defending this matter. Once all of the documents are in, our office will have to prepare a Notice of Intention to file Business Records in order to comply with the Evidence Act.
Our invoice reads:
Trial preparation, including all telephone calls, document review and witness interviews (defendant and other applicable witnesses). Discussion with prosecutor and law enforcement officials with respect to matter and possible resolution of same.
What this means:
As the trial get closer, we will be speaking with the driver and/or company reps to go over the prosecution’s case and our evidence in support of our case. All relevant case law would be researched and prepared.
If, after reviewing the disclosure and speaking with everyone giving evidence, it is decided that a resolution would be better than going to trial, we will contact the prosecution to discuss the possibility of resolution. In doing so, our firm always keeps in mind that we are trying to get the best possible outcome for our clients, and although we certainly like to go to trial, some of our clients are not willing to risk conviction at trial.
Our invoice reads:
All Court appearance(s) in Provincial Offences Court, including adjournments, pre-trials, confirmation hearings, motions and trial of matter. Post-disposition letter to client regarding trial outcome.
What this means:
We will attend for motions, regular set dates, pre-trials, confirmation hearings and trial of a matter. Once a matter has either gone to trial or we have reached a resolution, our firm will send a reporting letter to you outlining the outcome of the trial.