On October 31, 2011, I had to go to the Law Courts again to find a story and write it. This time, I had to do it on my own. I have a contact who I volunteer on the University of Winnipeg Alumni Council with. His name is Mike Cook and he is a defence lawyer. I emailed him last week to see if he was going to be at the Law Courts today and as luck had it, he was. He invited me to come and see him in action. I met up with Mike in the hallway in front of room 403. From working at Osborne House, I remembered that the councilors would meet their clients at court to provide assistance and I thought to myself, this is probably where they came to. So, it was nice to be able to see this.
Mike was very gracious and helpful. He is such a humble man with almost a boyish charm to him. He has brown hair and was wearing a charcoal greyish suit with a blue shirt. He looked very proper and professional. He guided me over to the couches to sit down before the preliminary inquiry started. Mike explained to me that in this particular case, his client was a woman and normally he represents men so this was a bit out of the ordinary for him.
After the inquiry was over, I asked Mike if he ever found it difficult to be a defence lawyer.
He said not at all. He said he liked his job. He did also say that 98% of his clients are guilty but he usually is able to give them second chances by creating some sort of reasonable doubt.
Mike told me about a story when he first started practicing law. He phoned his mom to tell her about his day and what the end result was of a court case he was in. He was representing someone who had a sexual assault charge. His mom yelled at him and said “Michael, don’t be representing garbage like that. I didn’t bring you up that way.” He had a cute smile on his face sharing this story with me. He said that he never forgets his mom saying this to him. He also believes however that people deserve second chances and everyone is innocent until proven guilty.
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