A Painful Duty

by Chris D. Evans

With a mirthful flourish of his pen, and top gallant sails flying, C.D. Evans guides us through myriad shoals of madness, mayhem, and folly encountered over four decades at the Criminal Bar. Chock full of character and characters, this is a classic of the first water.

Burn this book! It is far too provocative and seditious to circulate freely amongst the masses. But before you burn it, read it and laugh until your eyes water and your belly hurts. – Cameron Gunn, Crown Prosecutor, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Author of Ben & Me: From Temperance to Humility

A highly recommended romp through the career of one of this country’s pre-eminent? Criminal lawyers and his willingness to share his insights into the characters and practices of our criminal courts. – The Honourable Mr. Justice John Z. Vertes, Senior Judge, The Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories

For forty years I moiled at the Criminal Bar, which is sort of the tar sands of the legal industry. My approach to the practice of criminal law for those four decades was that of a strip miner: twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, no holiday, no time off. As a sure-fire way to success, it was a winner; as a formula for living, it was a flop.

My calling has been to stand in the shoes of those who are not equipped to speak for themselves. I had to ensure that the accused had a fair trial, and that all that could possibly be said on his/her behalf was urged upon the tribunal. I had no license to judge my client. Nor did I endorse my clients’ calumnies. And if you did your job right, Milt Harradence, as always, said it best: “Every time you finish the case and walk out, you’ve left a bit of yourself in the courtroom.”

My professional philosophy was objective detachment from the client but engagement in his cause, that is, it was relatively psychopathic and mercenary. I did my most prominent work in the “white collar crime” area, and the metaphysic was simple: it took the client four years to steal the money, it took me four weeks to get it from him, he went to jail, I did not. Ergo, the system works.

As to my calling, I was a mercenary, and I made no bones about it. There was no “higher purpose” to my practice. I was never motivated by pity, disgust, anger, or a cause to right wrongs. I seldom if ever refused a brief, barring a conflict. The retainer was the locus classicus: the client retained me to act for him and not to act against him.

In my book I provide sketches of a number of Judges and Barristers – think Aubrey’s “Brief Lives”. – and compendia of some of my more interesting cases. I strove to avoid tedium or prolixity. I have documented an array of boon companions – illuminati of the Alberta Bar – and have stayed away from some other “learned friends” who are neither learned nor friendly. I strove to provide insights into the practice and the characters of the Criminal Bar, with special tributes to the no-nonsense judges of the early days. Noteworthy cases include police officers moonlighting as bank robbers, North of 60 escapades, the defense of famous hockey players, First Nations clients, and away-from-home games in Toronto and Bermuda. I meant what I said in the conclusion to the Law Society 100th Anniversary book Foreword about the valediction of Robert Emmet and the admonition of Thomas Erskine, KC: I believe that the best ideals of our great profession will survive, because “the strength of the Bar” will survive. The “strength of the Bar” is found in every new and nervous young criminal lawyer who struggles to her/his feet in the courtroom to perform our painful duty.

I conclude my Introduction to my book by stating that I entertain the hope that my Memoir might encourage young counsel to join the ranks of criminal lawyers, a fiercely independent and admirable subculture. A Painful Duty: 40 Years at the Criminal Bar celebrates my forty year journey that brought challenge, combat, exhilaration, exhaustion, and often, high humour, for if irony is going to strike, it will be in the courtroom. I should be honoured to have the reader join me on this voyage.

Richard C.C. Peck, QC, FACTL, Peck & Co., Barristers, Vancouver
Co-Chair, Federation of Law Societies’ National Criminal Law Program