Ethical dilemmas will justify a lawyer’s withdrawal. Contrary to what people believe, a lawyer does not have to do whatever you tell him to do, nor does he have to continue to be your lawyer no matter what. If you are asking or demanding that your lawyer do something illegal or unethical, the lawyer has an ethical duty to withdraw.
For example, a defence lawyer does not have to run every defence in a criminal charge.
If the client has admitted to the lawyer that he committed the crime, then a lawyer cannot run an alibi defence to show that your client was somewhere else at the time of the crime. That would be calling false evidence before the court, and ethically a lawyer cannot do that.
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If your client has admitted guilt, the crown must prove it beyond a reasonable doubt. A defence such as identification can and likely should be run.
The crown witnesses have to identify the accused person as the perpetrator of a crime to register a conviction. Defence is entitled to query this because it amounts to poking holes in the crown’s case.
If you are insisting to your lawyer that he do something that violates the ethical rules or the law itself, then that lawyer has no alternative but to withdraw and cease representing you.
He cannot reveal the reason behind the withdrawal because it can cause prejudice.
Another frequent reason for defence lawyers to withdraw is lack of payment. Most defence lawyers insist on payment before a trial begins.
If the retainer is not paid, the lawyer may choose to withdraw. The Supreme Court of Canada ruled on this issue earlier this spring in a case from the Yukon named R. versus Cunningham.
Justice Marshall Rothstein, who delivered the unanimous judgment, set out strict rules for judges.
“Refusing to allow counsel to withdraw should truly be a remedy of last resort and should only be relied upon where it is necessary to prevent serious harm to the administration of justice.”
The Supreme Court held that a lawyer could continue even if he wasn’t going to get paid for the case. These cases are few and far between and probably something else is at work such as multiple delays or frailty of a witness.
The judges will accept a lawyer’s word if it’s an ethical issue, but may question it if the issue is financial.
If you hire a lawyer, be honest with him. If you lie, your lawyer can fire you. If you lie or do not reveal all the truth, you may be throwing your money away.
Your lawyer needs to know the truth in order to assess and deal with your legal problem. Remember, your lawyer is on your side.
There are many different antidepressant medications, which have varying side-effects. The most commonly prescribed are from the SRI group – serotonin reuptake inhibitors – such as Prozac, Luvox and Zoloft. Effexor is slightly different because it works on two different brain chemicals.
Some people get a bit “owly” on the less sedating types of antidepressants such as Prozac, but the newer varieties are less likely to cause this.
Older types are the tricyclics, which include Elavil and Surmontil. They are best taken at night to help you sleep, but if you are over 70, they can be hard on the heart and might cause an irregular heartbeat. They are famous for causing a dry mouth, which can be relieved by sucking on sour candies.
If you are having symptoms such as a preoccupation with morbid, depressing thoughts, problems sleeping and loss of weight or appetite, you need medical treatment and probably cannot solve the problem alone.
The difficulty with sleeping when you have depression is waking early in the morning and not being able to get back to sleep again. Your brain chemicals are out of order and you will need medication to fix them.
It is difficult to understand how changes in brain chemistry affect your thoughts, but these subtle changes can make you think and behave differently. You would be amazed at how your outlook on life will change when you are feeling better.
If your doctor is recommending that you take an antidepressant, I suggest you try it for at least a few weeks to see if it helps.
If your depression is not giving you the physical symptoms that I mentioned and you are are grieving over a lost friend or relative, then medication may not be the solution.
Grief takes time and it can take as long as two years to get over a death. If it takes longer, you may be experiencing an abnormal grief reaction and need to see a professional therapist.
Family problems and resentments are another matter. They can sometimes be resolved by getting everyone together and having a session to clear the air and correct any misunderstandings. It might help to have at least one neutral person present to mediate.
There are usually two sides to every story. If the matter is something that happened in the past, you probably cannot do anything about it and it is better if you let go of the resentment and make a fresh start. People make mistakes. Lower your expectations of others. Bottled up anger can certainly lead to feeling depressed and it just isn’t worth it.
