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| Patrick Ducharme |
Once counsel is “on the record” as the official legal representative of the accused, an order of the court must be obtained to be removed or to withdraw as counsel for the accused. Rule 25 deals with applications of this type. The accused may consent in writing to the order sought and a draft order may be prepared in advance.
Counsel cannot “fail to attend” until formally removed as counsel of record by the court. Any conduct calculated to delay, disrupt, or bring the judicial process into disrepute will amount to criminal contempt. An apology by counsel will not necessarily purge the contempt.2 Once accepted as ‘counsel of record’ counsel remains obligated to protect the interests of the client until the court, upon application by counsel, is formally removed as counsel of record by order of the court.
When a lawyer appears before the Court representing an accused person and sets the date for a preliminary inquiry or the trial, the lawyer is considered to be the lawyer “of record”. This entails special requirements to be removed as counsel of record. The lawyer is obligated to appear in court on behalf of the accused. There may be many reasons why he or she may want to withdraw from the case.
The above is the an excerpt of Patrick J Ducharme's book, Canadian Criminal Procedure, available at Amazon or in bulk through MedicaLegal Publishing along with Criminal Trial Strategies.
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