Minimum Experience Requirements for Extremely Serious Matters (ESM)

Definition:
5.(1) “Extremely serious matter” means:

1. a youth or adult trial or appeal in relation to any of the following offences:

   1. any offence of culpable homicide,
   2. any offence for which the Criminal Code provides a mandatory minimum sentence of four years or more,
   3. any offence related to terrorism set out in Part II.1 of the Criminal Code;

2. a dangerous offender application; or

3. an extradition hearing in relation to anything listed in clause (a) or (b). (“affaire extrêmement grave”)

ESM Minimum Experience Requirements

The following are Legal Aid Ontario’s (LAO’s) minimum experience requirements to provide legal aid services on Extremely Serious Matters:

• To be authorized to provide certificate services in extremely serious matters, a roster member must be authorized to provide certificate services in general criminal law, without having had any conditions or requirements imposed on their authorization.

• A roster member whose authorization is conditional may not provide certificate services in extremely serious matters; however, a roster member whose authorization is conditional may be authorized to provide certificate services in extremely serious matters if the Corporation determines that it is necessary for the roster member to be so authorized in order to meet the Corporation’s operational needs or the needs of the district or part of a district where the services are to be provided.

• A roster member must have the following minimum experience before applying for authorization to provide certificate services in extremely serious matters:

  1. at least five years of practice restricted to criminal law;

  2. all of the following experience:

     1. conducted 100 days of contested trials or contested preliminary inquiries,
     2. acted as counsel, co-counsel or junior counsel on at least one jury trial,
     3. conducted at least five voir dires with issues of similar fact, statements, hearsay or expert evidence,
     4. conducted at least five contested Charter applications related to disclosure, search and seizure, detention or arrest, right to counsel, section 11(b) or abuse of process.

  *A roster member who has been certified as a specialist in criminal law by the Law Society of Ontario is considered have met the minimum experience requirements.

The roster member must also:

1. review the materials listed in the document entitled Material for review by roster members authorized to provide legal aid services in extremely serious criminal law matters published on the Corporation’s website; and

2. in their application, attest that they have reviewed those materials.

Forms

• Extremely Serious Matters (ESM) forms