On September 30th, 2015 MCM's first ever bar to bench presenter delivered an exciting session on Cross-Examination: A View from the Bench. Former ACA, now The Honourable Justice Rob Wadden joined us for a terrific and candid session.
Session 66: Offence Tune-Up Fail & Refuse
On June 24th, 2015 Dallas Mack and Louise Tansey presented Offence Tune-Up: Failures and Refusals.
Session 65: Offence Tune-Up Criminal Harassment
On Wednesday June 3rd, 2015 Louise Tansey and MGM presented Offence Tune-Up: Criminal Harassment.
Session 64: Offence Tune-Up: B&E
On April 29th, 2015 Mr Rob Thomson made his MCM debut ably assisted by MCM co-founder Matthew Geigen-Miller. Rob and MGM delivered an engaging presentation with great info on the nuances of B&E with intent versus B&E and commit.
Offence Tune-up: B&E attendance sheet
Session 63: Offence Tune-Up: Robbery
On April 7th, 2015 Ms Tara MacDougall made her MCM debut with a rousing presentation on the offence of robbery. Ably assisted by Matthew Geigen-Miller, MCM'ers learned of the various definitions of robbery and the corresponding sections of the Code. A great discussion ensued about the most common errors and oversights made during an initial review of a robbery file.
Offence Tune-Up: Robbery pwrpt
Offence Tune-Up: Robbery attendance sheet
Session 62: Section 530 & French Language Rights
On March 25th, 2015 Andrea Levans ably supervised by Caroline Thibault pulled off an MCM first: a session dedicated to the other official language. Andrea navigated us through the pitfalls and dangers of taking this stuff too lightly and warned us all of the severe consequences of failing to abide by section 530. If you had any doubt just how important this stuff is look no further to the fact that Ottawa Crown's office VIP Crown Vikki Bair was in attendance.
Section 530: French Language Rights & Criminal Law
Session 59: Responding to Allegations of Misconduct
On December 3rd, 2014 MCM proudly hosted our fearless leader Crown Vikki Bair. Ms Bair candidly spoke about her own experiences in dealing with allegations of misconduct. MCM had an engaging discussion on where the line is between advocacy and misconduct. This session was brought to you by MGM.
Responding to Allegations of Crown Misconduct pwrpt
Session 61: Cross-Ex of Accused when You've Got Nothing
On January 21, 2015 MCM had a full and frank discussion on how to cross the accused when you've no statement. The fact pattern (hyperlinked below) was distributed in advance of the session and Mark Moors and Louise Tansey facilitated a discussion on strategy, prep and the frustration of this oft occurring scenario (say it like MGM: suh-nahhhh-rrrrrrio)
Session 60: Xmas Xtravaganza
On December 17, 2014 MCM hosted it's third XTRAVAGANZA. Dallas Mack attended and spoke candidly and with helpful powerpoint presentations from actual prosecutions about presenting cell phone evidence in court. There were of course sliders.
Session 58: Group Crime Part II
On November 19, 2014 Matthew Geigen-Miller and Louise Tansey with supervision by Dallas Mack presented Group Crimes Part II. This was the second of the 2 part MCM series on Group Crime.
Session 57: Charter Litigation in the OCJ
On Wednesday October 22, 2014 Matthew Geigen-Miller presented another riveting session on the Charter application. This session was supervised by James Cavanagh and accredited for .5hrs of professionalism content.
Charter Litigation in the OCJ pwrpt (to be posted shortly)
Attendance Sheet (to be posted shortly)
Session 56: Group Crime Part 1
On October 8, 2014 Louise Tansey and Fara Rupert presented the first session of a two-part series on group crimes. This first session covered topics such as:
- intro to group crimes
- group crimes @bail hearings, remand, pre-trials and plea court
- the legal framework including party liability and responsibility for harm
The second session scheduled for November 19, 2014 will cover:
- trial tactics and strategies
- cut throat defences
- use of co-accused statements and testimony
- joining and severing
Attendance Sheet
Session 55: Past Recollection Recorded
On September 24, 2014 Matthew Geigen-Miller ably presented on the ever interesting and surprisingly frequently occurring topic of past recollection recorded.
Past Recollection Recorded pwrt
Attendance sheet (to be posted shortly)
Session 54 - MCM Pleads Guilty, Again
On Wednesday August 27, 2014 MCM hosted repeat presenter Carl Lem who lead the group on a second round of discussions on the guilty plea court. The first MCM session on this topic was held in 2011 with guest presenter Dallas Mack. The 2014 redux included discussion on
- putting on the breaks
- confidential police I/As
- contested pre-sentence orders
- life after Summers and
- the surcharge
Session 53- I.C.E., I.C.E. Baby (an internet child exploitation primer)
On Wednesday July 23rd, 2014 Kerry McVey delivered her second MCM-Group presentation. Assistant Crown Attorney McVey was ably supervised by Assistant Crown Attorney Mark Holmes.
From bits to hash values, production orders and dynamic entries, lurers and makers, this session has it all- a must for anyone about to prosecute an ICE file. There was great discussion on how best to present CP images to the court, what is a representative sample and the impact of the SCC's decision in R v Spencer.
ICE Primer powerpoint presentation
ICE LSUC attendance sheet (to be posted shortly)
Session 52: Medical Records Ninja
On Wednesday July 2nd, 2014 Ninja Geigen-Miller presented MCM Session #52: Medical Records Ninja. This session was supervised by James Cavanagh.
It is written in the Shoninki that the ninja was trained to build his own weapons, including poison darts, smoke bombs, and explosives.
As a matter of necessity, the ninja was a master of improvisation. He often worked alone and far from his home base. At times the success of his mission depended on his ability to create deadly and efficient weapons using available materials.
So too must the prosecutor become a master of improvisation and learn to construct her or his own weapons.
Medical Records Ninja PowerPoint Presentation
Session 51: Revoke & Estreat
On Wednesday June 18, 2014 MCM co-founders united to talk about the mechanics of bail revocationa and estreatment hearings.
The cover slide is some of MGM's best work to date.
Revoke and Estreat presentation
Session 50: Mack's Top 10- practical tips for your OCJ trial
On Wednesday May 14th, 2014 Rgional Crown Counsel Dallas Mack helped MCM celebrate their 50th session with a thoughtful if not controversial top 10 list.
Direct quotes from the session's fearless leader Mr Mack included:
Promise. Never relent. Deliver.
Never be afraid of the truth
Justice demands your best and fears no adversary; failure is not an option.
and lastly everyone's favourite:
Justice is a whore that won’t let herself be stiffed, and collects the wages of shame even from the poor.
(you'll have to read the powerpoint to find out who that one is attributed to)
Session 49: MCM Does Drugs
On Wednesday April 30, 2014 MCM did drugs with Matt Humphreys, Andrea Levans and federal prosecutor James Meloche at the helm.
This session was Ms Levans MCM debut presentation and all are looking forward to more. Repeat presenter Matt Humphreys made his third appearance at MCM and Mr Meloche helped his provincial counterparts get high... on information.
Materials to be posted soon
Session 48: Appellate Update
On April 16th MCM-Group convened to discuss some recent appellate jurisprudence. The session was ably facilitated by Matthew Geigen-Miller and co-supervised by A/Crown Brian Holowka and Assistant Crown James Cavanagh.
The topics covered were 9(2) applications and the rule in Browne v Dunn.