I thought: Were not the United Appeal; were lawyers! . Unearthing video footage of one flashing her genitals for the camera at a party, Henein convinced the judge to allow it as a subject for cross examination because it countered the prosecutions assertion that the woman had been a nave pawn manipulated by Frost. Before the trial opened, a judge stayed nine of the charges, and Henein and Greenspan went on to win Regans acquittal on the rest. Lawyer Peter Henein is a partner at Cassels Brock and is a part of the firm's Advocacy Group. Her supportive father named Joseph was employed at the pharmacy. When a member of her profession is in trouble, says Paul Burstein, a former president of the Criminal Lawyers Association, Maries often the first one they go to for help.. Its a reaction to the idea that you have to be out there, and just be liked; that as a politician your celebrity is more important than your leadership. model to clear surgical backlog, Ontario's health-care reforms are a sign of Left-Right policy convergence. Henein, who has often appeared on panels with Edelson, is no stranger to those tactics. My job is to persuade., At the Supreme Courtfor which Henein helps train lawyers before their first appearanceher reputation for novel technical arguments often draws its young staffers to the visitors gallery. In this final instalment of our interview, editor-at-large Sean Speer speaks with Henein about being disinvited from high schools and university campuses and the chronic lack . He is also of the same profession at the law firm Gowlings and is heading the white-collar defense and investigations group. A third testicle would be hard to miss., Seven years after his acquittal, Frost still speaks of Henein with wary awe. Every day her father called worrying how anyone would know shed hung out her shingle. What does that say about what you think of our justice system as a school? Why would you if your focus is re-election? I have not. There isnt. This conversation has been revised and edited for length and clarity. Well, good luck with that, he had scoffed. But in Grade 12, when she and Nemchin were co-editors of the student paper, The Echo, her iconoclasm proved too much for the principal. Were not stupid. Five months following her son's death, on Dec. 29, 2020, Presley sold the home for $2 million. degree in 1991. Now Henein presides over one of the hottest criminal law boutiques in the city, a ten-member firm that has also attracted former deputy attorney general Murray Segal as counsel, and some hail her as the likely heir to the superstar mantle of Eddie Greenspan. There, she learned to help Greenspan think through the theory of his cases and workshop his cross-examinations, every question scripted and every possible plot twist explored. She has also represented Bradley Harrison, former Ontario attorney general Michael Bryant and John Magno. Henein started working with Marc Rosenberg who was the partner of her earlier boss Edward Greenspan. MARIE HENEIN: Yes. What is incredible is that all parties agree on criminal justice, and its not reform. Although he had to remortgage his house and sell his boat and his Jet Skis to pay nearly $200,000 in legal fees$5,000 a day for the two-week trial alonehe has no regrets. Theres no question in my mind. SEAN SPEER: One final question. I wont be bullied no matter how many lawyers the government brings to court. Her achievement can be judged by The National Post which mentioned her as the most high profile Canadian criminal defense lawyer. According to the narrative Henein developed for the case, Frosts accusers were small-town girls, once besotted with his visiting players, who were now colluding to spin accusations they hoped would bring them a payoff. To make her dreams come true, she went to Osgoode Hall Law School and completed her Bachelor of Laws degree (LL.B.) The Canadian lawyer is a frequent lecturer where she is mostly contributing to the Law Society of Upper Canada, the Criminal Lawyers Association, the Ontario Bar Association, the Advocates Society, National Judicial Institute and so on. The truth is, I want to be Marie Henein. Bio, Age, Wife, Net worth, Nationality. The wife of a lawyer and mother of two sons, she calls the much discussed work-life balance "a delusion." . I mean, they cant pass nationalized daycare effectively in Canada. Henein has previously defended. All she knew about the profession she had gleaned from reading about Eddie Greenspan, the superstar defender whose CBC series, The Scales of Justice, recapped famous trials in a way that made criminal law seem both noble and enthralling. Her tactics kept Michael Bryant out of jail. Even if the argument proved unsuccessful, she pointed out, Well, oh well, the judge has heard it.. So, youre disinviting me because you dont like the job that I do in the justice system? For your client, its his life., Of all her cases with Greenspan, the biggest media sensation was the 1998 trial of former Nova Scotia premier Gerald Regan, charged with 18 counts of sexual assault. Five of her associates are former Supreme Court clerks, including rising star Matthew Gourlay, who spent a year on the staff of Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin and was married in her Ottawa living room. That bias was best articulated in a 1988 lecture by Ottawa criminal lawyer Mike Edelson, which still makes feminists fume. She pushed herself through her kids younger years, working at home virtually non-stop through her maternity leaves. Youve got to do that in a way that doesnt make you look like a bully or an ogre, points out Osgoode Hall professor Alan Young. If two men arent of the same mind on an issue, youre not viewed as a person who betrayed their gender, youre viewed as people who disagree., She does not think the system needs to be tweaked in response to sexual assault cases. On June 6, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took a knee during the Black Lives Matter demonstration on Parliament Hill. A graduate of York University's Osgoode Hall Law School and Columbia University, Henein worked for Edward Greenspan, arguably the best-known defence lawyer in Canada, who has represented well-known defendants such as Robert Latimer, Garth Drabinsky and Conrad Black, The Globe and Mail reported. But recent cases have brought you to Ottawa and exposed you to the countrys bureaucratic and political culture. And I really believe its a bit of a mentality that now when youre in office youre immediately running for re-election, and so everything you do is directed at making sure youre re-elected. A Toronto based criminal lawyer Marie Henein was born in 1966. "[11][12], In November 2014, former CBC radio host Jian Ghomeshi hired Henein to defend him. In social gatherings across the city, I hear the same question: how could a feminist take on Jian Ghomeshi as a client? When he escaped to a series of design jobs in New York, she visited him every chance her parents allowed, a dress rehearsal for her current pilgrimages to Barneys and Bergdorfs. MARIE HENEIN: Well, as a criminal lawyer, youre always an outsider. Like Greenspan, she sees her role as not to judge the guilt or innocence of the accused, but to ensure that legal truth prevails. Thats one of her assets. St. Joseph Communications uses cookies for personalization, to customize its online advertisements, and for other purposes. Even one of her most grateful clients, former attorney general Michael Bryant, has described her as someone who seemed to channel Hannibal Lecter, and another, one-time minor league hockey coach Dave Frost, dubbed her my shark.. Its not like shes this rabid pit bull, says Danielle Robitaille, her right hand on the Ghomeshi file. By Marci McDonald | Photography by Markian Lozowchuk | October 20, 2015. I had a mother who was angry at how women were treated in her culture, Henein says. Justice was absolutely served in this case, she said, and justice does not mean getting the result that you want it means getting a fair trial. I think its a lot of weak people leading. She defies the real-life sexist messaging given womenthat they should take up as little space as possible (the Platonic female ideal being the impossible size 00), that they not control the. Its astounding. The self-effacing Rosenberg, who died in August, was virtually unknown outside legal circles, where his mastery of the law made him a highly regarded figure at the Ontario Court of Appeal. It was. degree. My view is that you should torture yourself if you lost, because the stakes are so high, she says. I cant believe you did this, he roared. None of it deals with making difficult decisions. A diamond-encrusted serpent ring is her only jewellery, slithering up one ornately manicured finger, each opaline nail inscribed with a delicate black deco design. When the Supreme Court ruled against them, she took it hard. Working late one night, Henein found her colleague Alison Wheeler distraught that a prospective client, convicted of manslaughter and grappling with mental illness, had been refused Legal Aid; he was planning to argue his own appeala daunting prospect even for those with a law degree. There was apparently according to Marie Henein a consensus among the elite legal establishment in this city that Mr. Bryant should be let go." Sheppard [00:25:58] "The CBC is not the mouthpiece for the establishment it's the public broadcaster and yet, Amanda Lang was the one who interviewed Michael Bryant in a feature interview on the . Required fields are marked *. When a male teacher she expected to defend them instead urged them to capitulate, she castigated him for failing to uphold the ideals he extolled in class. You were either a hero if it worked, she says, or you were an idiot.. Vice-Admiral Mark Norman sits with his lawyer Marie Henein at a press conference in Ottawa on Wednesday, May 8, 2019. She dressed in an eccentric punky way that made it clear she was not like other students, he recalls. Marie Henein has a net worth of $5.00 million (Estimated) which she earned from her occupation as Lawyer. That shift raises the stakes for her as she faces what could be the courtroom performance of her career. Equally impressed was Marc Rosenberg, the counsel for the co-accused in the case and, not incidentally, Eddie Greenspans law partner. Being with the firm, Marie has fought numerous criminal cases and has been able to make her established as one of the most reputed, respected and fearless lawyers in the city. Henein herself makes no secret of the fact that she lives for the cut and thrust of a trial. The whole point, says Heneins former associate Margaret Bojanowska, is to annihilate the witness, really.. That leaves four remaining accusers, and at his first trial next February, Henein will confront three of them for the first time. What are your reflections from these experiences? Jan. 13, 2023. In this final instalment of our interview, editor-at-large Sean Speer speaks with Henein about being disinvited from high schools and university campuses and the chronic lack of leadership stifling our society. You can find part one, detailing her early career, here. First of all, it infantilizes everybody. Court documents raise new questions about Brison's involvement in case of Vice-Admiral Mark Norman View page. Sign up for our free weekly email digest. . After one woman testified shed been coerced into giving Frost a blow job, Henein inquired whether she had noticed any medical anomalies in those close quarters. Darren Calabrese/THE CANADIAN PRESS. I have never seen anybody with more naked confidence in a courtroom, says Martha McCarthy, the president of the Advocates Society, who recently called on Henein to assist with a complex case. A slash of scarlet lipstick hints at her sense of showmanship, and the brisk clip of her black patent stilettos leaves no doubt about her flinty reputation. Big., Some lawyers only take cases they know they can win, but Henein never turns down a client. On May 25, 2010, all charges against Bryant were withdrawn. Toronto criminal defence attorney Marie Henein has broken her silence about the highest profile case of her 25-year career the trial of former CBC broadcaster Jian Ghomeshi. Its a perception that Henein knows all too well. Frost didnt have high hopes when Edelson, his original lawyer, steered him to Henein, but a couple of months after their first meeting, he walked into her office to find his legal chronicle laid out across her conference room. Still, even some of her closest friends admit blanching at her penchant for serving up the unvarnished truth, whether about a flawed factum or an unfortunate haircut. named one of the Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada by the Womens Executive Network. That plot line emerged when complete strangers started calling Bryants friends and her office reporting similar encounters with a bike courier who seemed to be looking for a fight. If you cant look at the credibility of a person, or the reliability of a person or inconsistency or what their explanations are for saying certain things, then what we should probably do is just not have a system at all, and you can just say what you wish and well go straight to conviction. At a two-day hearing in October that was closed to the press, Henein was expected to argue one of the most contentious aspects of the Ghomeshi case: why the court should give her access to third-party records that may contain personal information about his accusers, including their medical and psychotherapy histories. I dont think any other woman could get away with it.. But when you are in Ottawa, which again, was like a foreign country to me, inside baseball is palpable. She was 15 when he took her to her first drag show. MARIE HENEIN: It says a lot about our post-secondary institutions that we think education means that you cannot have challenging thoughts, you cannot be presented with a view you disagree with, and you cannot be presented with information that is not the predominant view. [4], Henein has developed a reputation in Toronto as one of the most "respected and feared criminal lawyers in the country. Marie Henein, defence attorney for former CBC host Jian Ghomeshi after a court appearance to set another date. From the first, friends characterize their relationship as a father-daughter dynamiccompelling, complicated and volatile. Not the way you might be thinking, Henein replied. In one video, released for Christmas 2012, she stomped through the office on a mock rampage, knocking over eggnog and Christmas trees to Youre a Mean One, Mr. Grinch. When it went viral, she topped it the following year with a hilarious takeoff on the movie American Hustle, prancing in 70s bell-bottoms and a blonde Farrah Fawcett wig as her associates shouted raunchy taunts. Its something so fundamental to my core. By Sarah Boesveld The woman known for her strategic savvy had no office, no clients and no savings; when she did find loft space on King Street West, she had to borrow the first and last months rent from her parents. In a profession where an ad in the Yellow Pages was once considered showy, that website shot has provoked heated debate. It was leadership. Male lawyers, she protests, never get queried about their clothes. Part of Heneins self-assurance comes from 14 years teaching basic and advanced evidence as an adjunct professor at Osgoode, where former students recall her prowling the classroom, rhyming off case law without consulting a note. Armed with two prestigious degrees, Henein found herself unemployed. But to disinvite someone because you feel that a high school or university student cant bear a discussion about the justice system, and what a defence lawyers role is, is something out of Brave New World. Ever since Ghomeshi pleaded not guilty to seven counts of sexual assault and one of choking, Henein has put a gag on his dulcet public tones. Content published are under creative common license. To an onlooker, that declaration from a lawyer whose cross-examinations have been compared to a machete has the distinct ring of a threat. Youre not safe in your own home and so weve got to put everybody in jail. This is the response. Toronto criminal defence attorney Marie Henein has broken her silence about the highest profile case of her 25-year career the trial of former CBC broadcaster Jian Ghomeshi. What did it feel like personally? Today's Dialogue is part two of The Hub's conversation with Marie Henein, a prominent criminal defence lawyer and author of a new memoir, Nothing but the Truth. I would have quit this trial a long time ago if I was listening and waiting for peoples approval, she responded. Moving to her personal life, Marie Henein is a married woman whose husband name is Glen Jennings. Thats not a tiny mole. A post shared by Leanne Elizabeth (@leanne.elizabeth) on Apr 1, 2016 at 11:17pm PDT. Jian Ghomeshi makes his way through a mob of media with his lawyer Marie Henein at a Toronto court on November 26, 2014. She can think five, six, 10 moves down the chess game.. He never once told me to tone it down, she says. She doesnt try to gloss it up. Winkler still chuckles over one appeal where Henein was so determined to convince a fellow justice of her legal reasoning that she stood behind the lectern wagging her finger at him like an impatient schoolmarm. Im going to focus a moment on criminal justice. Her father, Joseph Henein, worked at a pharmacy. Im not a warm and fuzzy person, she acknowledges, but I have more than one gear.. She is associated with a law firm named Henein Hutchison LLP. The counsel for the co-accused in the Yellow Pages was once considered showy that. Win, but Henein never turns down a client | Photography by Markian Lozowchuk | October 20, 2015 Canada. 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