This week a client told us that we restored his faith in humanity and lawyers. He was emotional when we phoned him to tell him that his 90-day IRP was revoked after we conducted the hearing. It’s a significant event and so we understand that it can be very emotional, particularly getting such good news during these dark days of winter. We don’t generally expect to have such an impact with our work. We simply try to be lawyers who do a good job. If we can restore someone’s faith in humanity and lawyers, all the better.
This was one of three somewhat strange and interesting IRP wins for Kyla so far this week. Some of the irreconcilable problems with IRPs that we identified years ago are starting to unwind on the ground. In law there are occasions when two propositions, wholly repugnant, cannot stand together. For example, you can’t rely on a lie simply because you can’t establish the truth.
A turning point, we think
In many respects we feel that we’re at a turning point for the IRP scheme. We have a lot of work to do, and as we’ve explained we have significant projects underway to forward our tactical plans. Still, from our perspective the most important thing at this point is to ensure that as many people as possible dispute their IRPs.
The numbers of people disputing IRPs is not what it should be. When we look at the odds of success, we can say confidently that each month hundreds of people are missing the opportunity to succeed by challenging their IRP. The more people who succeed in challenging their IRP, the better the defences that arise and the greater the opportunity to highlight the irreconcilable legal propositions that form the foundation of the IRP law.
And just in case you’re wondering, there are other law firms that defend IRPs. We’ve been really proactive in our challenges to IRPs and the Immediate Roadside Prohibition scheme in general and we have the most wins under our belt. It doesn’t mean that we’re the only game in town.
Our point is that everyone who opposes the scheme needs to encourage others to act. It’s important to ensure that right away people investigate their IRP and determine whether they should dispute it. If they conclude with their lawyer that they have a decent substantive argument, they should challenge their IRP and consider an appeal to BC Supreme Court if necessary.
Kyla’s emotional client had a difficult decision when determining whether to appeal his IRP. As lawyers we sometimes need to be counselors, psychologists and salespersons to try to advance the best interests of our clients. In this case Kyla knew it was in his interest to dispute his IRP because we had a very good shot at success. Our advocacy skills had to be used to bring our client along, as well as when making the arguments to the RoadSafetyBC tribunal.
It’s not always an easy decision
Just because we say that we’re lawyers who want to do a good job, we know that not everyone will accept that. In defence of lawyers we can tell you that pretty much all of the lawyers that we know (and we know a lot of lawyers) are out there trying to do a good job for their clients, the justice system and the community. There are exceptions as you would expect. Mostly, however, lawyers believe in the cases they argue and hope that their work is for the betterment of our society.
Still, lawyers are easy targets. We accept that as our fate. If someone wins, then someone loses. We know that a number of police officers take it personally when we succeed. Thankfully, most police officers are supportive of our work, taking the view that we fulfill an essential service by fighting to keep the system fair.
Feedback
We really appreciate the feedback that we get from police officers about things we write on our blog. Many officers have bookmarked our blog, read it regularly and encourage others to read it as well. Thanks for that.
Speaking of feedback, we received an email this week from an IRP client, who, like the fellow mentioned above, was really unsure about whether he should dispute his IRP. We were confident that we would succeed at the IRP review hearing, but it wasn’t a sure thing by any means. Having conducted hundreds of IRP hearings, we get a feel of things and in this case we thought that we could turn it around. And so we did.
After getting the successful decision cancelling the IRP, the client wrote a nice email testimonial about her work. What struck us is that apparently the client, in making the decision to hire us to defend the IRP, reviewed the testimonials on our website and wondered it they were legitimate.
Of course they’re legitimate! We’re lawyers who do a good job. We wouldn’t publish them on our website if they were false or misleading.
Here’s what our client wrote to her:
Just thought I would write a quick email to thank you for the great work you did with my 90 day suspension. After I received my 90 day suspension I was very depressed and felt humiliated. I found you by perhaps by luck. Searching the Internet was very confusing regarding the circumstance that I was basically charged with. Even after meeting with you I had doubts about the testimonials I have seen on the Acumen site. I had even started surfing the web about whether it was worth going for a review. I know now that the testimonials I have seen on your site are not fabricate.
I thank you from the bottom of my heart. One lesson I have learned from this is that I’ll never be around my vehicle with my keys. The police can make false accusations that you can prove are wrong.
L.M.
Paul and Kyla each have a stack of lovely client testimonials, many of which we don’t get around to publishing on our website.
Since the second version of the IRP scheme was introduced, every month we’ve succeeded in more IRP reviews than any other law office so there are many happy clients out there. And most people know that we’re in this for the long haul because we have these significant projects we’re working on.
Making tough choices
Our clients in these cases had a difficult decision when determining whether to appeal their IRP. One thing we can tell you is that we’re in this fight because we want to do a good job for our clients, the justice system and the community. We believe in the cases that we argue and we hope that our work is for the betterment of our society.
We always try to be lawyers who do a good job. We’re human. We’re compassionate. We want to get the best result we can for our clients.
If you know someone who received an IRP, please do them a favour and tell them to call us. The readers of our blog already have sophisticated knowledge of the IRP scheme and where we fit in with this law.
For us now the key is to ensure that as many people as possible challenge their IRP because we think ultimately good legal arguments made as often as possible will be the Achilles’ heel that can bring down the IRP law.