When it comes to arguing a case in court, there are certain restrictions and rules surrounding who is actually allowed to represent you.
There was a recent court case in the Supreme Court of BC that seems to answer this question and shed some light on who is allowed to represent you.
The Case
The case in question was Regina v. Vinh Hau-Quoc Tran, on appeal from the Provincial Court of British Columbia from June 2021. Both the Crown Counsel and Mr. Tran’s agent, Mr. Goldberg, were requesting for the hearing to be adjourned, each for a different reason.
The Crown wanted the case adjourned on the basis that Mr. Goldberg should not be allowed to represent Mr. Tran in court. The Judge ultimately agreed with the Crown, the reasoning being that while Mr. Goldberg was at one point a member of the Law Society, at the time of this case he had resigned his membership and was no longer allowed to represent someone in a court.
It also did not help that Mr. Goldberg was in fact the driver of the car at the time of Mr. Tran’s ticket, and so that added in a conflict of interest as well.
Mr. Tran will be allowed to appeal his case at a later date, but Mr. Goldberg can no longer represent him.
Who can represent me?
If you are going to court, it is important to understand that there are rules around who can represent you in your case. A person is allowed to represent themselves, or they are allowed to have someone who is able to argue for them based on the Legal Profession Act.
Basically, if you don’t want to represent yourself, you can have a lawyer, an articled student, or someone who is employed by and supervised by a practising lawyer represent you. A member of the public, such as a friend or family member cannot represent you.
In the case of Mr. Tran, his friend Mr. Goldberg was representing him. Because Mr. Goldberg was not qualified to practice law under the Legal Profession Act, the Court could not allow this to continue.
Even if Mr. Goldberg were qualified to practice law, he may not have been allowed to represent Mr. Tran, given that he was driving his car at the time of the alleged offence.
Conflict of Interest
Mr. Tran’s case also brings up the issue related to having your “agent” also be a witness. Since Mr. Goldberg was the person driving Mr. Tran’s car at the time of the offence, if he were to be the one representing Mr. Tran in traffic court, it would bring about a conflict of interest.
When an offence is committed, whoever was driving the car at the time of the committed offence, their interest and the owner of the vehicle’s interests may not be the same.
In this case, considering Mr. Goldberg got Mr. Tran into trouble in the first place, it would not be right for him to represent him. Even if Mr. Goldberg was still a lawyer, him taking on Mr. Tran’s case would be an ethical problem for him, and would also put the Court in a difficult position.
It would be hard for the Court to make a ruling on Mr. Tran’s case, given that the person who is responsible for him being in this position in the first place is the one representing him in court.
Choosing the right lawyer
This case demonstrates the importance of taking your time and doing your research when it comes to choosing someone to represent you in court. Choosing someone who has your best interest in mind and will help try to get the best result for you is an important thing to consider.
Traffic tickets and finding ways to defend them can be difficult, finding good legal representation and someone you can trust makes a huge difference.
