Kim R.
2/5
I retained Brennan Smart after a referral from a friend. I had heard from several colleagues that he was the person to go to for the charges I had received. He was unable to make it to my bail hearing, which is understandable when dealing with court proceedings that are unscheduled. I then retained him for further representation. His paralegals were the best part of this experience, they were responsive, and very helpful. I had a great feeling that I wouldnât undergo too much pressure from the crown atorney as I look very well maintained on paper, and the way that the situation had happened. I was seeking to end this with a peace bond of some sort, as I am an avid traveller, and was technically innocent of the filed charges. I was told to be proactive and partake in an anger management program, which I did fully participate in and complete. After speaking with Brennan I was told that there was no more meetings with the crown and their position was joint on me taking an assault charge and a year probation. I did not agree with this but was told the only way to proceed further, was to take it to trial, which would in turn force me to pay out thousands of more dollars. Unfortunately I am not low income and cannot afford to be innocent in this case. When our first resolution court date arrived, Brennan did not show up until later in the afternoon, and said he had been at a âdentist appointmentâ â I thought this was slightly unprofessional as one usually knows beforehand that have a dentist appointment. We rescheduled. When it came time to come before the judge, the judge seemed very confused as to why they had agreed upon giving me a record for what had happened. My previous record had been over 10 years old, and mostly youth, and I had grown significantly since then. The judge had offered him to re-meet with the crown, which is what I was told was no longer an option. He turned the judge down and said we were good with the joint submission. As a paying customer I should of spoke up in the moment and requested him to take the meeting with the crown. He then proceeded to use the victims name in place of my name while actively speaking to the judge, which was another seriously unprofessional mistake. After that he proceeded to answer what seemed to be âtexts of leisureâ on his cellphone while the judge was speaking, and then left for his paralegal to continue with my case and the paperwork.
All in all, I ended up taking an assault charge for charges I clearly didnât do, I cannot travel to USA and am no longer bondable while applying for new careers or schooling, and it cost me 5k in cash. I feel like he could have easily pushed for a peace bond and been successful, but didnât seem bothered to do so.
