The Best Lawyer In Winnipeg?

From top shelf trial lawyers, to experienced criminal defence attorneys, many legends of the profession have called Winnipeg home. Lawyers are a competitive bunch, and while there’s no official competition or trophy for being the best, here are a few names that would be in the running.

Greg Brodsky

Experience alone does not make a great lawyer, but it sure as hell helps. When you have experience plus a dogged drive to push the legal system forward, you have the recipe for truly special counsel. That was certainly the case with Greg Brodsky. 

If you picked up a newspaper in Winnipeg in the 80’s or 90’s, you’ll likely be well familiar with the name Brodsky. Estimates have put him as counsel in over 1000 homicides - an unofficial record in the English speaking world - which is a staggering number when you consider that many lawyers would be at capacity dealing with a handful per year. To have done it year after year, all while developing the law on “battered wife syndrome”, “not criminally responsible”, and numerous high profile wrongful convictions, is a testament to his work ethic and love of the law.

Brodsky was interviewed by the CBC in 2015 and was asked about his achievement. His dry response gives some insight into why he was so well liked around the courthouse, by juries and lawyers alike:

"What can I say? It's an attendance record," Brodsky told CBC News. "It doesn't mean I'm any good."

Mr. Brodsky passed away February 9, 2022, at the age of 81.

Hersh Wolch

Blackstone’s ratio states:

“It is better that ten guilty persons escape than one innocent be convicted”

Our Criminal Justice system is focused on avoiding punishing the innocent but, like all human systems, mistakes will happen.

Hersh Wolch spent much of his storied career defending the wrongfully convicted. Names like David Milgaard, Steven Truscott, and Kyle Unger, are central to Canada’s legal history and reminders of how fragile justice can be.

Wolch also had the rare honour of conducting one of very few cross examinations that has occurred at our highest court – the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC). Typically the SCC reviews the decisions of lower Courts, and considers only the evidence that was before those Courts. In exceptionally rare cases evidence may be called, which is what occurred when Wolch challenged David Milgaard’s wrongful conviction. Even more incredible, Wolch’s questions are reported to have contributed to the subsequent investigation and conviction of Larry Fisher as the actual killer of Saskatoon nurse Gail Miller.

Mr. Wolch practiced law for over five decades, eventually moving his practice from Winnipeg to Calgary. He passed away there in 2017 at the age of 77, but his legacy lives on - in 2019, Kyle Unger, a client of Wolch’s up until his death, reached a settlement with the Manitoba government. He had sued for $14.5 million for wrongfully spending 14 years behind bars. Though the details of the settlement were kept confidential, the Globe & Mail reported that the amount was in the “multi-millions”.

Harry Walsh

Greg Brodsky and Hersh Wolch have more in common than just their excellence in the courtroom. Both were mentored by the same legal giant - Harry Walsh.

Walsh proudly called himself the “oldest working lawyer in Canada”, and earned that title over a stunning 71 year career. This included a key role in the abolishment of the death penalty in Canada - for nearly all offences - in 1976, and being called to the Order of Canada in 2010.

You do not need to go far down the list of lawyers in Winnipeg to hear the name Walsh Micay and Company. The firm produced many of Winnipeg’s finest judges and senior lawyers, including Brodsky and Wolch, with Walsh at the helm as one of the named partners.

As the story goes, both gentlemen were hired at the firm at the same time, but Walsh needed one criminal lawyer and one civil lawyer. The matter was left to a coin toss to decide, with Brodsky winning the coin toss and starting as Walsh’s Criminal Law protégé, and poor Wolch being left to a life of Civil paperwork and filing deadlines. Wolch eventually found his way out of the Civil maze and back into Criminal Law, understandably not content to leave his career to a coin.

Shortly before his death, Walsh told the Winnipeg Free Press,

"I shall never retire. I shall go out with my boots on."

He was a gentleman of his word and passed away at 97 years of age, after over 7 decades in practice.

The Final Verdict - Who is the best lawyer in Winnipeg?

Manitoba has been home to many excellent lawyers, but the truth is that no one can claim to be the best lawyer in Winnipeg. Law Societies across the Country have very specific rules about individuals marketing themselves as superior to other lawyers,  or as specialists and experts in a specific area of law.

Unfortunately, there are a number of online companies that skirt these rules, by allowing lawyers, including colleagues in their own office, to “nominate” them as being the “Best Lawyers 2022” or “Legal Experts”.

It pays to be skeptical. Doing your due diligence can go a long way, and there are a number of tips that can help you find the right lawyer.

If you have a legal question, or would like to discuss your case, please Contact me for a free consultation.

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