I contacted Aitken Robertson Law Firm when I had the shock of my life. My 17 year old son got a tresspassing ticket under the Provincial Acts. He was also handcuffed and arrested.
The dread of every mother is to get a call from the police with the words "come pick up your son, he is under arrest". I contacted Aitken Law firm a few days later, having talked to a string of lawyers and paralegals and finally I talked to the amazing paralegal, Jami Sanftleben.
I have no words to describe the professionalism of Jami. He explained the case from the perspective of the police records, from the perspective of Criminal law, from the perspective of future employment for my son and from the perspective of scenarios if he is caught again under the same or a different act. My son is a black man and this is an absolutely terrifying experience for me as a mother. How would this affect my son if he is caught speeding and has another encounter with the police? Can they pull up this record and be biased against him for a simple speeding ticket? How would it affect him if he were to apply for a federal position? How would it affect him if he were to travel to the United States? Can the charges be fought in court and what are the possible outcomes? A whole string of questions were thrown at Jami for nearly 30 minutes. Because I had also read extensively about these charges, he was able to answer the questions from the perspective of all parties concerned: the police, federal and municipal authorities, travel and immigration, future convictions, records and databases. Before i talked to Jami, I had pretty much accepted the idea that my son would probably never overcome this. Black men have to be at the top of the game academically (which my son was) for them to just be the "average" Joe, a counsel I had given my son throughout his life. Now there was one more thing against him that he had worked so hard academically to overcome. It was simply a devastating event.
But the professionalism and thoroughness and gentleness of Jami went a long way to be able to see things as they are and less according to my fears and projections. Frankly, the more experienced Criminal lawyers I had talked to were not able to answer these questions as Jami had. There was just a complete thoroughness about Jami that is hard to explain, a clarity and complete composure mixed with a big dose of kindness.
Im very grateful to Jami. If you have a case that requires the hands of a paralegal, you will be in excellent hands with Jami. He has my deepest respect for his humanity and my highest admiration for his thoroughness and depth of knowledge. Thank you very much, Jami! read more
