Well, you will always have, in every organization or every profession, some people who are unscrupulous. You're going to have your fair share of bad apples in the defence bar, and sometimes for the prosecutors, where they just don't comply. When that happens, it frustrates the whole system.
The obligation of a prosecutor is not to get a conviction. The obligation of a prosecutor is to disclose the truth that comes before the court. If the disclosure of the truth is the processes in full disclosure of all the evidence, that's the obligation. That has to be remembered at all times. Some prosecutors are saying, “I'm out for a conviction here.” You see this on American television all the time. The Canadian system is different. We are here to paint a picture, bring forth the truth, and let the judge decide.
So good organizations like the defence bar, when it's well organized and you have good leadership, will remind some of the younger ones who sometimes fall into the trap of trying to make a name for themselves and to be obstructionist in some way and to fight for their clients no matter what. Well, you have an obligation to your client, but you have a higher duty--a duty to the court, a duty to the judicial system itself. These lawyers have to be reminded of that. Sometimes they just get carried away, and there's not much you can do with the odd few except through the law society, if it's worthy of reprimand, and also judges. We've told our judges at times, when we see this kind of conduct continuing, to come down hard on the lawyer. In more complicated cases we also have case management of those cases to try to eliminate that.