Areas of Law

Andrew Stewart deals with a wide range of criminal matters from the initial in-custody phone call all the way through to trials and appeals.

Criminal Defence Law is comprised of many offences, but the majority of my practice is focused on the following criminal offences:

DUI/Impaired Driving Offences

  • These offences consist of someone operating their vehicle (or being in care and control of their vehicle) while being impaired. It is a confusing, counterintuitive area of the law where every second counts both in the investigation and after being charged.

Violent offences: Assault, Domestic Assault, Assault with a weapon, Aggravated Assault

  • These offences consist of a person, without the consent of another person, applies force intentionally to that person, either directly or indirectly. The severity of the resulting charge is determined by the injuries that the victim received.

Property Related Offences: Theft, Robbery, Possession of Stolen Property

  • These offences consist of the taking of another person’s property. If force or the threat of force is used to convince the victim to give up their property, it becomes a robbery.

Sexual Offences: Sexual Assault, Sexual Interference

  • These offences consist of the unwanted use of force in sexual nature.

Drug Offences: Possession, Trafficking, Possession for the Purpose of Trafficking

  • These offences consist of the possession or sale of drugs which are illegal under the Criminal Code of Canada. Similar to Impaired Driving Offences, there are a number of confusing, counterintuitive rules which make it paramount that you discuss your case with a lawyer to see if there are any defences available to you.

Young Offenders

  • Young people (people under the age of 18), can also be charged with criminal offences. As a criminal record can be a very large hurdle in employability, it is very important that you obtain a lawyer to assist you in your case. It’s so important, in fact, that every youth accused person is guaranteed a lawyer under the Youth Criminal Justice Act!

Bail Hearings

  • This is often one of the first steps in an accused’s person criminal case. It’s very important that the Bail Hearing be taken seriously, as a person’s liberty is very important when faced with the potential of waiting months before trial.