Please reach us at info@adanalaw.ca if you cannot find an answer to your question.
Our area of expertise includes but is not limited to: Criminal Defence, Immigration, Refugee, Mental Health Law, and Notary Public services.
Yes, we are committed to giving back to our community, and we offer pro bono legal services on a specific case-by-case basis. This is limited to only those who cannot pay the legal fees themselves, have no access to family to assist in paying fees, do not qualify for Legal Aid, and Duty Counsel cannot assist them with their matter.
To qualify, they must be facing a serious risk of incarceration here in Canada or serious danger in their home country, and have no other option to secure their freedom. As you can imagine, we have many requests for pro bono assistance, and must keep our pro bono work dedicated to those who truly have no option.
We do offer free 15 minute consultations for Criminal Defence and Refugee clients as their matters are urgent and require us to determine how to retain Adana quickly. These consultations are more focused on gathering the scope of the challenges the client faces, and determining costs vs providing any legal advice.
For our Immigration clients, we do NOT offer a free consultation. Many clients just need some basic information to help guide their immigration application, or are exploring having Adana assist with their immigration journey. Immigration clients can select from a 30 minute or 60 minute consultation at $175 +HST or $350 +HST respectively.
The paid consultation fee allows Adana to provide legal advice during that consultation. The client can then take that provided legal advice and proceed on their own, or have Adana provide a retainer to facilitate the immigration process from start to finish. The fee that was paid to the consultation is applied to the total retain as a down payment, meaning no money is lost to the consultation.
You can schedule a consultation with one of our lawyers by calling our office or filling out the appointment booking form on our website. We will get back to you promptly to schedule an appointment, or we can send you a scheduling link so you can select a time that works for you!
When you receive a Trust Request, it's basically a statement of the total legal fee's you and Adana discussed for you matter. Think of it like buying a car with a bank loan. The loan will be for a certain amount of money, and you'll make payments until that balance is $0....same with a Trust Request.
As you make payments, we will send updated Trust Request statements informing you of the balance left to pay.
As Adana works on your file, she will be invoicing (or billing) your trust request. This is NOT re request for money from us. The Law Society of Ontario requires Adana to let clients know when she is drawing from the Trust account. You can disregard these notices, but they do serve to keep you aware of the work Adana has done on your matter.
Once Adana has been retained, we request disclosure from the crown. Once we have that disclosure in our possession, we will schedule a Disclosure Review meeting to discuss the case. In order to protect the client, Adana will NOT meet with a client before then. The reason is that if a client meets with Adana before she receives disclosure, and confesses to a crime that is NOT included in the charges and disclosure package, they could incriminate themselves. We will call our client as soon as disclosure comes in so that the wait is reduced to the smallest time possible.
The legal and immigration systems are designed to be deliberate and precise. There are a lot of people vetting all aspects of the evidence and details.
For Criminal Defence clients, waiting for disclosure can feel like an eternity. The police must put together the evidence gathered, and then the crown must assemble this evidence into a package that is verified and redacted if needed. This process takes both time and manpower to complete. The newer the matter, the longer the wait for disclosure can be.
Refugee claims can take 12-18 months to complete, with sometimes weeks (or months) between each stage.
Immigration timelines can be equally long, with weeks-long breaks between steps as the applications are processed.
Rest assured, while the wait can be frustrating, the results are worth it. For criminal defence clients, we WILL call you as soon as disclosure arrives and set up a disclosure review meeting (see above). For Immigration and Refugee clients, as each stage proceeds, we WILL keep you in the loop.
That said, we will not be calling to tell you nothing has happened, but you're welcome to reach out in the Client Portal to follow up. (more below)
As you can imagine, Adana is a very busy lawyer and is booked generally back to back attending to clients matters the full day (this is a good sign).
But more importantly, a scheduled appointment gives both you and her the time to truly focus on your matters status while giving her time to gather as many updates and next steps as possible to make the best use of both of your time.
If the need to reach Adana is truly urgent ie. new and important information to be provided, or an unexpected development on your matter, we can arrange a short call. But only if it's time sensitive and urgent.
In-Person appointments at the office are By Appointment only.
The Adana Law team travels throughout Windsor/Essex, Chatham-Kent, and Sarnia-Lambton daily and are not in the office through the day. We also do the vast majority of our work via email and over the phone, keeping it simple for you.
But if you truly must have an in-person meeting, call the office line and we will happily book an in-person meeting with you. Just know that this could take longer to arrange vs a phone call or Zoom meeting.
No, your payments are detailed in your Retainer Agreement as well in your Trust Request.
Most people just have a timeline to pay, but some are on payment schedules. It's advised that the client marks these payment dates in their calendars so they can stay on track.
We will reach out however if payments are not made in a timely manner.
The #1 most important thing to do is STAY IN CONTACT with Adana. We cannot stress that enough. We will work out something that will allow Adana to continue to work on your matter, while not causing you financial distress. That said, Adana cannot perform work for you if there are no funds in the trust account to draw from.
Clients who fail to reply or are unable to be contacted will receive a registered letter in the mail advising them they have 14 days to get in touch and catch up on payments. Failure to respond to that letter WILL result in Adana getting off record and stopping work on your case. This could result in serious consequences as the client will no longer have representation.
Duty counsel may be able to assist, but a skilled advocate is always your best option to protect your rights and freedom.
As mentioned, Adana is very busy, and the courts frown on her answering the phone, or making calls during trials. However, she CAN email or message clients in our Client Portal. New clients are set up with Clio for Clients that they can access from their phones, tablets, or computers. This will be a direct line to Adana to ask questions or submit documents. She will not likely be able to answer right away, but she will see it and reply when she's able.
This is the single-most BEST way to keep in touch with Adana regarding your matter!