A Guide to Mental Disorder Law in Canadian Criminal Justice

Michael Davies practises law with Davies Barristers in Ottawa. Prior to entering law school, he earned a PhD in neurophysiology from the University of Wales. He is a graduate of Western Law (1993). In 2000 he completed an LLM under the supervision of Professor Don Stuart at Queen’s University. Since his call to the bar in 1995, he has been practising criminal law, at both trial and appellate levels. Michael’s practice has always included a special focus on representing individuals with serious mental health issues.

In the Supreme Court of Canada, Michael participated in many of the leading cases in this area of law including Tulikorpi, Pinet, Mazzei and Conway. On Conway he was amicus curiae at the Court of Appeal, the case that ultimately led to Charter jurisdiction for Review Boards in Canada. Michael has frequently been appointed as amicus curiae by the Court of Appeal for Ontario, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice and the Ontario Court of Justice in cases involving individuals with mental disorders. He has served as counsel or amicus on many of the leading appeals from Review Board matters in the Ontario Court of Appeal, including: LePage, Taylor and Chaudry. Michael has been counsel on several dangerous offender matters involving extensive psychiatric evidence. He has also participated in long and complex Coroner's Inquests in relation to NCR accused and other individuals with mental health issues.

Michael is a sought-after speaker who is routinely involved in the education of all justice system participants. He has been part of the National Criminal Law Program Faculty since 2013. He also teaches Advanced Criminal Procedure and Appellate Advocacy at the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law. Mostly, he likes spending time with his border collie.

Anita Szigeti practises law as the senior lawyer in her firm, Anita Szigeti Advocates. She graduated from the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Law (1990), and was admitted to the Ontario Bar (1992) and to the Nunavut Bar (2014). Ms. Szigeti is President of the Law and Mental Disorder Association (LAMDA), a volunteer lawyer association, which provides continuing legal education and serves as an umbrella advocacy group to connect and support the civil and criminal mental health bars. She is the only Canadian Board member of the National Association of Rights Protection and Advocacy (NARPA), an American organization of legal and non-legal advocates, psychiatrists and other mental health service providers as well as individuals with lived experience of mental health issues who oppose coercion in relation to our clients. Ms. Szigeti is a Board member of Pilot Place Society, a high-support housing provider for clients with mental health issues in Toronto. She was the former Chair and remains an active member of the Criminal Lawyers’ Association’s (CLA’s) Mental Disorder Portfolio. She served as a Toronto Director of the CLA for six years from 2013-2019. For nearly 10 years (1997-2006), she was the Chair of the Mental Health Legal Committee (MHLC), an organization of lawyers who represent persons with mental health issues. She was the founding Chair and long-time member of the Mental Health Law and Policy Advisory Committee to Legal Aid Ontario.

Ms. Szigeti was Amicus Curiae in the Starson case in the Supreme Court of Canada. She has appeared as co-counsel to intervener groups in many of the leading cases in relation to Not Criminally Responsible accused. In the Supreme Court of Canada she was counsel on Review Board appeals in Tulikorpi / Pinet, Mazzei, and Conway, as well as on related appeals in Conception, Ewert and G v. A.G. (Ontario) most recently on the problematic inclusion of NCR accused on Sex Offender Registries. She was involved in founding the Amicus Curiae program for mentally disordered accused in the Court of Appeal for Ontario, where she appears frequently as counsel or Amicus Curiae to mentally disordered accused. She also teaches Trial Advocacy at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law and is a guest lecturer in their Mental Health course. Ms. Szigeti has practised mental health law exclusively since 1995 and in the process has represented thousands of individuals with serious mental health issues before the Consent and Capacity Board and the Ontario Review Board as well as on appeals from both tribunals. She has also been counsel on many high-profile Inquests, including those involving lethal interactions between police and persons in crisis. Ms. Szigeti is a frequent lecturer on issues of mental health and the law. She was involved in developing the certification standards for lawyers seeking to represent clients with mental health issues on a legal aid retainer in Ontario. She has provided substantial education and support to legal aid lawyers doing the same work in Nunavut, where she represents accused persons before the Nunavut Review Board. In addition to providing education to physicians and their counsel, she has for many years taught mental health law to families of persons with mental health issues, Crown attorneys and adjudicators, including Judges. As for her clients, she learns from them.

Meaghan McMahon was called to the Ontario Bar in 2015. She practises criminal and mental disorder law at Davies Barristers, in Ottawa. She represents individual clients in criminal trials and on appeals. Ms. McMahon has been counsel to intervener organizations at all levels of court, including the Supreme Court of Canada. She appears regularly in Ottawa’s Mental Health Court. She facilitates diversion of her clients out of criminal justice wherever possible. Ms. McMahon also represents clients before the Ontario Review Board and the Consent and Capacity Board, and on appeals of these matters. Ms. McMahon has acted as co-counsel for the appellant or an intervener on a number of cases dealing with important mental health issues, including Campbell (Re), 2018 ONCA 140, Attorney General of Ontario v. G (Ontario) (on reserve at the Supreme Court of Canada – case 38585), and Barker v. Patel, 2018 ONCA 926. She has also been involved in Coroner’s inquests examining lethal interactions between police and persons in crisis. Ms. McMahon has served on the executive of the Defence Counsel Association of Ottawa (DCAO) since 2018. She is the Recent Call Regional Director for the Criminal Lawyers’ Association (CLA), and is a member of the CLA’s Mental Health Committee. Ms. McMahon is also a member of the Law and Mental Disorder Association (LAMDA). She has co-chaired several conferences on Mental Disorder Law in Criminal Justice co-hosted by CLA and LAMDA. She has written and published academic articles on mental disorder law, and has presented on evolving jurisprudence in the area to educate defence counsel and others. She has co-taught and guest lectured at the University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law, since 2017.

Jill R. Presser was called to the Ontario Bar in 1997. She is the principal lawyer at the law firm of Presser Barristers. Ms. Presser’s practice is primarily devoted to trial and appellate criminal defence, mental health, digital privacy and surveillance, and artificial intelligence law. She regularly appears in courts at all levels. She has been co-counsel on a number of interventions in the Supreme Court of Canada in cases dealing with important mental health issues, including R v Conception, 2014 SCC 60; R v Ewert, 2018 SCC 60; and Attorney General of Ontario v G (under reserve at time of writing). Ms. Presser has argued many appeals from Review Board dispositions and from findings of Not Criminally Responsible in the Court of Appeal for Ontario. She was a member of the amicus curiae program to assist unrepresented mentally disordered appellants in the Court of Appeal for Ontario from 2009 until the program was disbanded in 2014. She continues to be appointed amicus curiae by the Court of Appeal for Ontario in appeals involving unrepresented mentally disordered appellants. Ms. Presser is Vice-Chair of the Pro Bono Inmate Appeal Duty Counsel Program in the Court of Appeal for Ontario, and assists that Court as pro bono duty counsel for unrepresented inmate and in-person appellants. She was a senior lawyer member of the Consent and Capacity Board of Ontario from 2006 – 2014, adjudicating civil mental health issues. Ms. Presser was an adjunct Professor at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law from 2011 to 2016. She is Vice-President of the Law and Mental Disorder Association (LAMDA). She is the founding co-chair of “Criminal Law and Technology Committee” of the Criminal Lawyers’ Association. She teaches, writes, and speaks on a variety of topics in relation to criminal law, mental health law, law and technology, artificial intelligence and the law, privacy and surveillance, and women in the legal profession.