Dirk Derstine

Dirk Derstine was called to the bar in 1993 and has dedicated his career to providing a strong defence to those charged with very serious crimes. He has been counsel in over 160 jury trials.

He has been counsel in over one hundred murder trials. He has been counsel in a number of extremely high profile and complex homicides.  He also frequently appears on indictable appeals, both in the Ontario Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada.

Mr. Derstine was counsel in the Ontario Court of Appeal and twice at the Supreme Court of Canada on the constitutionality of the three year mandatory minimum sentence for possession of firearms. He then represented the Criminal Lawyers Association as an intervenor on a different mandatory minimum sentence appeal at the Supreme Court of Canada.

Recently he has been before the Supreme Court both on the constitutionality of the peremptory challenge procedure and on the appropriate test for youth sentencing as adults. 

Mr. Derstine believes strongly that every accused person has the right to a fearless defence. He currently specializes in the defence and appeals of very serious indictable matters.

Mr. Derstine has been a regular instructor in trial advocacy seminars.  He is the past President of the Toronto Lawyers Association, past Editor in Chief of the Toronto Law Journal, past Chair of  LibraryCo, and is certified by the Law Society of Ontario as a Certified Specialist in criminal trials.

Derstine est parfaitment bilingue et peut vous defendre en francais.