Jian Ghomeshi makes his way through a mob of media with his lawyer Marie Henein at a Toronto court Wednesday, November 26, 2014. The former CBC radio host was granted bail just hours after being charged with multiple counts of sexual assault.Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press
From Michael Bryant to the alleged Rob Ford drink-tosser, Marie Henein has become synonymous with some of the country's highest-profile criminal cases.
Her performance on Wednesday demonstrated part of the reason. Amid a media horde eager for its first utterance from Jian Ghomeshi since allegations of sexual assault surfaced, Ms. Henein was tight-lipped and steel nerved, stopping only to say that she will not say anything until the case concludes.
"She does not try her cases in the media," said defence lawyer Jonathan Rosenthal, who has worked with Ms. Henein on the board of the Criminal Lawyers' Association. "I would be surprised if she gave any comment until this whole thing wraps up."
While her public reputation has only recently begun to reach the level of her former boss and mentor, Eddie Greenspan, her prodigious legal talents have been long known within the legal community.
When Osgoode Hall law professor Alan Young needed someone to help with the biggest appeal of his career, he hired Ms. Henein shortly after she graduated in 1989.
That same year, she articled at Mr. Greenspan's firm, leaving to continue her studies at Columbia University in New York. She eventually returned to work with Mr. Greenspan, making partner in 1998.
That reunion launched her work on cases with national fascination.
She was a key part of the defence for former Nova Scotia premier Gerald Regan, who was acquitted of sexual assault charges.
Her defence of Dan Weiz, cleared in the 1999 beating death of Toronto teen Dmitri Baranovski, was seen as a "break-out case for her," said Michael Lacy, a partner at Mr. Greenspan's firm.
She launched her own practice in 2002. Over the next seven years, she added rapper Ja Rule and David Frost, the former hockey coach and agent acquitted of sexual exploitation, to her client list.
But it was in 2009 that she entered a new stratosphere of legal fame, taking on the case of former Ontario attorney-general Michael Bryant, who was accused of criminal negligence causing death after an altercation with bike courier Darcy Allan Sheppard. The charges were eventually withdrawn.
"She stickhandled that case in incredible fashion, making sure it was resolved before it ever really got to a courtroom," Mr. Rosenthal said.
Last year, she achieved a similar result for Shannon Everett, the woman accused of throwing a drink at Mayor Rob Ford, when an assault charge against the 27-year-old was dropped.
"She leaves no stone unturned," Mr. Rosenthal said. "Mr. Ghomeshi will be very, very well represented."
Patrick White