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Retired cop James Lowry now articling as defence lawyer
BY DEAN PRITCHARD, WINNIPEG SUNFIRST POSTED: SUNDAY, AUGUST 24, 2014 04:44 PM CDT | UPDATED: SUNDAY, AUGUST 24, 2014 05:04 PM CDT
James Lowry, a retired police officer turned defence lawyer, is pictured in his office in downtown Winnipeg, Man., on Fri., Aug. 22, 2014.
(Kevin King/Winnipeg Sun/QMI Agency)
James Lowry, a retired police officer turned defence lawyer, is pictured in his office in downtown Winnipeg, Man., on Fri., Aug. 22, 2014.
Still in his first year of articling, James Lowry already has a leg up on a lot of young lawyers: He knows how cops think.
"I've already sat down with files and gone through them and thought, no, didn't happen that way, that's not accurate, or that looks scripted," said Lowry, an articling student with Winnipeg law firm Bueti Wasyliw Wiebe. "I'm able to put the pieces together very, very quickly."
And so he should. The 58-year-old Ontario native spent 33 years with the Toronto Police Service, rising to the rank of sergeant and investigating everything from murders to high-stake frauds to the misdeeds of other police officers.
In 2007, Lowry was knee-deep in the biggest case of his career -- a wide-ranging investigation that exposed years of thievery and corruption within the city's police force -- when he was summoned to a meeting by two Crown prosecutors.
It was a meeting that would set Lowry on a course for a new career at a time when other people in his position were looking ahead to retirement.
"They said 'We've made up our minds -- you are not going to retire, you are going to go to law school,'" Lowry said. "I said 'The two of you are mentally ill. The last thing I want to be is a lawyer.' A half-hour later, they convinced me.
"They said 'You've got a knack for this, you're probably one of the better coppers we've worked with, you know exactly where defence counsel is coming in, you know their strategy before we do,'" Lowry said. "I was their project."
Already the holder of an undergraduate degree in history and criminology, Lowry retired from policing in 2009 and promptly enrolled in law school in Toronto and later in Ottawa.
Lowry said his young classmates didn't quite know what to make of him at first.
"They were a little leery of me until they realized I would be a damn good tutor in criminal law," he said. "Before you know it, it was 'Jim, can I have your notes? Jim, can you sit down and talk to me about this?' We'd be talking about something like search and seizures and about how it effects the Charter and I would say 'OK, everybody over to my place, somebody bring the beer,' and I'd stand up at the chalkboard and give a lecture for 40 minutes."
One might assume a police officer-turned lawyer would naturally gravitate to the Crown's office, but Lowry said he expects to remain a defence lawyer when he is called to the bar. Lowry said after six years in internal affairs investigating other officers, he realized criminal cases aren't always what they seem.
"When I went into internal affairs and saw what was going on, I had no idea," he said. "I was working 28 years with blinders on ... I thought, you know what, maybe I should start seeing the other side ... Maybe these people deserve a little bit more in terms of representation and having someone look at their cases with a fresh set of eyes that knows."
Lowry said he has no desire to retire and will keep working as long as his health allows.
"I hope to get a decade run to make it fun," he said. "What am I going to do? Sit at home and watch TV? Get old?"
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BY DEAN PRITCHARD, WINNIPEG SUNFIRST POSTED: SUNDAY, AUGUST 24, 2014 04:44 PM CDT | UPDATED: SUNDAY, AUGUST 24, 2014 05:04 PM CDT
James Lowry, a retired police officer turned defence lawyer, is pictured in his office in downtown Winnipeg, Man., on Fri., Aug. 22, 2014.
(Kevin King/Winnipeg Sun/QMI Agency)
James Lowry, a retired police officer turned defence lawyer, is pictured in his office in downtown Winnipeg, Man., on Fri., Aug. 22, 2014.
Still in his first year of articling, James Lowry already has a leg up on a lot of young lawyers: He knows how cops think.
"I've already sat down with files and gone through them and thought, no, didn't happen that way, that's not accurate, or that looks scripted," said Lowry, an articling student with Winnipeg law firm Bueti Wasyliw Wiebe. "I'm able to put the pieces together very, very quickly."
And so he should. The 58-year-old Ontario native spent 33 years with the Toronto Police Service, rising to the rank of sergeant and investigating everything from murders to high-stake frauds to the misdeeds of other police officers.
In 2007, Lowry was knee-deep in the biggest case of his career -- a wide-ranging investigation that exposed years of thievery and corruption within the city's police force -- when he was summoned to a meeting by two Crown prosecutors.
It was a meeting that would set Lowry on a course for a new career at a time when other people in his position were looking ahead to retirement.
"They said 'We've made up our minds -- you are not going to retire, you are going to go to law school,'" Lowry said. "I said 'The two of you are mentally ill. The last thing I want to be is a lawyer.' A half-hour later, they convinced me.
"They said 'You've got a knack for this, you're probably one of the better coppers we've worked with, you know exactly where defence counsel is coming in, you know their strategy before we do,'" Lowry said. "I was their project."
Already the holder of an undergraduate degree in history and criminology, Lowry retired from policing in 2009 and promptly enrolled in law school in Toronto and later in Ottawa.
Lowry said his young classmates didn't quite know what to make of him at first.
"They were a little leery of me until they realized I would be a damn good tutor in criminal law," he said. "Before you know it, it was 'Jim, can I have your notes? Jim, can you sit down and talk to me about this?' We'd be talking about something like search and seizures and about how it effects the Charter and I would say 'OK, everybody over to my place, somebody bring the beer,' and I'd stand up at the chalkboard and give a lecture for 40 minutes."
One might assume a police officer-turned lawyer would naturally gravitate to the Crown's office, but Lowry said he expects to remain a defence lawyer when he is called to the bar. Lowry said after six years in internal affairs investigating other officers, he realized criminal cases aren't always what they seem.
"When I went into internal affairs and saw what was going on, I had no idea," he said. "I was working 28 years with blinders on ... I thought, you know what, maybe I should start seeing the other side ... Maybe these people deserve a little bit more in terms of representation and having someone look at their cases with a fresh set of eyes that knows."
Lowry said he has no desire to retire and will keep working as long as his health allows.
"I hope to get a decade run to make it fun," he said. "What am I going to do? Sit at home and watch TV? Get old?"
[email protected]
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"When I went into internal affairs and saw what was going on, I had no idea," he said. "I was working 28 years with blinders on ... I thought, you know what, maybe I should start seeing the other side ... Maybe these people deserve a little bit more in terms of representation and having someone look at their cases with a fresh set of eyes that knows." ~ James Edward Lowry
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