Bruce Engel, LL.B.

Education
Call to Bar, 1991



Memberships
Vice President of the Defence Counsel Association of Ottawa



Biography

When Bruce Engel spent a year working for a lamp manufacturer, he realized he wanted to do something more important with his life than delivering the right colour of lamp to the right customer.

At law school, he discovered the sense of significance that he was searching for. A criminal defence lawyer knows that his clients' liberty and years of their lives are on the line, he explains. "You are doing what is very important to people."

After law school, he hung out a shingle and poured his energy into each case that came along. One of his greatest wins during those first years came when he represented an American citizen in custody on extortion charges. The client's first lawyer a senior, experienced lawyer said he didn't have a chance and told him to plead guilty.

"He came to me because he had heard about me as a young up-and-comer who was eager and worked hard," Engel recalls. "We went to trial. It was a two-day trial, and I got him acquitted of everything."

Engel now has many big wins under his belt, but he's still driven by the need to help people and to maintain the reputation that he worked hard to achieve during his 15 years in practice.

"I still want to do the best I can for the client," he explains. "I take pride in what I do, and I want to do it well. I don't want to do a half-assed job."


The following lawyers practise at this law firm: