O'Brien, Balka, Khehra & Guile

About O'Brien, Balka, Khehra & Guile

O'Brien, Balka, Khehra & Guile is a criminal defence and civil litigation firm in Oshawa, Ontario, working from an office at 219 King Street East. The name reflects three of its founding partners, Bernard F. O'Brien, Thomas F. Balka and Sandip S. Khehra, joined later by partner Justin A. Guile. The firm has practiced in Oshawa for decades, handling criminal cases that range from impaired driving to murder charges alongside civil litigation and personal injury claims arising from motor vehicle, workplace and other accidents.

Founding partner O'Brien earned an LL.B. from the University of Windsor and an LL.M. from Harvard Law School, and has served as appointed counsel on public commissions of inquiry, including the Kaufman, O'Connor and Iacobucci commissions. Balka, a Queen's University law graduate, has been a member of the Criminal Lawyers' Association since 1989 and has argued cases as far as the Nunavut Court of Justice in Iqaluit. Khehra was called to the Ontario bar in 2005 after ten years as an assistant Crown attorney and practices in English, French and Punjabi. Two more lawyers at the firm, Cameron Spear-Balka and Nate Spear-Balka, also practice at the firm: Cameron Spear-Balka returned to Oshawa to practice criminal defence, and Nate Spear-Balka practices as both criminal and civil trial counsel.