Rusonik, O'Connor, Ross, Hershberg, Ghebrai & MacDonald LLP

About Rusonik, O'Connor, Ross, Hershberg, Ghebrai & MacDonald LLP

Rusonik, O'Connor, Ross, Hershberg, Ghebrai and MacDonald LLP is a Toronto firm with more than twenty lawyers, all of whom practise criminal defence exclusively. None of the partners take on Crown prosecution work or any other area of law. The firm traces its roots to Pinkofskys Criminal Trial and Appeal Lawyers, which its own site calls one of the most influential criminal defence firms in Canadian legal history. Pinkofskys' founder, Jack Pinkofsky, was awarded the G. Arthur Martin Criminal Justice Medal, an honour the firm describes as symbolizing a career spent championing justice, fairness, and the rights of the accused.

Managing partner Reid Rusonik articled at Pinkofskys, was called to the bar in Ontario in 1989, became a partner there in 1992, and later served as the firm's managing partner for more than fifteen years before it merged into the practice operating today. Named partner Jeff Hershberg argued R. v. Smickle, in which the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled in 2013 that the mandatory minimum sentence for a first time firearm possession offence was unconstitutional. The firm's lawyers appear at every level of court in Ontario, from the Ontario Court of Justice up through the Court of Appeal, and it sums up its approach with a motto, virtus et honos: strength paired with honour.