Wpg Free Press: Brodsky, for the defence

The Winnipeg Free Press profiled Faculty of Law alumnus Greg Brodsky [LL.B./63]:

When someone in Manitoba is accused of murder, more times than not it is Greg Brodsky’s phone that rings. And it has been ringing constantly for more than five decades.

Brodsky, now in his 55th year as a lawyer, recently reached a milestone few, if any, others will; he has now represented 1,000 clients in murder and manslaughter cases.

Toronto lawyer Clayton Ruby, a legal titan himself, calls Brodsky “a hero to us all.”

“A completely tenacious advocate, who knows his duty to his client and to the public,” Ruby says. “Perhaps at his best in the Supreme Court of Canada, where I’ve appeared with him.

“He works and prepares far in advance so that no question from the court catches him by surprise. One of our greatest advocates.”

Brodsky has represented a significant number of Manitobans in cases that garnered headlines across the country. Names such as Angelique Lyn Lavallee, Thomas Sophonow, Darren Morrissette, Robert Starr, and James Driskell.

But it isn’t really the sheer number of cases Brodsky has amassed during his career that will be his true legacy. It’s the scope and breadth of what he has been able to accomplish in those cases and how he has changed several criminal laws in this country and what judges have said during their instructions to juries….