How Can I Prepare for a Criminal Trial?
Criminal Insights · Updated October 6, 2026
Preparing for a criminal trial means giving your lawyer a complete account, preserving relevant evidence and understanding the issues the court must decide. This checklist combines practical trial preparation with guidance on observations and recollection. It does not replace advice tailored to your case.
Give counsel the complete background
Tell your lawyer about your personal circumstances, work and education, prior dealings with the police or courts, and any facts that may affect the defence or the consequences of a conviction. Explain what happened candidly, including information that appears unhelpful. Counsel can assess relevance and potential cross-examination; do not assume that every aspect of your history is admissible at trial.
Prepare a factual chronology
Ask counsel how to prepare and securely send an account for legal advice. Set out the events in date and time order, using point form if helpful.
Identify locations, distances, lighting, weather and other conditions. Explain how you know the time or sequence, and distinguish an estimate from a recorded fact.
Separate what you personally saw or heard from what another person told you. Identify uncertainty or gaps rather than filling them in.
Record your independent recollection before reviewing it with others. Do not compare accounts with other witnesses or rehearse a shared version. Tell counsel about any discussions that have already occurred.
Preserve evidence and assess your recollection
Memory can be affected by stress, intoxication, injury, lighting, distance, conversations and the passage of time. A confident recollection is not necessarily an accurate one. Tell counsel about conditions that may have affected your perception or memory.
Preserve original messages, emails, photographs, videos, notes, receipts and other records that may establish timing or context. Keep the originals and any available metadata.
Do not delete, alter or create evidence to fill a gap. Ask counsel how relevant records should be preserved and obtained.
Provide the names and contact details of potential witnesses. Do not pressure anyone, ask them to change an account or contact a person in breach of a release condition. Counsel can decide how witnesses should be approached.
Identify every earlier statement, interview, recording or document about the events, including anything that differs from your current recollection.
Keep legal-advice communications confidential
Solicitor-client privilege generally protects confidential communications between lawyer and client made for the purpose of seeking or giving legal advice. Simply writing “privileged” on a document does not, by itself, establish protection. A pre-existing record does not automatically become privileged because it is sent to a lawyer.
Ask counsel how to create and share preparation notes, who may receive them and what risks arise if they are shared with others. Keep the materials secure. The Law Society of Ontario’s explanation of solicitor-client privilege describes the distinction between privilege and the broader duty of confidentiality.
Review police statements and further questioning
Give counsel a chronology of any police questioning: when and where it occurred, what was said, whether you asked for legal advice, and your physical and mental condition. Tell counsel about promises, threats, pressure, fatigue, medication or other circumstances that may be relevant. Counsel can compare your account with disclosure and assess admissibility.
If police seek another interview, obtain legal advice before deciding whether to provide an account. Oral statements, messages and signed statements may all have consequences. On arrest or detention, section 10(b) of the Charter protects access to legal advice. It does not generally guarantee a lawyer’s presence throughout questioning; changed circumstances may require a further opportunity to consult. See R. v. Sinclair, 2010 SCC 35. Police may continue asking questions after a person asserts silence, subject to the requirements governing voluntary statements and Charter rights.
Discuss witnesses and expert evidence before arranging reports
Character evidence is a strategic decision, not a routine requirement. It may permit the prosecution to challenge the favourable picture presented. Tell counsel about both helpful and adverse information before approaching character witnesses.
An expert report is not automatically useful or admissible, and a psychological profile does not simply prove that an accused could not have committed an offence. Discuss the purpose, admissibility, risks, qualifications, cost and availability of an expert with counsel before commissioning a report. R. v. Mohan, [1994] 2 S.C.R. 9 addresses the limits on expert evidence.
Confirm the practical arrangements for trial
Confirm court dates, attendance requirements, any release conditions and what to do if an emergency arises.
Review the charges, disclosure, disputed issues and available choices with counsel. The decision whether an accused should testify requires individual legal advice.
Arrange time away from work, transport, interpretation or accessibility support where needed. Ask counsel what documents or materials to bring.
If you will testify, tell the truth in your own words. Do not guess or memorize a script; say when you do not know or cannot remember.
Related reading
Speak with counsel
For advice about your case, contact the Law Office of Kalina & Tejpal or call 416-900-6999.
This article provides general information only and is not legal advice. Preparation, evidentiary issues and trial strategy depend on the circumstances of each case.