Ryan Handlarski

I am a person who believes deeply in the principles of the presumption of innocence, proof beyond a reasonable doubt and the right to a fair trial. I have devoted my life to these principles and to the clients that I advocate for. It is the only life that I could live.

I attended law school at the University of Ottawa where I graduated cum laude, won the criminal law award, was the teaching assistant for criminal law and procedure for Professor David Paciocco and clerked for a criminal court judge at the Ontario Court of Justice.  Following law school, I worked for the firm of Greenspan Partners where I gained experience defending a range of offences before deciding to start my own criminal law practice.

Since starting my own criminal law practice, I have continued to defend individuals charged with a range of offences, from less serious charges such as domestic assault and impaired driving to very serious offences such as trafficking cocaine, sexual assault and sexual interference, break and enter, aggravated assault and murder.  I have successfully defended hundreds of individuals and have represented people at every level of court in Ontario.  I believe that every individual charged with a criminal offence deserves a thorough and vigorous defence and deserves to have a lawyer that is accessible to explain the criminal justice process at every step of the proceedings. 

I frequently appear in courts in Toronto, Scarborough, Newmarket, Oshawa, Brampton and Milton.  I accept Legal Aid in some cases and am on the Extremely Serious Matters panel.

My articles have appeared in Law Times, the Lawyers’ Daily, Canadian Lawyer Magazine and I have been quoted in NOW Magazine, the Toronto Star and have appeared on CBC’s the National and CTV News.

I am a member of the Ontario Bar Association, the Criminal Lawyers’ Association and the Toronto Lawyers’ Assocation.

For more information, please check out the media section and my reported decisions.