LITTLE CURRENT—It somehow seems inappropriate to call someone a “new” lawyer when they have been practicing law for decades in a practice that has spanned two continents. Susan Jane von Achten LLB ONI is in the process of opening a law office in Little Current, located in Unit 1 upstairs from the Island Jar in the set of offices that formerly housed the law practice of Linda McDonald.
Ms. von Achten is a high-profile defence lawyer who began her career in England in 1992 before emigrating to Canada. Since her arrival in Canada and setting up practice in this country, Ms. von Achten has been a very active, and one might fairly say passionate, criminal defence lawyer. A 2012 Toronto Star article noted that many of the young people of Toronto’s Regent Park area refer to her as “mummy,” and it is an appellation that the 60ish lawyer bears with considerable pride and she affectionately refers to the youths she champions as “my boys.”
“From the age of 14 I knew exactly what I wanted to be,” she said, “a barrister who fights for equity and justice—and that is what my life has been.”
Perhaps it was her early upbringing. She attended a Catholic convent boarding school that instilled a lifelong fire and passion against injustice in her soul.
“I was a voracious reader; I found myself in the textbooks in the convent library,” she related. “Not the religious ones,” she clarifies. “Books on psychology and psychiatry. It just opened up a whole world for me.” Ms. von Achten would dig into the texts with determination, seeking out the very foundations of the assertions contained within the pages. “I discovered the footnotes, references to other works that were listed on the bottom of the pages. I would find those books and read them too.”
Her precocious nature led to inevitable conflict within the constraints of the religious environment she found herself in. It was a crucible that would temper her spirit for the challenges she would find as a lawyer.
“There was a debate at our school and a panel consisting of the Mother Superior, some priests and head maidens of various schools and they were expecting nice questions from nice girls,” she laughed. Ms. von Achten quoted Scottish Psychiatrist R. D. Lang, who asked “Why are we more successful at driving our children insane than we are at educating them?”
“The priests and nuns looked uncomfortable, consulted amongst themselves and then moved on to a question from someone else,” she chuckled.
Ms. von Achten has been fearlessly challenging authority ever since.
“You have to be like that if you want to give your people a voice when they have no voice,” she said. “You can’t be reticent; you can’t sit on the fence.”
When Ms. von Achten first set up her practice in Toronto, she met a local Catholic priest who told her he wanted to introduce her to someone. She wound up giving a talk to a group of inner city youth on how to interact with the police.
“I told them, ‘always be respectful, don’t go in with a punch’,” she said. “But you are always allowed to ask for their name and badge number.”
She got a call from one of her young audience members a few days later. “’Miss I did what you said’,” recalled Ms. von Achten. “’Next thing I was cuffed and sitting in the back of a police car.’” She realized she had a lot of work ahead of her.
“I am very saddened so many of my boys have died,” she said. “It has caused me a great deal of distress.” Each of those boys has left behind family and friends who grieve their loss.”
While the bulk of Ms. von Achten’s practice is focussed on criminal law, she also does some family law and Indigenous rights work as well, but don’t expect her to do a hatchet job on the other spouse or use the children to “get back” at the other partner. “It always must be focussed on what is best for the children,” she said. “Family assets should go toward the lives of the children, not end up in the hands of lawyers.”
As for her other interests, Ms. von Achten is also passionate about animal welfare. “I hope, one day, to set up an animal shelter on the Island.”
Ms. von Achten’s Little Current office is not yet fully set up, and she does not keep “regular” office hours, but she is readily available by text, email and cell, and she does do house calls, in fact she prefers to do house calls.
“When you are sitting behind a desk there is a natural barrier between you and the client,” she explains. “You have to build a trust with your client, they have to be able to be open with you if you are going to be able to represent them well. You must listen to them without imposing judgement.”
Ms. von Achten can be contacted by cell at 647-669-7571 or locally at 705-603-0741. Her email is
svonachten@gmail.com.
