It has been one year since Stephen Yusuff took on his new role as Crown prosecutor in Moose Jaw and he has slowly been coming to understand the community better.
“It’s been interesting. It’s been very good,” he said recently. “I’ve enjoyed it.”
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of Yusuff’s job has been switching his mindset from thinking like a defence attorney to approaching cases as a Crown prosecutor. While both positions deal with the same criminal laws, working with the Crown requires different thinking and different approaches. He pointed out many people start their career as defence before moving to a role with the Crown.
Yusuff started his legal career articling in Brandon, Man. After he finished his internship, he went to work in private practice in Cold Lake, Alta., before moving to Melfort to work in Legal Aid for a year. He then relocated to Moose Jaw last March to take on his new role in the provincial court system.
A big factor that prompted Yusuff to become a Crown prosecutor is he wanted to work on criminal law cases all day long. That wasn’t always possible as a Legal Aid lawyer, since he would sometimes be given family law cases mixed in with criminal law matters.
“I always liked criminal law,” he continued, explaining he received his law degree in Nigeria after taking a course at school that piqued his interest. In fact, at graduation, he received a prize as the best criminal law student..
His family later moved to the United Kingdom, where he attained his master’s degree in criminal justice and a PhD in criminology. He worked as a lecturer at a university in Manchester, England, before his family moved to Canada in 2012. He taught criminology courses at the universities in Regina and in Saskatoon before being called to the bar — qualified to argue in court — in 2016.
Yusuff wasn’t sure becoming a lawyer was the right thing to do when he was growing up. If he hadn’t joined the legal profession, he likely would have become a novelist or done something in literature. However, his parents argued against that so he gave law a shot. The rest is history.
Having worked as a lawyer for a few years now, Yusuff said he enjoys almost everything about his job. When a file is placed on his desk, it becomes a challenge to figure out how to handle it.
“I’m (also) very busy. That is a good thing,” he continued. He also likes the fact he can specialize in one area of law as a Crown prosecutor and get to know it in-depth. While every file is different, sometimes a case is different enough that it forces him to conduct research to figure out a solution.
In comparison, the disadvantage of being in private practice or Legal Aid, he stated, is he would not have as deep a knowledge base on certain topics, while the tendency is “to be all over the place.”
“It’s (being a Crown prosecutor) a good fit for me,” Yusuff added.
Yusuff’s co-workers are a pleasure to work with, he said. He appreciates the advice and mentorship he receives from senior Crown prosecutor Rob Parker, who has worked in Moose Jaw for more than 20 years. He also thinks the lawyers in the community are “a friendly bunch” who argue vigourously for their clients, but in a respectful way.
One type of case that presents challenges for Yusuff is dealing with — and knowing how to handle — accused people who suffer from mental health problems. In reports produced by medical experts, some of these people are declared to be criminally responsible for their actions. However, since they suffer from serious psychological issues, they appear before the court repeatedly.
“You want to hold them accountable, but then how sure are you that what you’re doing is right?” he continued. The challenge then becomes whether to give them more jail time or increase their jail time. “Those can be difficult cases to assess.”
Moose Jaw provincial court sits Monday to Thursday.
