Hi, I’m Mike Kruse. I’m the principal and owner of Kruse Law Firm. I’m here today to talk to you a little bit about my background and experience practicing criminal law and impaired driving. I joined the Windsor Crown Attorney’s office as a criminal prosecutor in 1989. I was fresh out of the bar admission course. I was really on a learning curve. I spent three years in Windsor, and then approximately nine months practicing in Toronto. And boy, what a ride it was. You really have to learn a lot of ropes, and get beat up initially by experienced lawyers while learning this. You never forget your losses, and I believe I learned them well during that period. You take a few lumps you never forget. During this period of time, I did too many trials to even recall – jury trials, judge-alone trials, the full range of matters from impaired driving to sexual assault, aggravated assault, robbery cases – you name it. Again, this was a great learning experience for me and I decided to leave the Crown’s office in 1983 – early 1983, and I entered private practice on my own. And I found out I had a lot more to learn. Sometimes the Crowns – when I left the Crown’s office – I found out a lot I didn’t know. Running a business and now defending people, I find is very challenging, and I’m still on a learning curve, and it’s going on 30 years later. I take a lot of pride in this work. Since that time in 1993, I have restricted and focused my practice on criminal law, and impaired driving. That’s all I do 24/7. That’s all our whole law firm does. In 1989 we began expanding our law firm, I was hiring other people, and eventually we expanded to other cities: we’re in Toronto, we’re in London, we’re In Windsor, we’re in Kitchener, and we appear in many courts throughout the province, and know the local judges. And we have a great group of lawyers. I’m proud to work with the lawyers we have, and they’re very experienced, and they’re gonna bring everything they can every time to try and win your case or get you the best result possible.
