International Law

A Paperless Office

Posted on August 02, 2012
I am a big champion of the concept of a paperless office - a world where the is no necessity to use paper and pen every time something needs to be recorded on a file.Over the past few years I have been using a laptop to attempt to work without paper when I am out and about at the Magistrates Court and Crown Court...

My Solicitor Is Better Than Yours...

Posted on July 19, 2012
I had an unfortunate experience yesterday.I went to a Police Station to represent an own Client, he arrived with two of his co-defendants, one of which was very "mouthy". When I attempted to speak to my Client in the waiting area of the Police Station the mouthy co-defendant kept interrupting and telling me that his solicitor was the best solicitor and that my Client should use his solicitor...

Where Has Court 6 Gone?

Posted on July 18, 2012
My local Magistrates Court has been rebuilt and now has a brand new building.There are signs in the building to assist visitors and Court Users.The sign has the obvious omission that there is no Court 6 in the building but there is a Court 5 and a Court 7...

Thank You for Your Hard Work

Posted on June 26, 2012
I had the joy of being on call again last night.I was called to the Police Station to deal with a regular Client who is often involved in violent offences and can be an aggressive indivdual, even towards my colleagues.After a brief consultation where the Client indicated he did not want to be interviewed I explained that he was likely to be charged with an offence and kept in custody until he could be put before a Magistrates Court...

To access this complete feed in the blog feed reader login or register for free.

Just My Luck

Posted on June 25, 2012
I had a busy weekend being "on call" for the Saturday and Sunday that have just passed.Being on call means that you are often called upon to deal with cases of a varying nature. Some cases are quick and easy, others are more serious and often take longer to deal with...

Contempt of Court

Posted on June 20, 2012
Theresa May, the current Home Secretary, has been found guilty of contempt of court.It must be quite embarrassing as the government's minister in charge of criminal matters to be found guilty of contempt of court for failing to comply with a court order...

Location, Location, Location

Posted on June 20, 2012
I have moved offices. About a year ago the firm that I worked for had a bit of a management disagreement and the Crime Department left my previous firm and joined another firm. After these two firms worked together for a year I was moved from my old office in sunny Southend-on-Sea to the new City of Chelmsford...

Deportation Issues

Posted on June 10, 2012
Apparently the Government has decided that it wants more foreign nationals to be deported if they are convicted. Whilst there is nothing wrong with a Government creating laws for the Courts to work with Theresa May's announcement is a little odd. She has suggested that if the Courts do not interpret the law in accordance with new guidelines for deportation of foreign nationals then she may have to resort to making new laws...

BlackBerries

Posted on June 08, 2012
I have a BlackBerry that is a work phone that I walk around with all the time. The BlackBerry is always charged and even sits on my bedside cabinet overnight. I am rarely more than 2m away from my BlackBerry.Why do I keep this device so close to me all the time? There are a few reasons:1...

Technology

Posted on June 02, 2012
I was doing a number of plea and case management hearings yesterday, one of which was by video link.Unfortunately the prosecutor arrived and gave me a new indictment which rather upset the planned pleas for the hearing. The defendant was charged with one offence up until yesterday and then all of a sudden he is being prosecuted for two offences...

Guilty Pleasure

Posted on May 29, 2012
I quite enjoy watching Silk on BBC One - but it is a bit of a guilty pleasure.I have watched tonight's episode and have again seen many errors in how matters proceed in Court - but I am sure that these errors are either unintentional or created in order to make the programme more entertaining...

Southend Magistrates Court in the Papers

Posted on May 29, 2012
The Guardian has today published an article on one of my local Magistrates Courts.I was not at Court on Monday so I cannot take the credit for any of the defence representations. Magistrates Courts lists are sometimes full of what appear to be relatively mundane cases...

Free CPD Point for Solicitors

Posted on May 28, 2012
The Solicitors Regulation Authority is running a free webinar on Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates where solicitors can earn one free CPD point.If you are interested in a free CPD point follow this link.

I Better Finish This Off

Posted on May 28, 2012
Last year I dealt with a plea and case management hearing where I had an informal chat with the CPS lawyer. The case was odd in that it involved a scuffle in the street with a knife. The case was odd because the people directly involved in the scuffle had not given witness statements and the only person who was involved in the scuffle and the proceedings was the Client...

Hello Again

Posted on May 26, 2012
Is anyone still out there?I have not posted anything here for a long, long time.Where have I been? Nowhere really, I am still doing criminal defence work in Essex.Things have changed in my world. I was working for a firm of solicitors which faced the prospect of imploding due to differences between the Partners and the direction they each wanted to take the firm...

Why The CPS Is Not Delivering Justice

Posted on March 18, 2010
Question: why is the CPS not delivering justice?Answer: Read this.

Conflict of Interest

Posted on March 17, 2010
I spent seven hours yesterday afternoon and evening at a Police Station dealing with a Client. The case I dealt with was really quite serious and the evidence against my Client was pretty poor - the case needed a positive identification in a video identification procedure before the Police would have enough evidence to go to the CPS for the CPS to authorise a charge...

HCA - Finally

Posted on March 12, 2010
Today I received a certificate in the post from the Solicitors Regulation Authority. This certificate approved me as a Higher Courts Advocate for criminal proceedings giving me the ability to appear in all criminal cases before a Crown Court, Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court...

Can I Complain Please?

Posted on March 17, 2008
I attended at my local Police Station today to assist a Client who was attending at the Police Station on bail to be reinterviewed. As I was waiting for the Officer to collect my Client and myself I stood listening to a conversation that a member of the public was having with one of the Station's civilian station office staff...

How Odd

Posted on March 14, 2008
I read most of the media headlines published each day. there are a few stories every now and then that stick out. An article from the Times caught my attention today. Apparently a jury acquitted a man of murder and then some of the members of jury waited to see the Defendant to hug him!?A pensioner who was accused of killing his partner and then confessing to his pet cats was cleared of murder and manslaughter today ? and then hugged by members of the jury before leaving the courtroom...

Waste of Time

Posted on March 11, 2008
When I was on call recently I received a call from the Defence Solicitor Call centre informing me that one of my firm's Clients had been arrested and detained for breaching his bail conditions. When a person is arrested for breaching their Court bail conditions the Police have to produce the Client before a Court within 24 hours of the arrest, or 48 hours if the arrest if a Court is not sitting within the next 24 hours...

Dropped Cases

Posted on March 11, 2008
The Times has published an article setting out that last year more than 2,000 cases were thrown out of Court as the case was not ready:More than 2,000 cases that should have gone to trial in the Crown Court were thrown out last year because they were not ready, a watchdog says today...

Poor Advocates

Posted on March 05, 2008
Advocacy is one part of the job of being a criminal solicitor. I have worked with people in the past who shy away from representing Clients in Court, as they prefer to work in the office or at the Police Station. I have never understood why a litigator would not enjoy standing up in Court and making their points to the tribunal...

Free CPD

Posted on March 02, 2008
The Solicitors Regulation Authority is responsible for making sure that solicitors ensure that they keep up to date with changes in law and procedure. This is done by requiring that solicitors obtain 16 Continuing Professional Development (otherwise known as CPD) credits each year...

Private Investigator

Posted on January 05, 2008
Criminal defence firms are getting jumpy as 14th January 2008 approaches. On 14th January 2008 new General Criminal Contracts begin for firms who are still undertaking legal aid criminal defence work. On 30th November 2007 firms had to declare how many duty solicitors they employed as of 30th November 2007 in order to be awarded rota slots on duty solicitor rotas for police station work and magistrates court work...

Weird Stories in the Media

Posted on November 28, 2007
Whilst browsing through news stories today I came across two distinctly odd news reports.The first news report was about a prisoner who decided to cut his penis off with a razor blade.The second news report was about a defence that a Defendant ran at Court when prosecuted for various things including indecent exposure...

Christmas List

Posted on November 25, 2007
I went out over the weekend with the wife and did some Christmas shopping. My wife is very organised and I suspect that by next weekend she will have dragged me around all of the local shops and will have finished off our Christmas shopping for 2007. Whilst I was out I was with my two kids and we were looking at the Nintendo DS games...

Send Him Down

Posted on November 21, 2007
I went to a Youth Court recently to represent a young man where he was due to be sentenced for an offence of assault occasioning actual bodily harm. ABH is an offence that can span a wide range of injuries from the fairly trivial to the rather serious...

Would You Like A Bind Over for £50,000 Worth Of Criminal Damage?

Posted on November 09, 2007
The Crown Prosecution Service web site gives guidance on bind overs:If circumstances justify, a prosecutor may invite the court to consider exercising its power to bind a defendant over as an alternative to prosecution for a criminal offence. The prosecutor should only invite the court to exercise this power once he has made a firm and settled decision to offer no evidence in the criminal proceedings...

Appropriate Adults

Posted on November 09, 2007
If a person under the age of 17 is arrested and detained at the Police Station they must have an appropriate adult attend at the Police Station to act as a parent or guardian to ensure they understand the Police procedures, and their rights and entitlements...

Bloggers, promote your law blog by nominating your blog for inclusion in USLaw.com's Law Blog Directory and RSS Reader. Benefits described.