Expertise
Criminal Defence work is a particular specialty at the firm.
Our founding solicitor began his career in this area and has met cases of great complexity in his 20+ years of practice. His membership of the Criminal Litigation Accreditation Scheme and consistent attendence across London police stations and Magistrates’ courts allows him to keep abreast of new developments in English Criminal Law.
Our expertise will be a source of support which you can rely on at a time when the exhaustion of arrest, police interview and/or hearings may be taking a toll on you. You can be confident that we will be pushing for the best possible outcome in your case.
Criminal Defence
We offer services in the following matters to defend against any and all police investigations and/or criminal prosecutions brought in England or Wales (with a primary focus on London and the surrounding areas):
- Police Station Representation (24/7) – interview under caution, voluntary interview etc.
- Making representations to the police – bail conditions, electronic tag, urging them to take no further action (if appropriate)
- Driving Offences
- Assaults (common assault, Actual Bodily Harm, Grievious Bodily Harm)
- Murder/Manslaughter
- Sexual Offences
- Drug Offences
- Theft, Burglary and Dishonesty Offences
- Cyber Crime
- Firearms & Weapons Offences
- Terrorism and Serious Crime
- Public Order Offences
- Restraining Orders
- Extradition – dedicated page found here
- Youth Crime
- Appeals against Magistrates’ and Crown Court decisions
- Private Prosecutions
Pricing
We will assess each case based on its own complexities, merits and foreseeable costs.
Fee Structures:
Our most common fee structure for this department is ‘fixed fee’ which will vary greatly based on the number of defendants involved, severity of offending, a client’s criminal record as well as other factors.
In order to get a better idea of the cost of our services in your particular case, we recommend you book a consultation first to see if we can assist you and advise you on the costs.
Work Covered:
Under a fixed fee agreement there are limitations of what is included in our scope of work which we list below for your information.
Included
- First attendance at office/preparation
- Considering the evidence against you
- Taking your instructions
- Advising on likely sentence range
- Attendance and representation at hearings within the scope of our fee agreement
Not included
- Instruction of expert witnesses
- Counsel/Barrister’s fee
- Taking defence witness statements to support your case (unless otherwise agreed)
- Advice or assistance in relation to any appeal (unless otherwise agreed and priced appropriately)
Main Stages
- Meet with your solicitor to provide instructions as to what happened
- Consideration of initial police/prosecution disclosure and any other evidence
- Advise on the disclosure and other relevant evidence
- Arrange to take any witness statements, if necessary, which could carry an additional cost
- Explain the court procedure to you so you know what to expect on the day of your hearing and the sentencing options available to the Court.
- Conduct any further preparatory work obtain further instructions from you, if necessary
- Court attendance – A member of staff or a representative instructed by the firm will attend Court on the day and meet with you
- Inform you of the outcome of your case
- If necessary advise on the prospects of appeal which will carry an additional cost
Complicating Factors
While we do our best to avoid your matter becoming unduly complicated, at times this is unavoidable.
The following factors can result in a more complicated case than first anticipated and it is important that you are aware of them:
- Contesting the admissibility of evidence (eg breathalyser or speed camera challenges)
- Multiple concurrent offences or defendants
- An extensive criminal record
- Where expert evidence is required
- Lengthy trials
- Appeals against convictions and/or sentences where co-defendants have been unsuccessful in their appeal(s)
Timescales
You may be wondering how long your matter will take from first instructing us until the conclusion of the case.
This short answer is that the timescale of your case will depend on whether the police/prosecution agree to take no further action (NFA) or whether they decide to pursue the matter to trial.
In our experience, straightforward summary offence cases can normally take between 3 – 6 months to conclude.
However, where cases are more complex, it can take up to a year and sometimes beyond that. Regrettably, there is currently a severe backlog for criminal trials with trials being listed as late as 2026/7 by the courts. We ask you to be patient with us if this is the case and trust that we will always push to get the best outcome for you.
We will always keep you updated as soon as we can practically communicate anything we recieve from the courts.