The Defence Brief

Expert legal advice is essential any time you are interviewed by police I met a new client last week. He is accused of drink driving and contacted me after hearing of me through others I've represented . He was arrested at home where the police found him in bed… asleep. He was not the only person in the house and was not the only person with access to the car he was accused of driving. Having considered the evidence, I saw that the police received call from an “unknown informant” saying that somebody was drink driving. No reason for this belief was given nor was there any description of the driver. In short, there was no evidence that the man charged with the offence was the driver. Since the prosecution must prove not only that a person is over the drink driving limit but also that he drove while over the limit, evidence identifying the driver is very important. At the police station, my client was interviewed in the presence of the duty solicitor – or at least ...

Royal Courts of (in)Justice O n the 1 st July 2015, the government introduced a cut to solicitors legal aid fees, this was about a 9.51% cut from the rate applicable on the 30 th June 2015 (nb at the same time the  head of the Legal Aid Agency was awarded a 10% pay rise ) and is part of an overall 17.5% cut in fees since the March 2014.  In reality, the cut is far more than a mere 17.5% because fees have been changed in other ways that need not concern us here, suffice to say that some of the cuts to fees are as high as 50% reductions! Since the 1 st July 2015, a very large number of criminal legal aid solicitors have been refusing to work for the new fees.  I am not surprised by this; I began handing back my legal aid contract in 2011 and ceased all legal aid work in June 2012 partly because the rates then were so low that I could not earn a living and simultaneous provide clients with the level of service that a) they deserved; and b) my obligations as a...

Smoking heroin I was in court today for a duty session.  I represented a man with a long history of drug abuse and offending.  He had taken a ten-year break from crime and drugs, partly because he spent four-years in prison and partly because he met a woman, married and had kids.  A family breakdown has led him back to heroin. In the past year he’s committed a couple of minor thefts and been found in possession of heroin, which is why I represented him today. He agreed he needed help to kick the drugs and wanted me to apply for a pre-sentence report aimed at a community order with a drug rehabilitation requirement attached. His instructions and the recent offending indicate an escalation in offending meaning it’s very likely that without support he will find himself back before the court having committed further offences. Ultimately, my application for a PSR was refused on the basis that the offence was not sufficiently serious to warrant a punishm...