When can we help?
People who have just received a summons or an invitation to attend, families of someone held in custody, and injured parties who need to understand their role in the case.
Our approach
Take in the situation, in confidence
The first conversation focuses on what has actually happened: which documents you have received, which authority is dealing with the matter, and what stage it has reached. Everything you tell us is kept confidential under the professional rules that bind lawyers, including where you decide afterwards not to engage us.
Register as your defender
The right to a defender is recognised by law, and a lawyer joins the proceedings once the registration formalities required under current rules are complete. We start those formalities as early as we can, because the point at which a lawyer joins determines how much time remains for preparation.
Study the file and go through it with you
Once the file is accessible to us under the applicable rules, we compare what it contains with the account you have given and note where things remain unclear. You receive an explanation of the file in plain language, together with the rights you have at the stage the case has reached.
Prepare for each step of the proceedings
Before each working session or hearing, you are told what will happen, what your rights are and which documents are needed. We do not predict outcomes and make no promises about them; a lawyer's work is to ensure the file, the submissions and the presentation are fully prepared within the limits of the law.
Frequently asked questions
A relative of mine is in custody. What should I do first?
Write down precisely what you know: when it happened, which authority is involved and which documents the family has received, and keep the originals. Under current rules a person held in custody has the right to a defender, and a family member may engage a lawyer on their behalf. Contact a lawyer early so the registration formalities can begin at once, because time is usually very short at this stage. We cannot say where the matter will lead, but we can explain clearly what happens next.
Do I have to answer every question when I am called in?
Your rights and obligations depend on the capacity in which you take part — witness, person under report, or accused — and the law sets them out separately for each. That is what a lawyer explains to you before the session, based on the documents you have received. We do not give a single answer for every situation on this page, because applying it in the wrong context can work against you. The first thing to establish is the capacity in which you have been called in.
What is the point of involving a lawyer early, while things are still unclear?
The sooner a lawyer can read the documents already issued, the more time there is to prepare and the less there is to repair. Statements and documents created at the earliest stage are usually relied on for the rest of the proceedings. The registration formalities also take time, so contacting a lawyer early helps them be present when it matters. Even where the position is still unclear, a conversation that establishes which stage you are at is already worth having.
Can you tell me in advance how the case will end?
No. No one can say in advance how a criminal case will end, and we give no undertakings about the outcome. Nor do we take on anything outside the proper scope of practice: a lawyer's work is done through the file, written submissions and argument at the hearing. What you may expect from us is careful preparation, honest information about where the matter stands, and a clear explanation of each step ahead.
Scope of support
- Initial advice on a criminal matter
- A lawyer present from the time of temporary detention
- Defence during the investigation stage
- Defence during the prosecution stage
- Defence at first-instance trial
- Defence on appeal
- Protecting the interests of victims
- Drafting crime reports, petitions and complaints