criminal law

We only act for people under investigation or prosecution for criminal offences.  We never prosecute.  Unusually, perhaps, in this in this field of work, we do not accept Publicly Funded instructions (No Legal Aid).  For many years, most of our work was Legally Aided but this became uneconomic and most importantly, in the field of complex and serious crime, we came more under constraint in the amount of work we could do for the Publicly Funded Litigant.

To each of our Defendant Client’s, a successful result is the most important criterion.  For the innocent, an acquittal is paramount as a wrong verdict in court, may result in a recorded conviction, loss of reputation and character, loss of employment, destruction of a personal relationship and even the loss of liberty.  All of these carry a heavy price for the person upon whom suspicion has fallen.  We practice Criminal Law to ensure justice for our clients and the correct result is usually achieved by hard work – turning over the stones which the Prosecution forgot to look under; finding and interviewing witnesses who would not otherwise have been spoken to; checking the logistics and site of the crime alleged; enquiries into the character and bona fides of the Crown Witnesses; instructing experts to provide forensic evidence or to countermand the conclusions of the Prosecution Witnesses.  All of these are essential preparation in a Criminal Trial and we prefer not to operate under a Legal Aid regime which restricts or refuses payment for some or all of these facilities.

In Criminal Law Trials, you only get one opportunity to assert innocence, and it must not be wasted.