Practice Groups
Pre-Charge Advice
Defence Pre-Charge Advice
Members of Chambers can all accept instructions from solicitors representing clients who are under investigation by the police or other prosecuting authorities and would like advice before any formal charges have been made.
Once instructed a member can assess the strength, or otherwise, of the evidence received so far, will advise the client whether they may have a defence to any charges and will guide their clients through the nature of any potential proceedings.
An evaluation of a case against a defendant at a very early stage and before any charge has been agreed to, by the CPS, may allow a dialogue to be opened between the CPS Reviewing Lawyer and defence solicitors and/or Counsel. That in turn could lead to representations against charge being made and, in certain circumstances, mean the resolution of any investigation, without any charges ensuing.
The police station representation and/or any other pre-charge advice can either be paid for privately, through an instructing solicitor, or a client may choose to instruct a member directly, who is qualified to take on Direct Public Access cases. If a client wishes to use the Direct Pulic Access scheme names and profiles our members, who are qualified to accept direct access cases can be found on the page headed Direct Public Access.
Our experienced clerks will be happy to discuss specific fees of providing police station representation or pre-charge advice with either solicitors or lay clients where appropriate.
Prosecution Pre-Charge Advice
Chambers members have a long history of providing pre-charge advice to the CPS, often to specialist units such as the Rape and Serious Sexual Offences (RASSO) Unit and the Serious Fraud Office (SFO).
Chambers members also receive instructions to provide such advice to other agencies who prosecute their own cases; for example solicitors acting for the Trading Standards Office may choose to instruct Counsel to provide not only pre-charge advice, but advice on the merits of the case evidence.
Providing sound advice to Prosecuting Authorities at a very early stage, can help to formulate the paths a case may need to take, the evidence that may need to still be obtained or further investigated, to enable the prosecution to put together the strongest case they can, in order to support the charges that they intend to bring.
Our members work closely with reviewing lawyers, the police, investigating officers from other agencies, to assist in preparing a case for charges that are, and can later be, supported when proceedings are brought to court.
