If you are convicted of drinking and driving the penalties can be severe. Depending upon the concentration of alcohol found to be in your breath, blood or urine, you can be sent to prison for up to 6 months or …
Right of Appeal All Defendants have an automatic right of appeal to the Crown Court, if they pleaded ‘Not Guilty’ against conviction and / or sentence, and if they pleaded ‘Guilty’ against sentence only. There is a time limit of …
There is no legal requirement for anyone charged with a road traffic offence to engage the services of a lawyer. An accused is perfectly entitled to research the law, prepare his case and then represent himself in court. If the …
Read MoreYou stand accused of a road traffic offence. Do you need a lawyer?
Introduction You stand accused of having committed a road traffic offence. It is essential that you maximise your chances of saving your driving licence. You are looking for the lawyer, barrister or solicitor, who will give you the best chance …
Top tips for formal legal include: It is cost-effective to ‘front-load’ your advice, and get a senior barrister at an early stage. A written legal advice is advisable, because it will be complete, coherent, and you can refer back to …
Read MoreTop Tips when Taking Formal Legal Advice, from barrister Dirk van Heck
When the Bar’s public direct access scheme first appeared, it was designed to enable lay clients who could manage their case without the assistance of a solicitor to instruct a barrister directly. It was not intended to let barristers perform …
Read MoreWhat Is The Difference Between Litigating And What Barristers Normally Do?
Since specialising in the defence of road traffic prosecutions the enquiries I most commonly receive go something like this: ‘I have been caught speeding at 100 (plus) mph. Can I avoid a ban?’ Consequences of speeding that you need to …
What is an inquest? Inquests and public enquiries are unlike ordinary court hearings, because, as their name implies, they are inquisitorial proceedings, whose primary purpose is to investigate a situation and to arrive at a conclusion. Whether that conclusion …
Read MoreUnderstanding Inquests, with Stephen Harvey QC – ShenSmith Barristers
Well, of course, one of the other benefits is that if you do come to someone and you don’t know whether you have got a case, most people, most barristers I shall say who do Public Access work and are …
Will the barrister tell me what the fees are in advance? When I am instructed on your case, I like to keep everything as simple as possible. The worst thing in the world is when a client turns to …