It has been some time since my last article and for that I apologise. I have been extremely busy and found no time to prepare suitable articles for you. However there are major changes taking place in how the large majority of crimes and offences are to be dealt with and these changes will have a significant impact on all concerned, be they victims, accused or witnesses. It is in the public interest that these changes be understood. I propose to write a series of articles to let you know about these as they come into practice over the next few months.

One change already in place is that a summary of the evidence obtained by the police will now accompany any new complaint. That should mean that anyone summoned, or brought in custody, to court to answer a complaint should be able to tell immediately what the evidence against him is and where it is coming from. This is a novel and radical step, intended as being a significant part of the new procedure to encourage earlier pleas of guilty. For the first time in my long career, such information is to be given directly to the accused. I do wonder how victims and witnesses might view this and whether it will lead to confrontations by angry accused. However our political masters have presumably considered that this will be a rare and acceptable risk.

I wish to return to two topics I covered before [and remind readers that all the previous articles can be found on my website]. The first topic is partly because the Legal Aid Board has recently reminded solicitors of the limited basis for someone to change solicitors and partly because I continue to receive requests to transfer to me that I simply cannot accept.

If you are receiving legal aid to pay for your defence then you do not have the right simply to change solicitor as and when you wish. It can only be done with the approval of the Legal Aid Board and the Board has the right to refuse. The Board requires "good reason" for allowing a change. Examples of what could be "good reason" are the death or incapacity of the original solicitor; that you have moved away and can no longer travel, or that your financial situation has deteriorated so that you can no longer afford to travel, to see the original solicitor or that there is a breakdown in the solicitor/client relationship. To establish the last one, it is necessary to be able to give examples of gross failures on the solicitor's part. The failures have to be serious ones such as his failure to attend court leaving you unrepresented, failure to keep appointments with you, failure to respond to correspondence or phone calls or failure to keep you advised of material developments in the case. It is not "good reason" that you have heard some other solicitor is better, that you signed the legal aid application without realising you were nominating that particular solicitor in doing so nor that the desired solicitor acts for you, your family or friends in other cases. You signed the legal aid application and in so doing chose that solicitor to represent you thereafter.

In short, take care about signing a legal aid application. It is an important document in which you are choosing the solicitor to represent you. You are likely to be stuck with your decision.

The second topic is the duty solicitor. I am frequently met at the door of the court by people who think the duty solicitor is there to deal with any case that arises. Indeed I have even been expected to conduct a trial that very day! The duty solicitor has no responsibility for acting whenever anyone hasn't got a lawyer at court. Nor has any other solicitor. If you need a lawyer, instruct one yourself before the court date. The duty solicitor is only there for people in custody and who have not yet appeared in court or for those people appearing on "undertakings" i.e. released from custody by the police on a specific condition that they attend a specific court on a specific date. Incidentally the duty solicitor does not require you to sign a legal aid application or anything else to represent you on your first appearance. He is paid by the Legal Aid Board to represent you on that day [and any further day if you plead guilty immediately]. It is only if you plead not guilty that a legal aid application is required to pay for your defence thereafter. If you complete it for the duty solicitor, it is that solicitor you are choosing to represent you from then on.

It is also worth reminding readers that only one of two lawyers is allowed to visit a prisoner in police custody. They are the duty solicitor or another solicitor who the person in custody tells the police he wants to represent him. If the person in custody fails to name another solicitor, only the duty solicitor can visit him and represent him thereafter. It follows that requests to me by parents, wives, partners etc asking me to go and see a prisoner cannot be met unless I happen to be the duty solicitor or the prisoner himself has already asked for me.