Costings

In England and Wales, everyone is entitled to ‘legal advice’ if either the police or a regulatory authority wish to question you regarding an allegation of a crime.

You have the option of nominating your ‘own’ solicitor or the ‘duty’ solicitor, which is a publicly funded service and is usually arranged via a defence solicitor call centre. If it is arranged for the duty solicitor to deal with your case you are unlikely to be informed as to who will be attending or how good they will be.

You can also choose to pay for this service and have your case handled on a private basis which we feel is more beneficial.

In our experience, people tend to wish to use and consult with their own lawyer before any interview attendance. That’s where we come in. The benefit of this is that you know who will be attending with you, and you will be able to get some initial advice beforehand to prepare yourself for the interview appointment.

This pro-active approach towards legal representation allows you to request an office appointment and work to be undertaken pre-interview. This includes obtaining disclosure from the investigating officer, taking statements and the securing of any evidence that may support your defence.

In addition to this post-interview, careful consideration will have to be given in respect of any pre-charge engagement work, which is a voluntary process between the parties to an investigation and occurs before a decision is made to charge.

Written representations can also be made to the crown prosecution service for them to consider when deciding whether or not to prosecute you.

At SJB Legal, our professional charges are £250 per hour and any ‘fixed fee’ quoted is based on the anticipated time that we are likely to need to spend on your case.