Legaleagle Training
THE DUTY SOLICITOR IN THE MAGISTRATES’ COURT – UPDATE 2021
Being the Court Duty Solicitor is not easy – expectations of your knowledge are high and mistakes may easily be made when working under pressure – criticisms of how you handled the case may well come later…..
Your role as ‘The Duty Solicitor in the Police Station is effectively already covered by 2 existing recordings on the website – ‘Advising the Suspect at the Police Station Parts 1 and 2’
This presentation will come with an EXCELLENT SET OF NOTES – extracts from documents that you really should be familiar with as the Court Duty Solicitor + ’50 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ON ROAD TRAFFIC LAW’
The presentation will concentrate on those matters ‘LIKELY TO CROSS YOUR PATH’ when acting as the Court Duty Solicitor.
AS ADVISING ON ROAD TRAFFIC OFFENCES IS A REGULAR PART OF THE JOB THE NOTES INCLUDE A DOCUMENT ENTITLED ’50 WRITTEN QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ON ROAD TRAFFIC LAW’
Content
The following 25 items will be explored during this presentation:
1 – Rates of pay – Statutory Instrument 2016 No.313
2 –The 2017 Standard Crime Contract (as amended) Specification Document –
3 – Rule 44 of the Criminal Procedure Rules 2020 (as amended)
4 – Section 142 of the Magistrates Courts Act 1980
5 – The updated PET Form (preparation for an effective trial)
6 – Alcohol and Drugs – Sections 4 – 7A of the Road Traffic Act 1988
7 – Driving disqualifications – both mandatory and discretionary – Section 34 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988
8 – The 2 Statutory Instruments dealing with the permissible levels of drugs when driving, attempting to drive or being in charge of a motor vehicle
9 – Low-value shoplifting and low-value criminal damage and low-value damage (aggravated vehicle taking) – Sections 22 and 22A of the Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980
10 – Taking motor vehicles without consent and aggravated vehicle taking – Section 12 and 12A of the Theft Act 1968 – some tricky issues
11 – Court-Appointments under Section 38 (4) of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999
12 – David Barton/Rosemary Booth – The definitive test of ‘dishonesty’
13 – Jogee and Ruddock – the definitive test for ‘joint-enterprise’
14 – Classic circumstances in which you may attend upon clients in the cells and the advice to give these clients
15 – You can never rule out immediate custody today – Reduction in Sentence for Guilty Plea – Sentencing Council Guideline – 1st June 2017
16 – Advising Children (10 – 13) and Young People (14 – 17) when jointly charged with Adults (18+) and appearing in the Adult Magistrates’ Court
17 – The important 2021 Court of Appeal decision of PLAKU/PLAKU/BOURDON and SMITH – Securing your client the full one third by way of credit
18 – Know your committals for sentence Sections (14 – 24) under the Sentencing Act 2020 (we must refer to this Act as the Sentencing Code)
19 – Knife Crime Prevention Orders under the Offensive Weapons Act 2019
20 – The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 – Domestic Abuse Protection Orders much wider in scope than the current Domestic Violence Protection Orders
21 – The (Voyeurism) Offences Act 2019 – The 2 offences of ‘up-skirting’
22 – The Stalking Protection Act 2019
23 – Know your Registers – The Sex Offender Register – The Domestic Abuse Register – The Stalkers Register
24 – Advise correctly on the powers of the police to obtain biometric material (DNA and fingerprints) following the conviction at Court – Schedule 2A of PACE
25 – Advise correctly on rehabilitation periods following the amendments to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 made under Chapter 8 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012