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Latest Criminal Solicitor Dot Net Newsletter

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This is the Criminal Solicitor Dot Net newsletter for 11th May 2008. This weeks newsletter contains the following:

Legal News:
  • Higher Rights - SRA Consultation
  • Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill Receives Royal Assent
  • London Advocate - Issue 45
Contracting News:
  • Unified Contract (Crime)
  • CDS Direct Evaluation
  • New VHCC Scheme?
Case Law Updater:
  • R v Dao [2008] EWCA Crim 984
  • R v Hodgson and another [2008] EWCA Crim 895
  • R v Kempster [2008] EWCA Crim 975
  • R v L [2008] EWCA Crim 973
  • R (on the application of X) v A NHS Trust [2008] EWHC 986 (Admin)
  • R v Kavanagh [2008] EWCA Crim 855
  • Attorney General's References (Nos 115 and 116 of 2007) [2008] EWCA Crim 795
  • R v Sheppard [2008] EWCA Crim 799
 Downloads
  • CDS Key Card 44a
  • Duty Solicitor Arrangements 2008 - July 2008
  • CDS Direct Evaluation - March 2008
  • SRA Consultation - Higher Rights of Audience
Legal News
 
Higher Rights - SRA Consultation

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has published a consultation paper on the subject of solicitors acquiring higher rights of audience:

We are developing a new accreditation scheme for solicitors and registered European lawyers (RELs) wishing to exercise rights of audience in the higher courts of England and Wales. This consultation seeks views on the competence standards for solicitor higher courts advocates, and sets out the outline proposals for the operation of the scheme.

Subject to approval under the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990 Schedule 4 procedure, the proposed scheme will replace the current qualification regime under the Higher Courts Qualification Regulations 2000.

The consultation paper sets out the background to the current scheme and the proposals for the new scheme; the objectives, scope and key principles which will form the basis of the new scheme are clearly outlined.

  • We propose to introduce revised competence standards for solicitor advocates in the higher courts of England and Wales. We intend that these standards will be the benchmark against which the performance of all solicitors appearing before the higher courts can be objectively judged—irrespective of whether or not they choose to be accredited under the new scheme. The standards will be set at the level of competent higher courts advocate.
  • Solicitors who wish to demonstrate their competence as higher court advocates may do so by being accredited using the new scheme.
  • We will no longer prescribe additional training requirements for solicitors seeking qualification to advocate before the higher courts.
  • The scheme will provide for assessment and registration in all proceedings in the higher courts, or, alternatively, a solicitor may opt to specialise in criminal (including defence and prosecution) or civil (including family proceedings) higher courts proceedings. The scheme will require completion of objective assessments provided by authorised external assessment organisations.
  • The scheme will aim to be compatible with any quality assurance requirements made by procurers.
  • The assessment organisations will be validated and monitored under the SRA's common framework for the authorisation and monitoring of providers.
  • A process to enable those solicitors who have already achieved a higher courts qualification under the current scheme to be transferred on to a new register of accredited Solicitor Higher Courts Advocates.

In early 2007, we consulted with the profession and other stakeholders on the future of the higher courts qualification scheme. Following consideration of the responses in April 2007, the SRA Board decided

  • to recommend to the Lord Chancellor that Regulation 6 (accreditation route) and Regulation 7 (exemption route) of the current Higher Courts Qualifications Regulations 2000 should be extended until the end of 2008 (the extension was approved by the Ministry of Justice in December 2007),
  • that a voluntary accreditation scheme should be developed to replace the existing compulsory scheme from 1 January 2009,
  • to recommend to the Lord Chancellor that the current Regulations should be repealed from the end of 2008 and that all solicitors should have and be entitled to exercise rights of audience in all courts from the date of admission and subject to the provisions of the Solicitors' Code of Conduct 2007.

This consultation paper sets out the outline proposals for the new scheme and the standards against which solicitors who wish to advocate before the higher courts will be assessed. It is also the intention that the standards will in future be used as the benchmark for all solicitors who advocate before the higher courts whether or not they choose to be accredited.

We now seek the views of practitioners and stakeholders on

  • the appropriateness of the standards and performance indicators,
    outline proposals for the operation of the scheme, and
  • proposed changes to the Solicitors' Code of Conduct 2007 guidance on rule 2 and/or rule 11.

The deadline for receipt of responses is 25 July 2008.

To see further information on this news item follow this link.

Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill Receives Royal Assent

The Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill received Royal assent on 8th May 2008:

The new Act builds on ten years of reform to criminal justice to rebalance the system in favour of victims and the law-abiding majority. These steps will help to protect the public, promote and improve access to justice, and increase public confidence in the justice system.

The Act will:

  • introduce a new criminal of offence of incitement to hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation
  • clarify the law on self defence, articulating the state's responsibility to stand by those acting in good faith when using force in self defence
  • introduce new civil penalties for serious beaches of data protection principles
  • abolish the common law offences of blasphemy and blasphemous libel
  • reinstate the statutory ban on industrial action by prison officers
  • introduce a minimum tariff of two years for prisoners serving indeterminate public protection sentences
  • end automatic discounts for offenders given an indeterminate sentence after the initial sentencing decision has been judged unduly lenient
  • give powers for courts to make dangerous offenders given a discretionary life sentence serve a higher proportion of their tariff before being eligible for parole
  • create a presumption that trials in magistrates' courts will proceed in the event the accused fails to appear
  • Introduce a new offence of possession of extreme pornographic images
  • extend existing crack house closure powers to tackle premises at the centre of serious and persistent disorder or nuisance, regardless of tenure
  • create a new offence of causing a nuisance or disturbance on NHS premises
  • provide for non-dangerous offenders who breach the terms of their licence to be recalled to prison for a fixed 28 day period
  • create a Youth Rehabilitation Order - a generic community sentence for children and young offenders, this will target the causes of offending behaviour and will simplify the current sentencing framework
  • create the Youth Conditional Caution for young offenders
  • bring compensation for those wrongly convicted broadly into line with compensation for victims of crime
  • provide for special immigration status for terrorists and serious criminals who cannot currently be removed from the UK for legal reasons.

To see further information on this news item follow this link.

The London Advocate - Issue 45
 
The London Criminal Courts Solicitors Association has now published issue 45 of the London Advocate.
 
To see further information on this news item follow this link.
 
Contracting News
 
Unified Contract (Crime)

The LSC has announced that the application period for applying for a Unified Contract (Crime) to start in July 2008 has now come to an end:

The application period for the July 08 Unified Crime Contract closed on Friday 2 May at  4pm.

We are still assessing the full national picture but there's been a good response in every region and we are confident of achieving full coverage across England and Wales. 

Many firms took advantage of the opportunity to have applications checked and acknowledged by returning them by 21 April. Many firms also indicated they would be happy to carry out additional work in their area or a neighbouring one.  

We'll write to inform all providers if their application was successful early next week.

To see further information on this news item follow this link.

CDS Direct Evaluation

The Legal Services Commission has published an evaluation of the CDS Direct police station telephone advice scheme dated 1st April 2008.

1. Introduction

Criminal Defence Service Direct (CDS Direct) is a telephone advice service that has been piloted since October 2005, providing initial advice in less serious cases that would otherwise have been referred to a duty solicitor. Following a successful evaluation in 2006 and consultation in 2007, the LSC are expanding CDS Direct so that it can provide initial advice in all such less serious cases including those where the detainee has requested their own solicitor. Minor amendments to Code C of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE) codes of practice were affirmed by Parliament to enable this expansion of CDS Direct in two phases. The first phase was the expansion of CDS Direct in Greater Manchester, West Midlands and West Yorkshire on 1st February 2008, with the second phase (national roll-out) due to take place on 21st April 2008 subject to satisfactory evaluation of phase one.

This paper evaluates CDS Direct’s performance in the first phase areas against the criteria and targets set out in the Benefits Realisation Plan for the service produced by the LSC (available at http://www.legalservices.gov.uk/criminal/cds_direct.asp#how). The evaluation looks at statistics from 1st February to 26th March 2008 inclusive, and shows that during this period, CDS Direct has advised in 9,466 cases of which 2,057 (21.7%) have been own client cases; a breakdown of these totals by offence type is included in Appendix A. In total, the Defence Solicitor Call Centre (DSCC) - which is the referral point for all requests for police station advice - received 10,279 requests for own client advice in matters which, following national roll out, would have been within the scope of CDS Direct in this 8 week period.

While this evaluation of the first two months’ data since phase one of the expansion shows that CDS Direct is well placed to handle the additional caseload when it is rolled-out nationally, the LSC will monitor the service on an ongoing basis and will carry out a further evaluation six months after national rollout.

2. Financial Benefits

There is not enough data since the expansion of CDS Direct in phase one to make a further robust assessment of the financial benefits. However this evaluation confirms the viability of CDS Direct to perform well on a national scale and shows that the service is delivering a speedy and quality service to suspects at police stations and helping wider efficiencies at the police station. An evaluation of the financial benefits will be included in the post national rollout evaluation, which will allow for more data to be analysed in order to make more robust judgments on the financial savings that can be attributed to the expansion of CDS Direct; there is no reason to believe that our previous estimate for savings is invalid.

3. Quality

The LSC have undertaken to peer review all three providers in late 2008 with the contractual target being a minimum of Peer Review 2 (this compares with a minimum of Peer Review 3 for face-to-face contracts).

In the interim, each provider is required under their contract to review a sample of files each month and grade in accordance with the Peer Review standards. Providers’ own peer reviews will be moderated at least twice a year.

Details of providers’ internal peer reviews undertaken during the period of this evaluation are not yet available. Examples of some CDS Direct cases are however included in Appendix B demonstrating the high level of advice and detailed recording of action taken.

4. Timely Service

CDS Direct providers are contractually obliged to provide a timely service. They have key performance indicators (KPIs) relating to the amount of time that passes between a call being received by the DSCC and CDS Direct calling the police station:

  • 90% of requests for advice must be responded to within 15 minutes
  • 95% of requests for advice must be responded to within 30 minutes

In the period 1st February to 26th March, CDS Direct as a whole achieved:

  • 98.96% of requests for advice responded to within 15 minutes
  • 99.67% of requests for advice responded to within 30 minutes

This performance clearly exceeds the KPI targets.

The above figures also compare favourably with the percentage of own client cases being accepted at DSCC between 1st February to 26th March: 86.82% within 15 minutes and 93.97% within 30 minutes. It should however be noted that these figures represent the time that the request for advice was accepted at DSCC, not the time the call was made to the client.

5. Comparative Performance

All providers are performing well. Each has achieved its target in terms of response times to requests for advice and the number of cases handled by each is comparable.

There is insufficient data at this stage to carry out any further analysis on the case duration for different types of offences. Further information will be included in the post national rollout evaluation of the service.

6. Usability

The CDS Direct service must be considered usable by police in order for it to be successful. The target for this is that 85% of custody staff should find the system usable.

The usability of the service has been measured via a short questionnaire attached at Appendix C. Custody staff were asked the questions over the telephone when a case had recently been closed by CDS Direct for a detainee at their station. The process began on 18th February and the details below are a summary of the results gathered from 18th-22nd February 2008:

  • 100% of custody officers said that CDS Direct advisers contacted them either “quickly” or “within a reasonable time”
  • 96% of custody officers contacted considered the CDS Direct system to be either “better” or “no different” to the previous system
  • 91% considered the CDS Direct system to be workable.

7. Complaints

The level of complaints for CDS Direct from police, solicitors and clients is being monitored with a target that the number of justified complaints should be no greater than the number during the pilot after a three month settling in period following national expansion.

Between 1st February and 26th March 2008, there have been six complaints concerning CDS Direct. All of these complaints have been assessed as unjustified. Further details on the complaints are included in Appendix D.

In the 3 month period 31st October to 1st February (that preceded the expansion of CDS Direct in three CJS areas), one complaint was received; this was proved unjustified following investigation. Whilst the volume of complaints received since 1st February has increased, they have represented 0.06% of the cases handled and feedback has been actively sought on the service through email channels set up for this purpose.

Feedback has also been sought from the CDS Direct advisers as to whether any detainees have objected because they were not speaking with their own solicitor. The advisers were clear that no such instances occurred.

8. Added Value

In addition to the benefits outlined above, CDS Direct also allows us to determine which police stations are not performing as well as others. Advisers note on the Electronic Case Management System any police concern that they may have. These concerns are then fed back to the LSC and any further action taken where appropriate.

Details of around 70 police concerns were recorded in February and March; these are currently being analysed and will then be passed to the relevant LSC Regional Offices to follow up. We will report further information as these issues are progressed.

9. Conclusion

Phase one of the CDS Direct expansion into own client work has had a smooth start and there is no reason to delay national roll out on 21st April. The LSC will evaluate the service continuously over the coming months against the above measures and will address any issues raised to ensure a successful roll out and smooth ongoing delivery of CDS Direct.

To see further information on this news item follow this link.

New VHCC Scheme?

The Chairman of the Bar Council has written to heads of criminal chambers and circuit leaders suggesting that the Bar is in talks to design a new VHCC scheme:

I am writing in order to update you on developments on VHCCS.

As you know only 110 barristers have signed contracts, and 95 solicitor advocates. Only two QCs have signed. This is insufficient in terms of both numbers and quality for the scheme to be viable for these very difficult cases.

We have within the Bar Council been working very hard on designing a scheme which comes in within budget but ensures proper fair reward, sufficient to attract the ablest barristers back into these cases. That work has been going on analysing the data provided to us by the Legal Services Commission with a group involving three firms of solicitors representing the Law Society who have experts in these cases, and Bar representatives. Professor Martin Chalkley has been conducting this analysis. Last Thursday, at his request Desmond Browne, Michael Bowes and I, met the Lord Chancellor, Jack Straw and the Legal Aid Minister Lord Hunt, and shortly afterwards with the Chairman and Chief Executive of the LSC. The meetings were productive and pragmatic. Discussions are underway with three shared objectives for all of us:

a. The ablest barristers will undertake these difficult cases;
b. On a fee basis which does not contain perverse incentives, and not based on hourly rates; and
c. Which delivers within budget.

Meetings have now taken place between the statisticians instructed by the LSC and the Bar Council. A working group has met today with representatives of the Law Society, the MOJ, the LSC and the Bar, and will meet again shortly, and will report to the Lord Chancellor on 15th May. The intention is to keep a brisk momentum up.

Further meetings will take place after that with a view to a conclusion by the end of June.

I cannot report on the contents of discussions. However, all of us involved in these discussions know of the urgency of them, but equally of the need to ensure that what emerges is sound and sustainable for all concerned.

As soon as I am able to I will write again.

With best wishes

Tim Dutton

To see further information on this news item follow this link.

Forum Discussion

A number of interesting discussions have taken place recently:

  • Chickens coming home to roost. To see this discussion thread follow this link.
  • Suspended sentences and supervision periods. To see this discussion thread follow this link.
  • Why O Why. To see this discussion thread follow this link.

Case Law Updater

The Criminal Solicitor Dot Net Case Updater service provides details of cases that are of paramount importance to criminal practitioners. The latest cases added this week to the Case Law Updater are listed below.

R v Dao [2008] EWCA Crim 984
 
The appellant pleaded guilty to a charge of entering or becoming concerned in a money laundering arrangement contrary to section 329 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. It was accepted that the appellant had laundered approximately £200,000 that had been generated from cultivation of cannabis. The appellant was sentenced to three and a half years’ imprisonment.

The appellant appealed against the length of the sentence suggesting that the judge gave insufficient weight to his good character, to his early plea of guilty, to the low claim that the appellant had on valuable prison places. It was also argued that the role the appellant played in the cultivation of cannabis equivalent to a lowly farmer.

The appeal would be allowed.

There are no guideline cases on money laundering, and perhaps the circumstances vary so widely that general guidance cannot be given. Cases put forward by the appellant did seem to suggest that the bracket for the extent of money laundering after a timely plea is somewhere in the region of two to three years. Three and a half years was beyond the top of the bracket to the extent that the court should intervene. The court quashed the sentence of three and half year sentence and substituted a sentence of two and a half years.

R v Hodgson and another [2008] EWCA Crim 895
 
It was a false premise to suggest that if an indictment did not spell out the mental element of a crime, it was to be read as though the crime had no mental element. It might well be that, at least in the case of some offences, it was desirable practice to state the mental element of the offence in the indictment. If the mental element was not stated expressly, it might be implicit from the statement of the offence and the particulars which were given. In such a case, the critical issue would be whether the indictment contained sufficient information as to the nature of the charge. In the instant case, where the defendants intended to plead guilty to causing grievous bodily harm with intent, contrary to s 18 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861, but the indictment stated inflicting grievous bodily harm, contrary to s 18 of [the Act], the convictions were safe, notwithstanding that defect.
 
R v Kempster [2008] EWCA Crim 975
 
In allowing the defendant's appeal against his conviction for burglary, where the prosecution had relied on expert evidence as to an ear-print found at the scene, the court held that, on the basis of fresh evidence, 'gross features' were capable of providing a reliable match only where they truly provided a precise match. There was no doubt that evidence of those experienced in comparing ear-prints was capable of being relevant and admissible. The question in every case would be whether it was probative.
 
R v L [2008] EWCA Crim 973
 
In dismissing the defendant's appeal against his conviction for rape and indecent assault, the court observed that there was no requirement for the police to tell a defendant's wife that she was not a compellable witness against her husband before interviewing her about a crime of which her husband was suspected; but that it did not follow that there might not be circumstances in which the police would be well advised to make it plain to a wife that she need not make a statement that implicated her husband. If a question was raised as to whether it was in accordance with the interests of justice to admit a wife's statement, pursuant to the hearsay provisions of the Criminal Justice Act 2003, the prosecution's hand was likely to be strengthened if it could show that the wife had made her statement voluntarily, having been expressly informed that she was under no obligation to make it. Section 80 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 did not impose a legal bar to the admission of a voluntary statement made by the wife in the past.
 
 
As a matter of principle, a failure to comply with the 'place of safety' direction in s 37(4) of the Mental Health Act 1983, would not have the effect of depriving an order made under s 37(1) thereof from having legal effect. Section 37(1) of the 1983 Act constituted the authority for the admission and detention of an offender to a specified hospital; however, that subsection did not specify any time limit. Section 37(4) merely specified one of the requirements for the making of any order (namely that a place would become available within 28 days), and limited the duration of a 'place of safety' direction to one of 28 days. The court also commented that: (i) a specific and unequivocal direction had to be incorporated on the face of a hospital order, which had been made by way of a variation to a previous order, under s 155 of the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000, so that an offender who was the subject of such an order, knew precisely when the 28 day period, for which a transfer from prison to hospital was to take place, had started to run; and (ii) whilst it might be the case that the psychiatric condition of the offender might no longer justify admission and detention in a hospital given the delay which might occur between the making of a hospital order and its effective implementation, the formal recourse for such a person would be to lodge an appeal out of time to the Court of Appeal.
 
R v Kavanagh [2008] EWCA Crim 855
 
Where an offence was not within the guideline for sexual offences under the Sexual Offences Act 2003 that had been issued by the Sentencing Guidelines Council, but was an offence similar to those within the guideline, an attempt should be made to see how best to relate that offence to those within the guideline. In the instant case, where the defendant had been convicted of committing, within the jurisdiction of the Central Criminal Court, a public nuisance in that he had made hundreds of explicit sexual telephone calls to a number of different victims, the guideline in respect of sexual assaults should be looked at first, and in particular the bracket of offending for contact between naked genitalia of the offender and another part of the victim's body, where the range was six to 24 months, and, on the other hand, voyeurism, which on the basic offence would attract a community service order but with aggravating features could attract a sentence of up to 24 months. The offence to which the defendant had pleaded guilty was much more serious than many offences of voyeurism, because it involved not only the invasion of privacy but contact which could, and had in the instant case, put the victim in fear. In a case which did not involve anyone under the age of 16, a starting point for a sentence would be one of between 15 and 21 months.
 
 
Under s 174(2) of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 there arose a duty upon the judge to explain the reasons for departing from the guidelines. The requirement in s 174(2) of the 2003 Act was not some sort of idle formality. If the judge was going to pass a non-custodial sentence, where it was obvious that the guidelines required a custodial sentence, it was essential that there was set out the reasoning for the departure so the public could understand why the court was departing from the norm. Moreover, the thought process of producing reasons could point to a potential error in adopting the course of action contemplated.
 
R v Sheppard [2008] EWCA Crim 799
 
The statutory provisions of Sch 12 to the Criminal Justice Act 2003 envisaged a two-stage test. First, where there had been a breach of a suspended sentence order, the court had to order that the suspended sentence took effect either in whole or in part unless it would be unjust to do so. The extent of compliance with the original order was relevant to that decision. Secondly, if it was not unjust to activate the suspended sentence, the court had to decide whether or not to impose the original sentence or modify the term. It was clear from Sch 12 that either of those options was available to the court and therefore either of them was available in circumstances where there had been part compliance. Part compliance was again relevant at that stage because if there had been substantial and prompt compliance with the order the, even if a suspended sentence was to be activated, the court might be minded to impose a lesser term than that originally imposed. It was not appropriate for a sentencing court always to give credit for minor compliance with the terms of suspended sentence and to reduce the sentence in such circumstances. If there were repeated breaches, then defendants had to know that they would face the probability that the full sentence originally imposed would be reactivated.
 
Legislation Updater

No items of legislation have been added to the Criminal Solicitor Dot Net Legislation Updater this week.

Events

For a full list of events/commencement dates for the next 30 days please check the Calendar. This feature displays information on events and commencement dates, and where legislation is concerned the Calendar provides links to the Legislation Updater to access information on the subject matter of the commencement date.

As of 11th May 2008 the following events are listed for the next 30 days:

1.

 The Football Spectators (2008 European Championship Control Period) Order 2008

2.

 SGC Consultation Sentence Guideline for Theft and Burglary (Non-dwelling)

3.

 Structured Sentencing Framework Consultation

Downloads

 
The latest items added to the Criminal Solicitor Dot Net Downloads Centre this week are listed below.
 
 
This .pdf document published by the Legal Services Commission is the Criminal Defence Service financial key card 44a issued in April 2008 that provides a quick reference guide to practitioners when assessing a client’s financial eligibility for legal advice and assistance, and, advocacy assistance.
 
 
This .pdf document published by the Legal Services Commission is the final version of the updated Duty Solicitor Arrangements to take effect in July 2008.
 
 
This .pdf document published by the Legal Services Commission is an evaluation of the CDS Direct police station telephone advice scheme dated 1st April 2008.
 
 
This .pdf document published by the Solicitors Regulation Authority is a consultation paper suggesting that a voluntary system of accreditation should be undertaken for solicitors to exercise higher rights of audience.
 
Speech
 
The Supreme Court and Other Constitutional Changes in the UK 

The Lord Chief Justice delivered a speech on 2nd May 2008 titled "The Supreme Court and Other Constitutional Changes in the UK". Lord Phillips concluded his address by stating:

Today’s judiciary is in a new constitutional landscape. It must recognise this, and adapt to it. We must protect the fundamental principle that judges cannot be accountable to the executive for our decisions, but none the less we must be prepared to be accountable for our administrative functions. I therefore decided to do a review and following that with a press conference. I expect an invite to attend a hearing of the constitutional select committee will follow.

In October of this year I will step down as Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales. I will become the Senior Law Lord, and in 2009, the President of the Supreme Court. The baton of constitutional reform will pass to my successor. A new Constitutional Renewal Bill has been published for public consultation. It will include provisions relating to the role of the Attorney General, the ratification of treaties, the management of the civil service and amendments to the law on judicial appointments. I am glad to say that these changes do not appear to be as profound as those instigated by the Constitutional Reform

Act of 2005. My successor will need to work with the Lord Chancellor in relation to these. Together they will remain the custodians of judicial independence. I have been privileged to participate in the development of constitutional reform during the three years in which I have served as Lord Chief Justice. I am equally pleased that I have been able to address you on the importance of these changes.

To see further information on this speech follow this link.

Monthly Poll

The poll question for May 2008 is this: "Do CPS HCAs provide benefits over other advocates?"

The Times recently reported that the CPS was putting prosecution standards at risk by allowing HCAs to prosecute their own cases:

Sir Ken Macdonald, QC, the Director of Public Prosecutions, was quoted on these pages earlier this month observing: “I think we get it right more often than we used to.”

His comment refers to decisions on prosecuting cases and therefore may give cause for cautious optimism. Equally important, though, is what happens to those cases when they reach court and the standards of the prosecutors entrusted with the task of conducting them.

Clearly the quality of our prosecutors needs to be transparently of the highest standard if we are not to see miscarriages of justice, wasted costs orders, retrials and unnecessary adjournments to name but a few of the potential consequences if those standards are not maintained. Yet the current policy of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is putting these standards at risk.

Please vote in the poll and post your comments in response to the question by following this link.

Free CPD
 
The Criminal Solicitor Dot Net web site has been approved by the Solicitors Regulation Authority to provide CPD credits through distance learning courses. Registered members can access the CPD scheme by following this link.
 
The Criminal Solicitor Dot Net CPD scheme is simple:
  • You must be a registered member to take part in the CPD scheme;
  • To obtain a CPD credit you must take a CPD test;
  • The CPD tests require a user to take part in a multiple choice test and to answer 70% of the questions correctly;
  • The CPD test questions are based on the content of Criminal Solicitor Dot Net newsletters for a particular month.

The Criminal Solicitor Dot Net CPD scheme is free to registered members. Solicitors can use the CPD scheme to obtain up to 12 CPD credits in any one CPD year. There are currently 12 CPD credits available to obtain through the CPD scheme.

A help guide has been produced for questions on the CPD scheme. 
 
News Feeds

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