Legaleagle Training
THE DUTY SOLICITOR AT THE MAGISTRATES’ COURT IN 2023 – TUESDAY 28th FEBRUARY 2023 – 16:00 – 17.00: - COST - £75 + VAT
This course has been written and will be presented by Colin Beaumont, an experienced former Court Duty Solicitor and it will concentrate on those issues likely to cross your path when acting as the Court Duty Solicitor.
Have a look at the 20 issues below and see how many questions within those issues you can answer.
ANYONE BOOKING ONTO THIS COURSE PRICED AT £75 + VAT WILL ALSO RECEIVE THE FOLLOWING FREE OF CHARGE:
1 – The 1-HOUR recording and full set of notes in relation to ‘Court Duty Solicitor 2022 Autumn Update’– the ZOOM presentation of the 13th September 2022
2 – The 1-HOUR recording and full set of notes in relation to ‘Practice and Procedure in the Adult Magistrates’ Court’ – the ZOOM presentation of the 14th July 2022
3 – The 1-HOUR recording and full set of notes in relation to ‘A 2022 Sentencing Update for practitioners in the Youth Court, Adult Magistrates’ Court and Crown Court’ – the ZOOM presentation of the 29th July 2022
I think we can reasonably say that that amounts to 4 hours of CPD in relation to the viewing of the recordings and another 4 hours of CPD in relation to the reading of the material – 8 hours in total – PLEASE ENSURE THAT YOU KEEP YOUR TRAINING RECORDS UPDATED
HAVE A LOOK AT THE QUESTIONS IN THE 20 ISSUES – CAN YOU ANSWER THEM? – AS THE COURT DUTY SOLICITOR, WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO SAY?
This 1-hour ZOOM presentation will be accompanied by a full set of notes.
DON’T WORRY IF YOU CANNOT ATTEND THE ACTUAL PRESENTATION (OR NEVER INTENDED TO ATTEND) –YOU WILL STILL GET THE FULL SET OF NOTES AND THE RECORDINGS WHICH YOU CAN SAVE TO A DEVICE OR WATCH AT YOUR LEISURE ON OUR YouTube CHANNEL
Anyone wishing to attend the session (or wishing to have the full sets of notes and the recordings afterwards without ever attending) should simply reply to this email by clicking here: mailto: colin@thelegaleagle.org or ring me (or send me a text) – (07887) 842985 and book a place.
The following 20 issues will be considered:
1 – Assisting the client in the completion of the PET Form following a ‘not guilty’ plea (new PET Form – January 2023) – what advice are you going to give to the client who wants to fill in the section regarding admissions?
2 – Consideration of whether or not your client should offer to indicate a plea to the prosecutor at this stage to an offence with which he is not even charged e.g. he is before the Court for aggravated burglary but would be willing to plead guilty to a simple burglary although he you hasn’t been charged with such an offence – what have the Court of Appeal said about this scenario recently in terms of credit?
3 – You are asked to represent 2 clients in relation to aggravated vehicle taking – one being the driver and the other being the passenger – they both want to know whether or not they can elect trial by jury – what is your response? – They both want to know whether or not the offence would involve a disqualification from driving – what is your response?
4 – What is the problem, in terms of the obtaining of Crown Court legal aid in the proceedings, where the client is ineligible for legal aid at the Magistrates’ Court stage and pleads guilty and is committed for sentence?
5 – What is your general knowledge of the Bail (Amendment) Act 1995?
6 – What does the current Duty Solicitor Guidance document published by the Legal Aid Agency (Version 2 – October 2022) say about Court attendances in order to maintain your status as a Duty Solicitor?
7 – In what circumstances, as the Court Duty Solicitor, would you be thinking of making submissions that the Magistrates’ deal with today’s offence by means of a fine and an immediate 1 day’s detention in default of payment of that fine?
8 – Your client appears at Court for being unlawfully in possession of a corrosive substance – Are you up to speed with the law on corrosive substances as contained in the Offensive Weapons Act 2019?
9 – Your client has been charged with failing to provide a specimen of breath – he tells you that the specimen was requested in order to ascertain the amount of alcohol in his system when he was in charge of his motor vehicle – friends have told him that this does not carry a disqualification from driving – are his friends correct?
10 – What is your general knowledge of Section 25 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994?
11 – Following a guilty plea to taking a motor vehicle without consent the chairman of the bench would like some representations from you on the issue of whether or not your client should be disqualified from driving – does the offence carry a disqualification from driving?
12 – You are asked to attend upon a client in the foyer who has been requisitioned for offences in relation to careless driving, failing to stop at the scene of an accident and failing to report an accident – is this client covered by the Duty Solicitor Scheme?
13 – You have been asked to make a bail application for a client in the cells charged with burglary of a dwelling – after attending upon the legal adviser and the prosecutor you learn that this client, upon conviction, would be subject to the ‘3 strikes’ legislation – can you make a bail application for such a person? – How, procedurally, is the case going to be dealt with at today’s hearing and what changes in the law, dealing with the consideration of minimum sentences, came into force last year under the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022?
14 – Your client says that he accepts that he was over the limit in cannabis but has been told that the cannabis got into his system because of some cake that he was given which, without his knowledge, was heavily laced with cannabis – he assures you that he does not, and never has, smoked cannabis – what advice are you going to give him?
15 – What is your general knowledge of Section 142 at the Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980 and Rule 44 of the Criminal Procedure Rules 2020 (as amended)?
16 – Your client is before the Court for driving whilst disqualified in the car park of the ‘Dog and Duck’ public house – he accepts that is disqualified – are you going to advise him to plead guilty?
17 – Your client has been charged with an offence of common assault in a domestic context that happened on the 1st July 2022 – that’s 8 months ago – he was charged on the 15th February 2023 – are the proceedings out of time? – Are you familiar with Section 49 of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022?
18 – Which parts of the Standard Crime Contract Specification Document (Version 1 – 1st October 2022) should you be familiar with in your capacity as the Court Duty Solicitor?
19 – In your capacity as the Court Duty Solicitor, are you permitted to advise and assist a client whose matter is set down for trial today?
20 – It is the Saturday morning Court and you are asked to attend upon a young person (16 years of age) charged with an offence of rape – what matters of practice and procedure are the Magistrates’ in the Saturday morning Court permitted to deal with?
It will be a 1- hour live and interactive session conducted via ZOOM. There is absolutely no requirement for any attendee to have purchased ZOOM. We just send you an email with a link the day before the actual presentation and you click on the link. It could not be simpler.
IMPORTANT
PLEASE LET US KNOW THE EMAIL ADDRESS OF THE PERSON TO WHOM WE SHOULD SEND THE INVOICE IF IT IS TO SOMEONE OTHER THAN YOURSELF
Invoices will be sent after the presentation and our normal terms of business apply i.e. PAYMENT WITHIN 14 DAYS – the cost for each person attending or purchasing the recordings is £75 + VAT – if you have attended the presentation there will be no additional charge for a copy of the recordings