Criminal Solicitor Dot Net/Website eines Strafrechtsanwalts

(Via Delia Venables) Criminal Solicitor Dot Net is a criminal law portal run by Gavin Burrell, who has been a criminal solicitor (this means a solicitor dealing with criminal law) for six years in East London.
There are forums (you have to register if you want to contribute) and there is a newsfeed which is just taken (with permission) from the UK Criminal Justice Weblog.

Diary of a Criminal Solicitor is accessible without registration and it is a day-to-day account of Gavin’s working life. I’m posting a small example:

bq. Wednesday 24th March 2004
I went to an Magistrates Court in Essex today to deal with a failing to provide case. After I identified that the case was a possible malfunctioning intoximeter case I went in to Court where my Client pleaded not guilty and I explained that the case was not straightforward as there would be lengthy disputes regarding disclosure between the Prosecution and myself. The Court Clerk got rather excited that there was a complex case in his Court room and asked if I could write to the Court explaining that the case would involve complicated disclosure issues so that he could arrange for a District Judge to be brought in for the hearings. I was amused how the thought of a District Judge working in his Court made the Court Clerk visibly excited. After yesterday’s long day I was glad to spend my afternoon in my office.

This district judge is the one that used to be a stipendiary magistrate, a barrister or solicitor working alone, rather like an Einzelrichter, and not needing a court clerk to advise him or her on the law. Could it be that the court clerk (I think this means the magistrates’ clerk, who is a lawyer too and advises the lay magistrates) was looking forward to a day watching?

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