Case Study
In June 2025, I conducted a successful appeal in the District Court.
In the Local Court, the client was represented by a solicitor who had not even looked at the elements of the offences (the legislation) before giving advice to the client to plead guilty to all the charges. The client acted on this advice and pleaded guilty. He was convicted and received a range of penalties. As a result, he also lost his firearms licence.
I provided appeals advice to my client. On my review of the case it was clear that,
- One of the charges did not apply to my client as a matter of law and should have been withdrawn by police,
- Another charge was not made out on the police facts and should have either been withdrawn by police or a plea of not guilty entered, and
- Arguably, my client was not guilty of the last charge because he had complied with all legal obligations.
On appeal, due to the egregious legal errors made by the solicitor in the Local Court, the convictions were overturned and the charges sent back to the Local Court to be properly dealt with.
My client had received poor legal advice, had paid for poor advice, had to deal with the consequences of the convictions and other penalties, but also had to pay for an appeal.
How does anyone tell the difference between good legal representation and bad?
I have worked with many excellent solicitors and barristers. If I was looking for a good solicitor or barrister, this is what I would look for,
- Their advice should be easy to understand. They avoid using legal jargon.
- Before giving advice, they informed themselves of all relevant matters including but not limited to obtaining the court attendance notices (the charges), the police facts, the bail report (criminal history), and where available the brief of evidence.
- They prepared their advice before the appointment. They should demonstrate their understanding of the case, the law, the processes and the procedures.
- When giving advice, they ought to take a personal history from their client. The personal history should include current personal circumstances, education, family, health, and any information which may help them to tailor the advice the client.
- If a client speaks more than one language, they must confirm the client’s level and comprehension of English (if that is the language of the advice). I regularly use Serbian, Tagalog and Arabic interpreters to give advice and obtain instructions.
- The advice and recommendations should be documented in a letter of advice. If the advice is good, they should be willing to put it into writing.
- When taking instructions from a client, it should always be done in writing and signed. This is how a solicitor makes sure they are doing what their client wants them to do.
The following usually won’t help to work out the difference between the good and the bad,
- Cost is not a good guide.
- I represented a client on appeal who had paid a solicitor $42,000 for a 2 day summary hearing. The solicitor didn’t read the brief or attend court on the second day of the hearing. Instead he paid a barrister $7,000 to do all the work and pocketed the rest. I won the appeal for less than 1/16 of the hearing fee.
- Cost – Fixed fee.
- Fixed fee usually means either you’ll be overcharged or your solicitor will be underpaid.
- Unverifiable testimonials on websites.
- Most testimonials I see on legal websites have been written by lawyers. Most people charged with serious offences don’t want their name or legal issues published online. You simply can’t give much weight to an online review, let alone one that can’t be verified.
Ultimately, everyone has different expectations, different standards and different needs.
I hope this blog sets some reasonable expectations for people needing criminal law advice and representation.
Jeremy McGrath
Principle Solicitor – Penrith Lawyers