Solicitors advice

[Incredulous]

We are getting conflicting advice when visiting solicitors. Some are saying they can get a lot of investigations done before it reaches the possible charging stages and even avoid people being charged, then others say sit tight, nothing can be done until the cps decide to charge or not! Which advice do we believe? Please help us.

I'm sorry this may not be the right place to post this but I cannot enter a new thread as I have only just joined the site. But cannot post yet. Worried sick.

[Casehardened]

Hi and welcome to the forum,

You should be able to start your own threads: select the most appropriate section of the forum; click on it & the index page should open with the button for starting a new thread at the top left of the page.

With regard to the solicitors, it is not possible for them to make a legal aid claim on a clients behalf until and unless a charge is brought.

It could be then that the ones who offer to carry out pre-charge work are expecting private instructions and will charge accordingly (these fees can no longer be reclaimed from legal aid funds)

[Incredulous]

Sorry, thank you for replying and moving this, I will learn.

He doesn't qualify for Legal Aid, so this would be privately funded. Can the solicitors actually stop a charge being made by doing investigation work now to try and disprove her allegation. How can a solicitor do this? How far can they go to disprove this? Can they ask for the equipment the police are holding of his for instance? To do their own investigations ..at this pre charged stage. Can the solicitor present this to the police/Cps at the pre charging stage? Or should we just sit tight like others are suggesting.

[Casehardened]

He doesn't qualify for Legal Aid, so this would be privately funded. Can the solicitors actually stop a charge being made by doing investigation work now to try and disprove her allegation. How can a solicitor do this? How far can they go to disprove this? Can they ask for the equipment the police are holding of his for instance? To do their own investigations ..at this pre charged stage. Can the solicitor present this to the police/Cps at the pre charging stage? Or should we just sit tight like others are suggesting.

Note that this is my opinion only and it would be best to clarify this with the solicitor he selects but I suspect that if the solicitor undertakes pre-charge investigations and unearths a good defence against the allegation and lets the CPS know this informally and without disclosing the exact details then the CPS will take this into consideration when deciding whether or not to run with the prosecution.

At the very least they will be aware that there is going to be a robust and funded defence!

I feel that if he has the available funds then there is nothing to lose by starting the ball rolling now (but please choose the solicitor carefully or the money may be wasted.....peruse the specialists solicitors thread carefully for other members recommendations)

[myhome]

Sorry, thank you for replying and moving this, I will learn.

He doesn't qualify for Legal Aid, so this would be privately funded. Can the solicitors actually stop a charge being made by doing investigation work now to try and disprove her allegation. How can a solicitor do this? How far can they go to disprove this? Can they ask for the equipment the police are holding of his for instance? To do their own investigations ..at this pre charged stage. Can the solicitor present this to the police/Cps at the pre charging stage? Or should we just sit tight like others are suggesting.

No need to apologise - we have all been new!!!
I can understand your need for your questions but it's not simple to answer them. As a general rule, solicitors won't get involved unless there is a charge. Also, there is a 'danger' in doing this even if you could get a solicitor to agree.

First you must remember that the police are not your friends and they are not interested in innocence - only in meeting conviction targets. If you have a shed load of information which will help to prove your innocence and your solicitor gives it to the police, the police will go to your FA'er and tell her especially if it contradicts what she has said. She will then be allowed to change her story which will render your evidence useless at any further stage if you were then charged. Or, the police will 'lose' it or deny they ever had it, or produce it when it's far too late.

Also, this may never come to a charge anyway in which case you would have wasted your money.

So generally I think members on here would say sit tight and wait and see whether there is a charge or not. I know this is a really really hard thing to do, but it is the most sensible...
BTW - has he been interviewed yet?

[myhome]

really sorry - Incredulous - but my thoughts and those of Casehardened are completely different. He has been here a lot longer than me.....so sorry I may have added to your confusion...

[Incredulous]

Oh please don't apologise, we are so confused anyway.

I don't understand the Legal Aid system, but as he hasn't any savings, and is earning his family are willing to use all their life savings to defend him, as he is an innocent man.
( not that they have huge amounts at all)
So any evidence that may be unearthed can be presented to the CPS and not the Police?

And yes, it is a minefield to pick the right solicitor who will be fair and true and just. Any recommendations appreciated. Or again will it be better to just wait it out. But we feel something can be done or doing now, not waste this tine doing nothing. Not knowing which way to jump is tortuous un top of an already tortuous situation.

And yes he was interviewed at being arrested after 15 minutes with a duty sol who is actually a really decent guy!

[frightened spouse]

We are getting conflicting advice when visiting solicitors. Some are saying they can get a lot of investigations done before it reaches the possible charging stages and even avoid people being charged, then others say sit tight, nothing can be done until the cps decide to charge or not! Which advice do we believe? Please help us.

I'm sorry this may not be the right place to post this but I cannot enter a new thread as I have only just joined the site. But cannot post yet. Worried sick.

Hi Incredulous

I would be very suspicious of anyone who suggests they can influence pre charge the decision made by the CPS. In my experience the Police/ CPS only consider the evidence they want to look at rather than the whole picture regardless of what is offered to them. Are you sure this advice came from a solicitor and not a middle man type who claims to specialize in these cases ?

[Casehardened]

really sorry - Incredulous - but my thoughts and those of Casehardened are completely different. He has been here a lot longer than me.....so sorry I may have added to your confusion...

Don't worry, I did stress in my reply that it was in my opinion only and certainly if funds are limited it is probably better to utilise them post-charge than pre-charge,......despite my earlier advice no solicitor can actually guarantee to stop the CPS bringing a charge.

[Incredulous]

Note that this is my opinion only and it would be best to clarify this with the solicitor he selects but I suspect that if the solicitor undertakes pre-charge investigations 'and unearths a good defence against the allegation and lets the CPS know this informally and without disclosing the exact details then the CPS will take this into consideration when deciding whether or not to run with the prosecution.'

At the very least they will be aware that there is going to be a robust and funded defence!

I feel that if he has the available funds then there is nothing to lose by starting the ball rolling now (but please choose the solicitor carefully or the money may be wasted.....peruse the specialists solicitors thread carefully for other members recommendations)

The advice came from Casehardened in the post above FrightenedSpouse. Or am I misreading it?

[Casehardened]

Hi Incredulous

I would be very suspicious of anyone who suggests they can influence pre charge the decision made by the CPS. In my experience the Police/ CPS only consider the evidence they want to look at rather than the whole picture regardless of what is offered to them. Are you sure this advice came from a solicitor and not a middle man type who claims to specialize in these cases ?

The advice came from Casehardened in the post above FrightenedSpouse. Or am I misreading it?

LOL, if I've understood your inference correctly, I am not the mysterious 'middle man' referred to by Frightened Spouse. I won't name names as another of our members is currently in dispute with him for just this, however if you google 'falsely accused of rape' you are quite likely to come across his website. The website makes a number of claims but careful study reveals that an introduction fee has to be paid in return for a referral to an appropriate solicitor.

Hence my suggestion that if you wish to be pro-active in his defence pre-charge (and are able to fund privately) you may as well approach a specialist solicitor directly and save paying this introduction fee.

However if you wish do this you must pick a good solicitor, not just someone who claims to be good. Again, in fairness I shouldn't make any direct recommendations but if you peruse the thread where members have posted of their experiences with various firms you will note that some names come up again and again.

http://www.daftmoo.org.uk/mooforum/s...ist-solicitors

If you do decide to go down this route please feel free to post up the name of the solicitor you are considering for further opinions on their suitability.

[Incredulous]

Hy thanks. But no inference was intentionally made about anyone.

I just want to know that pre being charged is there any point in engaging a solicitor to do some detective work on someone's defense or us it a complete waste of money?

The family are scraping every penny together to help him, no one in the family is wealthy, but he won't be entitled to legal aid. So is this a waste of money or beneficial to him being possibly charged? Will it make any difference to the outcome of being charged or not?

Thanks for your inputs everyone

[Casehardened]

I just want to know that pre being charged is there any point in engaging a solicitor to do some detective work on someone's defense or us it a complete waste of money?

The family are scraping every penny together to help him, no one in the family is wealthy, but he won't be entitled to legal aid. So is this a waste of money or beneficial to him being possibly charged? Will it make any difference to the outcome of being charged or not?

OK, I'm going to come down firmly on the fence on this one! From time to time we get members regretting their choice of legal representation after a trial has taken place and usually (but not always) charging will lead to a trial.

Many members (and solicitors) consider there is no point in worrying unless charging occurs but if (and it's a big if!) he is charged and convicted would you and the family then regret not having sought pre-charge advice even if this has to be funded....the decision has to be yours (and everyone's experiences are different)

You might wonder what I would do if I were in your position: what I did do was to extensively research the CPS procedures and criteria for charging, collated all the background information on my accuser and passed any relevant material to my OIC together with any evidence which refuted the allegations.

Many members will say this is completely the wrong thing to do, and who am I to disagree with that viewpoint, all I can say it worked for me in that I wasn't charged. In my particular circumstances to go to trial was not an option so I was extremely anxious to avoid being charged.

I felt competent to undertake the pre-charge research myself so didn't engage a solicitor to do this but had my case gone to charge I would have then used the firm that has been most recommended on the thread I link to in my previous post.

[Incredulous]

Thanks. Was that Gerry McDonald or Chris ?

[Incredulous]

Also this man being charged is not an option also. Would love to know how you did this work yourself.

Thanks for your advice so far. Much Appreciated