JSP Client Care Booklet

Southend Office
Tel: 01702 610071
Braintree Office
Tel: 01376 329457
24 Hour Emergency Number: 07717 713631

23/03/2020
- General

Thank you for instructing this firm in connection with your case. JSP Solicitors are committed to providing you with an efficient and professional service and we shall do our best to ensure that everything proceeds as smoothly as possible. We are proud that because of how well we work, we have entered both Chambers Directory and Legal 500 UK.

Lexcel Accreditation

This firm has also secured the national Law Society’s legal practice quality mark, Lexcel. This is an optional, recognised accreditation scheme for law firms and gives assurance that this firm meets high client care and business management standards. To gain and retain Lexcel accreditation, firms must undergo a rigorous initial and then annual application and assessment process.

Lucy Scott-Moncrieff, former President of the Law Society of England and Wales once said that gaining and maintaining Lexcel Accreditation is no mean feat and that by undergoing the rigorous application and assessment process, firms can show the positive steps they are taking to help clients. The scheme, she described is ‘a beacon of quality to clients and potential clients alike’.

Our Services

We are continuing to expand throughout the region and have offices in Southend and Braintree. We also have interview rooms to meet with you in Benfleet. This firm only deals with Criminal Law. We will defend you and consider ourselves the Crime Specialists in Essex, drawing on over 100 years of combined legal experience to provide you with excellent representation. From advice at the Police Station, to advocacy before the Youth Court, Magistrates’ Court and Crown Court, to advice on Appeal or about a Benefit Fraud, we are able to assist you whether you are an adult or a young person. We work throughout Essex and our contact details are provided in this Booklet. We will however try to help you if you are in trouble anywhere in England and Wales. If you, a friend or member of your family have been arrested, we are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week including at Christmas, Easter and on other Bank Holidays and can always be contacted on the emergency number:

07717713631

Our Client

You are our client, and we will act upon your instructions whilst at the same time complying with the law, the Criminal Procedure Rules and Solicitors Code of Conduct. We will also keep your business confidential, save where we are required by the law or our professional rules to make any disclosures about your case.

We will notify you when we can if those circumstances arise. If they do, they may relate to anti-money laundering or more rarely to counter terrorist funding, the criminal facilitation of tax evasion or breach of financial sanctions. Those are subjects about which we have specific policies that can be explained to you, upon request.

In addition to our duty of confidentiality to you, we will also keep the data that we hold about you accurately and securely. Your rights as a ‘data subject’ are detailed within the Privacy Statement reproduced below.

To provide you with additional peace of mind, this firm has such good data security measures in place now that we are Cyber Essentials certified. This means our IT infrastructure is independently audited as secure, please see:

https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/cyberessentials/overview

Your Objectives

Your objectives as our client may vary. You may wish to deny an offence, plead Not Guilty and fight your case to trial. On the other hand, you may wish to admit having done something wrong and hope to achieve the best possible outcome. Whatever your objectives are, we will record your instructions and act upon them where we are able to do so.

Our Commitments

We will abide by the 7 Principles of the Solicitors’ Regulation Authority (SRA). We will therefore act in a way that upholds the constitutional principle of the rule of law and the proper administration of justice. We will also act in a way that upholds public trust and confidence in the solicitors’ profession and in legal services provided by authorised persons. We will act with independence, honesty, with integrity and in a way that encourages equality, diversity and inclusion. We will always act in the best interests of each client.

As a consequence, we will update you regularly as to the progress of your case. We will communicate with you in plain language. We will explain to you the legal work required as your case progresses. Where relevant, we will update you on the cost of your case. We will also update you on whether the likely outcomes still justify the likely costs and risks associated with your case whenever there is a material change in circumstances. We will update you on the likely timescales for each stage of your case and any important changes in those estimates. As appropriate, we will continue to review whether there are alternative methods by which your case can be funded. We will review your case regularly. We will advise you of any changes in the law. We will advise you of any circumstances and risks of which we are aware or consider may be reasonably foreseeable that could affect the outcome of your case.

Your Responsibilities

You will need to provide us with clear, timely and accurate instructions. You will also need to provide all documentation required to complete your case in an effective manner. You will finally be asked to safeguard any documents we send to you.

Duration of Your Case

A criminal case can conclude quickly or take a considerable time from beginning to end, depending in part on the nature of the case, your guilt or innocence and the evidence. You will find further information about how long your case may last in the letter sent to you with this Booklet and we will keep you updated regarding key dates in your case.

Please be aware that there is a large and significant backlog of cases currently before both Magistrates’ and Crown Courts meaning that there could be significant delays before your trial is resolved.

File Storage

At the conclusion of your case, original documents and other property belonging to you, if required, will be returned to you. We will however be entitled to keep all your papers and documents while there is still money owed to us for fees and expenses. You will be advised if your case is reviewed at any time in the future. Old paper files are destroyed after the expiry of 6 years from the conclusion of your case. If we take papers or documents out of storage in relation to continuing or new instructions to act for you, we will not normally charge you for such retrieval.

All Criminal Law firms are now required to receive evidence in electronic, rather than paper form, from the Crown Prosecution Service. As a consequence, this firm now works in a digital way. This means that we will now only keep an electronic file about your case, rather than a paper file. We will still store your file securely and in accordance with data protection laws and your electronic file will again be destroyed after the expiry of 6 years from the conclusion of your case. However, we will be prevented for data security reasons from forwarding to you a copy of the evidence in your case by email and will instead send you a printed copy by post.

Declaration

At page 27 of this Booklet, we have provided you with a declaration to sign. Please sign that declaration and return it to us indicating you accept our terms and conditions. Any dispute or legal issue arising from our terms of business will be determined by the law in England and Wales and considered exclusively by the English and Welsh courts. There is no obligation on you to do so, but we also ask you to complete and return our Diversity Monitoring Form at page 29. Your response can remain anonymous.

Confirming your identity

Money laundering regulations require solicitors to obtain evidence of the identity of their clients.

If we work with you as a privately paying client, we will need to see one document from List A and one document from List B below:

List A

• current full passport (signed); or
• current photo card driving licence; or
• birth certificate.

List B

• current photocard driving licence; or
• council tax or utility bill; or
• bank, building society, mortgage or HMRC tax statement; or
• house or motor insurance certificate.

We will need to see original documents and this process is dealt with by our Accounts Department.

You can visit one of our offices where a copy will be taken free of charge. If you are unable to attend our offices you can go to a local solicitor who will check the documents on our behalf. There is usually a small charge for this service.

We are required to keep copies of the documents for 5 years following the end of our business relationship with you. We currently retain all client documents for a period of 6 years. Your acceptance of our terms and conditions will be deemed as consent for us to retain the copies of identification documents for 6 years.

The information we obtain from you will only be used for avoidance of financial crime purposes.

Privacy Statement

You have instructed us to act for you, or we have taken steps at your request with a view to instruction and we have received personal data about you as a result.

There are two types of personal data.

Firstly, there is the general data that everyone has, like name, postal address, telephone number, and email account.

Secondly, there is more sensitive data, such as health records, race, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, criminal conviction records, and details relating to children.

We hold personal data because we have a contract with you, or we have taken steps at your request prior to entering a contract with you. Even though you may not pay anything or much towards our fees because you are in receipt of Legal Aid or have an insurance policy, any contract or pre-contract arrangement is between you and this firm.

We hold sensitive personal data only because it is necessary for the purposes of acting for you in legal proceedings or in anticipation of legal proceedings.

It is our responsibility to use the data you provide only for the purposes arising from our contract with you or in preparation for a contract.

In order to fulfil our obligations to you it may be necessary to share your data with others such as agents, barristers, experts (for example a forensic scientist) and interpreters.

If you benefit from Legal Aid or from insurance cover, it will also be necessary to share data with the Legal Aid Agency (LAA) or with the insurance organisation that agrees to meet your fees.

We are proud to hold Lexcel accreditation. As stated, we undergo yearly Lexcel audits and are always complimented on the standards we achieve. It may be necessary to share data with our Lexcel auditor(s).

We have a practical and legal duty to store data both during a case and after it concludes. To do so, we have to use IT providers, cloud server hosts, file storage companies, web service designers, case management systems, copying specialists, secretarial services and others. It will be necessary to share data with them.

Please rest assured that we have entered into written agreements with all and any external parties we may instruct or otherwise use for the purposes in furtherance of your instructions, in which we make very clear the data protection care and confidentiality owed to you.

Communications between solicitors and their clients are generally covered by what is known as legal professional privilege. This prevents those communications being disclosed without your permission. Privilege is a protection you enjoy on top of your rights under the Data Protection laws.

However and as already detailed, where we come to know about or suspect money laundering or other financial crime we are under a legal duty to make report to the National Crime Agency (NCA). This means that we will have to pass on your data to the relevant authorities if we observe suspicious financing activity, irrespective of privilege or data protection rights.

We have the responsibility to keep your data safe. To that end, we ensure that all information we store is protected by security measures. All portable devices are password protected. All our staff receive data protection training.

In the event that there is a data breach that affects you, we are under a duty to tell you of it within 72 hours and to make a report to the regulator.

Please note that others, such as prosecution agencies, will also have acquired your personal data. We cannot control what they do with that data. If you have concerns about the way they use it, you must address those concerns to them.

You have a number of rights in addition to the right to be informed (as we have done above), the right to a guarantee that we will use your data only in furtherance of your instructions (as we have explained), and the right to data security.

You have the right to be provided with access to the data about you that we hold, as long as the request is a reasonable one. If the information we hold about you is inaccurate, you have the right to ask that we make corrections.

The data protection laws provide partial rights to be forgotten and to limit use of data. We do not think that we could comply as we have legal obligations that are not compatible with any such request.

If you transfer your instructions, we will of course also transfer your data to your new solicitors (as long as our fees are paid).

We will retain your data for a period of 6 years after your matter has concluded. Thereafter, we will cause all paper files to be destroyed and we will ensure that all data held electronically is deleted.

Our Data Protection Officer is Chris Brown.

The regulator is the Information Commissioner’s Office at:

https://ico.org.uk/

Please be aware that if you apply for Legal Aid, the LAA has its own Privacy Notice that you should read. We can provide you with a printed copy but if you would like to know more, please visit the LAA website:

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/legal-aid-agency

Responsibility for Your Case

The Fee Earner identified in the letter accompanying this Booklet will be responsible for your case and will carry out most of the work. However, it may be necessary from time to time for others to carry out certain tasks in order to progress the matter and we have provided a list of Fee Earners below. We work as a team.

Please do not hesitate to contact the Fee Earner responsible for your case if there is anything that you wish to discuss. If they are unavailable you may leave a message with our Legal Administrators or with any other Fee Earner.

The Directors have ultimate responsibility for your case. They are Mark Jerman, Simon Samuels, Carly Denniss, Carly Pharaoh and Amie Harris at the Southend Office and Ian Clift at the Braintree Office.

JSP Solicitors is committed to promoting equality and diversity in all of its dealings with clients, third parties and employees. Please contact us if you would like a copy of our Equality and Diversity Policy.

We survey our clients asking them about the service we provide via our website at https://jsp.legal/contact-us/ and if you are able, please take the time to respond.

We are however proud that the results of recent surveys demonstrate we do not discriminate against clients. If you provide us with a positive review, we may anonymously publish your feedback by our website and so please let us know if you do not want us to do this.

We are committed to providing you with a high level of service. In the unlikely event that you are for any reason dissatisfied with the level of service that you receive from this firm, then you should raise your concerns with the Fee Earner who is responsible for your case or our Client Care Director, Ian Clift. If, after such consultation you feel the problem has not been resolved, may we refer you to our Complaints Procedure outlined within this Booklet.

Our Fee Earners

Please find detailed below a list of our Fee Earners together with their email address and specific qualifications:
Directors
Mark Jerman mj@jsp.legal Solicitor
Simon Samuels ss@jsp.legal Solicitor
Ian Clift ic@jsp.legal Solicitor Advocate
Carly Denniss cd@jsp.legal Solicitor Advocate
Carly Pharoah cp@jsp.legal Solicitor
Amie Harris ah@jsp.legal Solicitor
Ciara Mathews cm@jsp.legal Solicitor

Associate Directors
Rachael Gray rg@jsp.legal Solicitor Advocate
George Dixon gd@jsp.legal Solicitor
Samantha Harris sh@jsp.legal Solicitor

Solicitors
Fatimah Dhorowa fd@jsp.legal Solicitor
Aqsa Farooq af@jsp.legal Solicitor
Chloe Goodey clg@jsp.legal Solicitor

Trainee Solicitors
Kim Edgley kme@jsp.legal SQE Apprentice Solicitor
Emily Haines eh@jsp.legal Trainee Solicitor/Accredited Rep
Natalia Zuraw nz@jsp.legal Trainee Solicitor

Paralegals
Elisha Turner et@jsp.legal Paralegal/Accredited Rep
Jodi Spence js@jsp.legal Paralegal/Accredited Rep
Tavia Johnson tj@jsp.legal Paralegal/Accredited Rep
Alex Tahsin at@jsp.legal Paralegal/Accredited Rep
Natalie Jeremiah nj@jsp.legal Paralegal/Accredited Rep
Alfie Duffell ad@jsp.legal Paralegal/Probationary Rep
Lindsey Clay lc@jsp.legal Paralegal/Probationary Rep

If your case proceeds to the Crown Court, you may be represented by one of our regular Solicitor-Advocates, Ian Clift or Carly Denniss.

Alternatively, we will instruct a barrister at either 2 Bedford Row or 18 Red Lion Court to represent your interests. We will identify your barrister based upon their seniority and suitability for your case. We instruct barristers at those chambers based on the quality of service they offer and for more information, please visit their websites:

www.2bedfordrow.co.uk

www.18rlc.co.uk

Please do ask us to provide you with further information about their services.

A barrister from those chambers may also be instructed to have conduct of any trial you have at the Magistrates’ Court. Please be aware that subject to their availability, any barrister instructed on your behalf may become unavailable to represent you at your hearing and another barrister may have to be instructed quickly but this is a common feature of criminal proceedings and barristers are trained to deal with cases at short notice.

Legal Aid

Police Station

In the event that you are subject to a police enquiry, it is your right to have free access to legal advice. This means that regardless of any income you have, any advice you receive at the Police Station is free to you.

Further, subject to your income, you may be entitled to Advice and Assistance (CRM2). This enables the firm to carry out, free of charge to yourself, some limited assistance outside the police station or for example in relation to Benefit Fraud investigations. This cannot include any advice or representation relating to court proceedings.

Magistrates’ Court

If you are charged with an offence and required to attend a Magistrates’ Court then you may be eligible for representation free of charge to yourself. In those circumstances, you will need to apply for a Representation Order.

This firm will of course assist you with the relevant application form which must be submitted to the LAA. They administer criminal Legal Aid and can receive secure, on line applications.

In order to be granted a Representation Order, your case will have to pass a test concerning the merits of your application which takes into account such factors as the seriousness and complexity of your case.

If your application for a Representation Order passes the merits test then the LAA will decide whether or not to grant your application based on your means.

In regards to your means, we would advise you that if you are in receipt of Universal Credit or Income Support, Income Based Jobseekers Allowance, Employment Support Allowance or Pension Credit then you will be granted a Representation Order provided that you furnish this firm with your National Insurance number. If we do not have your National Insurance number on record, please provide that information to us after you are charged.

You will also be granted a Representation Order if you are either under 16 or if you are under 18 and still in full time education.

If however you do not fall into any of these categories of person, then a formal means test will be undertaken by the LAA. In that regard, the LAA may well request various documents from you in support of your application. At the very least, the LAA will require the last wage slip of yourself and any partner you live with.

It is appreciated by the LAA that if unfortunately you are in custody then you may not be able to provide the relevant information at the time your application for a Representation Order is submitted. If this is the case, you will be asked to sign a declaration to confirm your means. It may well be that later the LAA will still request you provide evidence of your means in support of your application.

If during the currency of your case there is any change to your financial circumstances then we would remind you that you are under a duty to advise the LAA of that change. We can then provide you with their contact details.

We would confirm to you that once a Representation Order is granted that will enable this firm to carry out all elements of your case to include preparation, attendance and advocacy.

If you are refused a Representation Order in the Magistrates’ Court because of your means, we can help you to make a Hardship Application to review that decision.

If you do not tell the truth on your application form about your income, assets or expenditure you could be prosecuted.

Please also be aware that some people now appear before the Magistrates’ Court by video link. We can represent you for free at any first hearing by video link if you appear before the Court from a police station, whatever your income. If your case continues after that hearing, then you will need to apply for a Representation Order.

Crown Court

If your case goes to the Crown Court for trial you will be eligible for a Representation Order if you have an annual disposable income of less than £37,500.00. Once you have completed an application form, you will then be means tested based upon the information contained in that form. After you have been means tested, you may have to pay towards the cost of your defence to the LAA. This could be from your income while the case is ongoing and/or from your capital, if you are convicted.

You will be asked to provide evidence of your income and assets. If you do not, your payments could be increased which would result in you paying more towards your defence costs. As before, if you do not tell the truth on your application form about your income, assets or expenditure you could be prosecuted.

You will not have to pay towards the costs of your case if you are under 18 when you make your application or if you receive the same benefits detailed above.

You may have to pay towards the costs if your disposable income is above £12,475 per year or £239.90 per week. If this is the case, you will receive a Contribution Order from the LAA and you will have to make payments as required under that Order. The first payment will be due within 28 days of your case being Sent for trial to the Crown Court.

You must again tell the LAA of any changes to your financial circumstances during your case because a change may affect the amount you have to pay towards your defence costs. If you do not think you can afford to pay, or you think a mistake has been made, you can ask for a review of the amount the LAA has told you to pay by again making a Hardship Application which we can help you with.

At the end of your case, if you are found Not Guilty then any payments you have made will be refunded with interest. If you paid late or not at all and action was taken against you, the costs of that action will be deducted from the refund.

If you are found Guilty, you may have to pay towards your defence costs from any capital assets you may have. This would only apply if:

• you have £30,000 or more of assets, for example savings, equity in property, shares or Premium Bonds; and
• any payments you have already made have not covered your total defence costs.

You will be told at the end of your case if you have to make a payment from capital and defence costs will include the Litigator costs, Advocate costs and any disbursements incurred.

As with private fee cases the costs of your case will be higher should your case proceed to Trial. Furthermore, if you have sufficient capital to do so the Legal Aid Agency will seek to recover those costs from your capital assets.

Please be aware however that if your case proceeds to the Crown Court purely for sentence, or because you wish to Appeal a conviction or sentence found or imposed at the Magistrates’ Court, you will only be entitled to Legal Aid representation by this firm in the Crown Court if you are entitled to Legal Aid in the Magistrates’ Court. A Solicitor-Advocate or Barrister can however seek a Representation Order to represent you in Crown Court Breach Proceedings.

In addition, if you Appeal against a Magistrates’ Court conviction or sentence and lose having had the benefit of Legal Aid, you will have to pay a defence costs order of either £500 or £250 in addition to any prosecution costs order.

If you have an annual disposable income of £37,500.00 or more you will not be financially eligible for a Representation Order and you will need to pay privately. You will however still need to complete an application for Legal Aid and have that application rejected before you can recover any private costs in the Crown Court.

Prison Law

Please note that from 1st April 2017, this firm ceased to undertake publicly funded Prison Law work but can still provide you with assistance in that area as privately funded.

Our Private Client Fees

We have a duty to explore your eligibility for Legal Aid funding. However, some cases such as simple motoring offences do not attract Legal Aid and some people because of their means are not eligible for Legal Aid. Alternatively, you may wish to fund your defence privately whether you are eligible for Legal Aid or not.

In accordance with the SRA Transparency Rules, we now provide the following general information regarding our private client fees and specific information concerning any fixed fee quote for a motoring offence to be met by a Guilty plea.

Private Client Fees

In the event that you are not eligible for Legal Aid we will be happy to represent you as a private client based on the below Schedule of Charges. We would estimate that the costs would be in the region of £1000 to £5000 plus VAT, subject to the nature of your case.

At the outset and unless otherwise agreed with you, we will require an initial payment on account of £1,000 plus VAT (£1,200). We are afraid that we no longer routinely receive cash payments but will assist you to pay by card or bank transfer. Please contact us should you need any help.

Should you be found Not Guilty at the conclusion of proceedings or the proceedings are discontinued against you, we can apply to the Court for a Defendant’s Costs Order (DCO) and when received, will seek re-imbursement of your legal costs from an organization called the National Taxing Team (NTT) out of Central Funds. However Schedule 7 to the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act now provides that all cases that commence in the Magistrates’ Court or are committed or transferred to the Crown Court for trial on or after 1st October 2012 will see DCO limited.

These limitations are as follows:

1. DCO to include legal costs can still be made following an acquittal or discontinuance of proceedings in the Magistrates’ Court but are limited to be paid at Legal Aid rates, which are currently and locally:
• Attendance & preparation – £52.15 per hour
• Advocacy (including applications for bail and other applications to the court) – £65.42 per hour
• Travelling and waiting – £27.60 per hour
• Routine letters written and routine telephone calls – £4.09 per item

This means that you are likely to only recover approximately 25% of your privately paid costs.

2. DCO to include legal costs can only be made following an upheld Appeal against conviction and/or sentence from the Magistrates’ Court.

3. DCO for individual defendants are no longer allowed in cases tried on Indictment in the Crown Court unless you have not been deemed financially eligible for a Representation Order. Those in receipt of an annual disposable income of £37,500.00 per annum or more will not be deemed financially eligible but would be entitled to apply for a DCO upon acquittal based upon Legal Aid rates only.

4. Companies can no longer apply for a DCO in any proceedings other than in certain circumstances before the Supreme Court.

5. DCO are still available in certain proceedings before the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court but you will be given separate advice in this regard in the event this applies to your case.

We preserve the right to bill private fees on an interim bill basis where for any reason whatsoever your case is of a prolonged nature. Please note again that we shall exercise our right to retain papers relating to your matter while our fees remain unpaid and that for assisting you in recovering any legal costs, there may be an additional charge of £50 plus VAT.

Schedule of Charges

All charges are exclusive of VAT.

Hourly rates

This rate applies to interviews, time spent in consideration of documents sent to us, preparation of documents by us, appearance at Court, travelling and waiting times spent in connection with your case. Different rates apply dependent upon the experience and both the level of qualification and position of the relevant Fee Earner:

(A) £278.00 (Director or Solicitor Advocate)
(B) £233.00 (Senior Solicitor)
(C) £190.00 (Solicitor)
(D) £138.00 (Trainee/Paralegal)

Fixed Fees – Guilty Pleas

Where possible we will quote a fixed fee for Magistrates’ Court work and for Guilty Pleas our minimum fee will be £1,000.00 plus VAT (£1,200).
That fee will be greater if the proceedings are to take place out of the area. The cost of travel, disbursements and expert or medical reports will be additional.

For specific information concerning any fixed fee quote for a motoring offence to be met by a guilty plea, please see below.

Not Guilty Pleas

We will quote an estimated fee for Magistrates’ Court or Crown Court work based upon the hourly rates quoted above. However the fee quoted may be subject to change depending on the length and complexity of the proceedings. The cost of expert or medical reports will be additional. You will be consulted before any increase to the fee is made.

We also reserve the right to charge an uplift at the conclusion of the proceedings on preparation, attendance and advocacy if particular care, expedition or due diligence is evident.

Additional Costs

Telephone Calls – each telephone call made or received lasting up to six minutes:

• £15.00

Longer calls charged on a time recording basis.

Letters and E-mails – each letter or e-mail written by us where the time spent is up to six minutes:

• £15.00

Longer letters or e-mails charged on a time recording basis.

Letters received:

• £10.00

Photocopies & Disbursements

• £0.35 per sheet
• Mileage @ 45p per mile, other disbursements as receipted

Any bill that we render to you, you have the right to object to that bill and apply for the assessment of that bill under Part III of the Solicitors Act.
Fixed fee quote – motoring offence (Guilty plea)
The minimum fee of £1,000 plus VAT (£1,200) will include:
• Up to 2 hours attendance/preparation considering evidence, taking your instructions and providing advice on likely sentence to include advice on whether an exceptional hardship, or special reasons argument should be made; and
• Attendance and representation at a single hearing at the Magistrates Court
The fee does not include:
• instruction of any expert witnesses;
• taking statements from any witnesses;
• advice/assistance in relation to a special reasons hearing; or
• advice or assistance in relation to any appeal.
The key stages of your matter are based on the presumption that you have or will enter a Guilty plea and have a date for your hearing. They are:
• You will meet with your solicitor to provide instructions on what happened.
• We will consider initial disclosure, and any other evidence and provide advice. Arranging to take any witness statements if necessary. This will have an additional cost, £100 plus VAT (£120). We will explain the court procedure to you so you know what to expect on the day of your hearing, and the sentencing options available to the court.
• We will conduct any further preparatory work, obtain further instructions from you if necessary and answer any follow up queries you have.
• We cannot provide a timescale of when your hearing will take place, as this depends on the court listing for that day.
• We will attend court on the day and meet with you before going before the court. We anticipate being at court for less than half a day.
• We will discuss the outcome with you. If advice is required on appeal, this will carry an additional cost.
The qualifications of our current Fee Earners are detailed above. In terms of supervision:

• the Directors supervise each other and all other Fee Earners; and
• Ciara Mathews, Rachael Gray and George Dixon also supervise.

We have no standing terms for regular clients.
Financial Orders

We would advise you that if you are unfortunately convicted of any charge before the Magistrates’ or Crown Court then that court is entitled to order you to pay a contribution toward the costs of the prosecution together with any financial penalty and compensation, as appropriate.

We would stress to you that if you are in receipt of a Representation Order that this would not pay those financial orders, you would be liable.

The court when making any financial orders will of course take into account your means but we would advise you that any financial orders are likely to be greater if you do not plead guilty at the first opportunity.

Victim Surcharge

In addition, and as of 1st October 2012, a court must impose a Victim Surcharge or ‘tax’. The provisions are set out in the following table but please note that different rules and amounts may apply depending upon the date of offence, your age or whether a company is convicted of a criminal offence. Please note that the current rates below apply to all offences committed on or after 16th June 2022:

Sentence Adults (18+) Youth (under 18 at the time of offence) Organisations
Conditional Discharge £26

£20 £26
Fine 40% of fine, max £2,000
£26 40% of fine, max £2,000
Community
Order £114

£26 N/A
Suspended Sentence of imprisonment (6 months or less) £154 N/A N/A
Suspended Sentence of imprisonment (over 6 months) £187 N/A N/A
Immediate custodial sentence (6 months or less) £154 £41 N/A
Immediate custodial sentence (more than 6 months – up to and including 2 years)
£187 £41 N/A
Immediate custodial sentence (over 2 years – life) £228 £41 N/A
Youth Rehabilitation Order or Referral Order N/A £26 N/A

You will be advised separately as to the rates of the Victim Surcharge that apply for offences committed before 16th June 2022.
In terms of the collection of any financial orders, this is dealt with locally by the Fines Office of Essex Magistrates’ Courts and financial orders are payable immediately or dealt with by way of a Collection Order. You should be aware that the court will supply to you documentation concerning the meaning of a Collection Order but of course this firm will be pleased to assist with any queries you may have.

The telephone number of the local fines office is 01245 313300, option 1.

Criminal Law and the Criminal Procedure Rules

We will advise you of the elements of any offence relevant to your case and will also explain the strength of the evidence, what arguments need to be raised on your behalf and the likely consequences to you in your case.

We will also explain the procedure at a police station, court and on appeal, as relevant to your case.

Please however be aware that the procedure at court is governed by the Criminal Procedure Rules. These can be found at the Ministry of Justice Website:

www.justice.gov.uk

If you do not have access to the internet, we can refer you to the aspects of the Rules that are relevant to your case but you need to be aware that you have certain duties under the Rules if you are a defendant in a case before the Magistrates’ Court, Crown Court or any other criminal court.

You have duties to notify the court through us of what the real issues in your case are and to provide us with full instructions so we can comply on your behalf with directions made by the court to forward your case.

You also need to identify to us any witnesses you intend to rely upon and by law, the names, addresses and dates of birth of those witnesses need to be disclosed to the court and prosecution.

If you do not comply with those and other duties, under the Criminal Procedure Rules we have a duty to report your non-compliance to the court. The sanctions the court can impose include an order to pay wasted costs, a criticism of you at trial and an order preventing you from relying upon certain evidence.

Please therefore co-operate with this firm in the preparation of your case.
In particular, if you are on bail, intend to plead Not Guilty and your case is to be tried in the Magistrates’ Court, you will need to provide us with your detailed instructions within the 5 days prior to your first hearing at Court. Under a scheme called Transforming Summary Justice, the Court will expect all issues and legal argument to be resolved at your first hearing which may take up to 30 minutes. Without your detailed instructions, we will not be able to effectively argue your case at the first hearing.

In the same way, if your case is sent to a Crown Court for trial, you will appear before the Crown Court within 28 – 35 days of your first appearance at the Magistrates’ Court for what is now called a Plea and Trial Preparation Hearing. At that hearing, your trial date will be fixed and other legal issues resolved so you will need to again, provide us with your detailed instructions within that 28 – 35 day period. Under a scheme called Better Case Management, the process at the Crown Court will now be quicker than previously and you will need to keep in touch with us so we can advise you of the exact date you will appear at court for your Plea and Trial Preparation Hearing.

We also need to inform the court if you plead Not Guilty that we have provided you with advice concerning Credit and Proof in Absence and now detail that advice below:

Credit

When you are charged with an offence, you will be asked to indicate whether you are Guilty or Not Guilty at the first court hearing in your case.

If you plead Not Guilty and later lose your trial, you will receive a greater punishment than if you had pleaded Guilty.

The sooner you plead Guilty, the greater discount you receive in terms of your punishment. This discount is called Credit.

It follows that if you are Guilty of an offence that can be proved against you, then you should plead Guilty at the first hearing to receive the most credit. However, you should not plead Guilty to an offence you have not committed.

Proof in Absence/Sentence in Absence

If you are to stand trial and without good reason fail to attend court on the day of your trial then the case can go ahead without you. This is known as Proof in Absence.

It is in your interests to attend court on the day of your trial as your defence will be harmed by the case going ahead without you and in particular you will not be present to give evidence and put your side of the story forward.

Please also be aware that if you fail to attend court without good reason having pleaded Guilty or having been found Guilty, you can now be sentenced in the Magistrates’ Court without you being present in court. This can include to imprisonment and disqualification from driving. This is known as Sentence in Absence.

It is clearly in your interests to attend court to be sentenced so that mitigation can be entered on your behalf and you are aware of the outcome.

If you are to stand trial and without good reason fail to attend court on the day of your trial then the case can go ahead without you. This is known as Proof in Absence.

It is clearly in your interests to attend court to be sentenced so that mitigation can be entered on your behalf and you are aware of the outcome.

SRA Standards and Regulations

This firm is authorised and regulated by the SRA and abides by the Standards and Regulations in force from 25th November 2019. Our SRA number is 564338.

Details about the SRA can be found at their Website www.sra.org.uk

If you do not have access to the internet, we can explain the role of the SRA, how they may be contacted and aspects of the Handbook that are relevant to you.

Any breach of the Handbook may result in disciplinary action taken against either the firm or the solicitor responsible and please be aware it is a potential breach for a solicitor to fail to comply with a court order.
We are however not a party to criminal proceedings. If you are being prosecuted before a court, the parties are the prosecution and yourself. Directions made by the court are for you to comply with and we will of course assist you in that regard.

That said, we need your co-operation in the preparation of your case and again, must report you to the court if you do not comply with us so that we do not fail to comply with a court order and breach the Handbook.

Complaints

Principles 2 and 6 of the SRA Standards and Regulations make clear that we must act in a way that upholds both public trust and confidence in the solicitors’ profession and in a way that encourages equality, diversity and inclusion.

Our regulatory obligations therefore extend beyond strict compliance with anti-discrimination legislation, we must also be inclusive and create an environment where everyone feels welcomed and valued.

This firm is therefore committed to:

• eliminating discrimination; and
• fair treatment for all.

As a consequence, we promote equality, diversity and inclusion in our policies, plans and procedures and in those areas in which we have influence. This applies to any complaint.

We are committed to high-quality legal advice and client care. If you are unhappy about any aspect of the service you have received or about a bill, please contact the Fee Earner responsible for your case. If your issue still cannot be resolved, please then contact our Client Care Director, Ian Clift by telephone on 01702 610071, by email at ic@jsp.legal or by post to our Southend office.

We have a procedure in place which details how we handle complaints which may be found below. We have 8 weeks to consider your complaint. If we have not resolved it within this time you may complain to the Legal Ombudsman.

Complaints Procedure

1. We will send you a letter acknowledging receipt of your complaint within 3 days of receiving it, enclosing a copy of this procedure.

2. We will then investigate your complaint. This will normally involve passing your complaint to our Client Care Director, Ian Clift who will review your case file and speak to the Fee Earner who acted for you.

3. Ian Clift will then invite you to a meeting to discuss and hopefully resolve your complaint. He will do this within 14 days of sending you the acknowledgement letter.

4. Within 3 days of the meeting, Ian Clift will write to you to confirm what took place and any solutions he has agreed with you.

5. If you do not want a meeting or it is not possible, Ian Clift will send you a detailed written reply to your complaint, including his suggestions for resolving the matter, within 21 days of sending you the acknowledgement letter.

6. At this stage, if you are still not satisfied, you should contact us again and we will arrange for another Director to review the decision.

7. We will write to you within 14 days of receiving your request for a review, confirming our final position on your complaint and explaining our reasons.

If you are still not satisfied with our handling of your complaint you can ask the Legal Ombudsman consider the complaint or seek advise from the SRA.

The Legal Ombudsman is an independent complaints body established under the Legal Services Act 2007 that deals with legal services complaints.

The Legal Ombudsman may be contacted about your complaint in the following ways:

By post: Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH
By telephone: 0300 555 0333 (calls charged at a local rate)

By email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk

Website: www.legalombudsman.org.uk

Normally, you will need to bring a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of receiving a final written response from us about your complaint or within 1 year of the act or omission about which you are complaining occurring (or if outside this period, within 1 year of when you should reasonably have been aware of it).

The SRA can help you if you are concerned about out behaviour. This could be for things like dishonesty, losing or taking your money or treating you unfairly because of your age, a disability or other characteristic. Information about raising a concern can be found at their Website www.sra.org.uk

You have the right to challenge, or complain about, a bill to include applying for assessment of the bill under Part III of the Solicitors Act.

Please be aware that whilst any client has the right to make complaint about either the services of this firm or a bill to us, most businesses (unless a micro enterprise), charities and clubs with an annual income of more than £1m and trustees of a trust with asset value of more than £1m do not have the right to complain to the Legal Ombudsman.

Alternative complaints bodies such as Small Claims Mediation (UK) Ltd exist which are competent to deal with complaints about legal services should both you and our firm wish to use such a scheme. We agree to use Small Claims Mediation (UK) Ltd and information about that body may be found at www.small-claims-mediation.co.uk.

Other Information

We are required to provide you with the following additional information that you may find useful:

VAT

Our registration number is: 795 6975 45

Professional Indemnity Insurance

We comply with the Provision of Services Regulations 2009 by displaying the required details of our Professional Indemnity Insurance in each of our offices.

Our Insurer is International Insurance Company of Hannover PLC who may be contacted at:
10 Fenchurch Street
London
EC3M 3BE
Tel: 0207 015 4000

Our territorial coverage is worldwide.

LLP Partnership

Our LLP Partnership number is: OC364537.

Contact Details

Our contact details are as follows:

Southend Office

Kingswood House
3rd Floor, 58-64 Baxter Avenue
Southend on Sea
Essex SS2 6BG

Tel 01702 610071

Braintree

20 Bardfield Centre
Braintree Road
Great Bardfield
Essex CM7 4SL

Tel 01702 610071 or 01376 329457

Benfleet – Appointment Only

Unit 42, Shafers Arcade
677-679 High Road
Benfleet
Essex SS7 5SF

You may however also contact us by emailing inbox@jsp.legal or via our Website, www.jsp.legal

Client Survey

Particularly at the conclusion of your case, please take the time to complete our survey via our website at https://jsp.legal/contact-us/

We strive to always improve our service and your views are important to us and will help us in the future.

You may also wish to review our performance on Google, see:

https://www.google.com/search?q=jermain+samuels+and+pearson&oq=jermain+samuels+and+pearson&aqs=chrome..69i57.20811j0j15&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Declaration

Please sign and date the declaration below and return it to us indicating you accept our terms and conditions. We will not be able to undertake any further work on your behalf until we are placed in funds and have received your signed declaration.

‘I agree to abide by the terms and conditions outlined in this booklet and wish to instruct JSP Solicitors to act on my behalf.

In the event of an application for my costs to be refunded by the Court, I hereby grant authority to JSP Solicitors to make that application and receive payment on my behalf. I understand that JSP Solicitors will then reimburse me any money owed to me’.

PRINT NAME _________________________________

Signed: _________________________________

Dated: _________________________________

Diversity Monitoring

Whilst there is no obligation on you to do so, we should also be grateful if you would consider completing this Diversity Monitoring Form and again returning that document to us.

Personal information in this regard will be held about you anonymously and in the strictest of confidence but as an equal opportunities legal services provider, this Firm always seeks to ensure that appropriate advice is provided to all.

Gender Monitoring

Do you consider yourself to be (circle):

Male Female Transsexual

Age Monitoring

Are you (circle):

U/18 18-30 30-45 45-60 60-70 70 +

Ethnic Monitoring

Do you consider yourself to be (circle)

White Mixed Asian Black Chinese Other

Disability Monitoring

Do you consider yourself to be (circle):

Disabled Not disabled

If you are disabled, what is your disability (complete here):

Faith Monitoring

Do you consider yourself to be (circle):

Christian Jewish Muslim Hindu Buddhist Other

Sexuality Monitoring

Do you consider yourself to be (circle):

Heterosexual Homosexual Bi-Sexual Other

Diversity Monitoring

Has anyone at this firm discriminated against you for reason of your gender, age ethnicity, disability, faith or sexuality (circle):

YES/NO.

If YES, this firm treats seriously any complaint of discrimination. Please provide details below of your complaint and they will be investigated immediately by our Client Care Director, Ian Clift:

Opt Out

I do not wish to answer any of the above questions but have not been discriminated against by anyone at this firm (circle):

YES/NO

Thank you for your assistance, this Firm needs to ensure that it is at all times complying with all legislation relevant to equality and diversity and we appreciate your help.