Every Metropolitan Police recruit trains at Hendon, yet Barnet itself no longer has a magistrates' court: the one at Hendon closed some years ago, the borough's cases are now mostly listed at Willesden, and Crown Court trials are sent to Harrow or Wood Green. For anyone arrested in Barnet the first stop is usually the custody suite at Colindale, and the first decision is whether to accept the free legal advice to which everyone is entitled at the police station, regardless of income. Accept it. A solicitor in the interview room shapes everything that follows, from whether a caution is offered to what the prosecution can later rely on.
Barnet's criminal work reflects a large, mostly suburban borough. Motoring offences dominate the magistrates' lists: speeding on the A1, the A41 and the North Circular, drink and drug driving, totting-up disqualifications and the exceptional hardship arguments that keep people driving to work. Fraud, money laundering and tax investigations arise from the borough's thousands of small businesses, and an interview under caution by HMRC or trading standards needs a solicitor as much as a police interview does. Drug supply, domestic abuse allegations, assaults and offences against the Jewish community investigated as hate crime make up the rest, together with youth cases that defence solicitors work hard to keep out of court altogether.
Legal aid covers most people facing criminal charges, with a means test in the magistrates' court and possible contributions in the Crown Court, and the duty solicitor scheme runs around the clock. Privately paying clients, which in motoring cases means most of them, should ask for a fixed fee or a clear estimate for each stage.
Criminal defence firms serving Barnet are listed below, verified firms first and then by distance. Read what criminal law involves, the general criminal law solicitors page and whether you can get legal help for free; for firms based near the central London courts see the London criminal law page.
Verified