Everything serious in south-west London ends up at Kingston Crown Court. The building on Penrhyn Road hears trials sent from magistrates' courts across the region, from robbery and drug supply to fraud and serious violence, and a defendant from Richmond, Wandsworth or Merton is as likely to stand in its dock as a Kingston one. For criminal law solicitors in Kingston upon Thames that means a practice built around Crown Court work: preparing the defence case, instructing counsel or appearing as advocates themselves, challenging the prosecution evidence and dealing with bail, sentencing and appeal.
The town's own caseload is ordinary. Kingston has one of the livelier night-time economies in outer London, so public order, assault and drunkenness around the clubs and the riverside bars fill the lists; the student population brings drug possession and the occasional fraud; the A3 and the Kingston bypass supply speeding, drink and drug driving and driving while disqualified; shoplifting in the Bentall Centre and the department stores is constant; and domestic abuse, as everywhere, is a steady part of the work. Cases begin at a magistrates' court, which for Kingston defendants usually means Wimbledon.
Before any of that comes the police station, where advice is free whatever the suspect's income, on arrest or at a voluntary interview, and a solicitor in the room shapes everything that follows. A means test decides legal aid in the magistrates' court; at the Crown Court it is granted more readily but contributions can be ordered. Many Kingston firms hold a contract and sit on the duty rota.
Paying privately, expect a fixed fee for a motoring case and an estimate per stage for anything that may reach the Crown Court.
The criminal defence firms nearest Kingston upon Thames appear below, verified firms first. For background, the explainer on criminal law, the criminal law solicitors page and the article on free legal help are the places to start, and criminal law solicitors in Merton covers the magistrates' court at Wimbledon.
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