Two Crown Courts sit in Southwark, and they could hardly be more different. Southwark Crown Court, beside the river at London Bridge, is where the Serious Fraud Office, the Financial Conduct Authority and HMRC bring their largest cases, and its trials can run for months over spreadsheets and bank records. Inner London Crown Court, at Elephant and Castle, deals with the serious crime of everyday south London: robbery, drugs, violence, sexual offences and burglary. Criminal law solicitors in Southwark tend to specialise in one world or the other, and it is worth asking which before instructing one.
Most cases never reach either. They start at a police station, where anyone arrested or invited to a voluntary interview is entitled to free legal advice regardless of income, and are finished at Camberwell Green Magistrates' Court, which handles the summary work for this part of London: assaults, drink and drug driving on the Old Kent Road, shoplifting, public order after a night out in Peckham, and the first hearing of every case later sent up to the Crown Court. A solicitor in the interview room shapes everything that follows, including whether a caution or an out-of-court disposal is offered instead of a charge.
Fraud and regulatory work is a Southwark speciality for obvious reasons. Interviews under caution by HMRC or the FCA, restraint and confiscation proceedings and money-laundering allegations all need a solicitor who knows the court across the road.
Legal aid covers most criminal cases, means-tested in the magistrates' court and with possible contributions in the Crown Court, and many Southwark firms hold a contract. Privately funded clients should get an estimate for each stage; motoring matters are often fixed-fee.
Criminal defence firms serving Southwark are listed below, verified first. Read what criminal law involves, the general criminal law solicitors page and whether you can get legal help for free, or see criminal law solicitors in London for the capital as a whole.
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