HMP Wandsworth holds more prisoners than almost any other jail in the country, and a good share of the criminal defence work in the borough happens inside it: bail applications for men held on remand, legal visits before a Crown Court trial, and advice on parole, recall and prison discipline for those already sentenced. Since a prisoner escaped in 2023 the prison has been inspected and criticised repeatedly, and solicitors who visit regularly know how slowly a legal visit can be arranged.
Outside the walls, the work begins at the police station. Anyone arrested in Wandsworth, or invited in for a voluntary interview, can have a solicitor there free of charge whatever their income, and what is said in that first interview often decides the case. Cases then start at a magistrates' court; the courts serving this part of London have moved around in recent years, so the solicitor will say where to go. Trials too serious for the magistrates are sent to the Crown Court, most often Kingston or Inner London for defendants from the borough.
The caseload reflects the place: drink and drug driving on the South Circular and the roads around Wandsworth Bridge, assaults and public order after closing time on Northcote Road and in Tooting, drug supply, domestic abuse, shoplifting at the power station and in Southside, fraud and tax investigations involving professionals who live in Putney and Battersea, and the youth cases that every large estate produces.
In the magistrates' court legal aid depends on a means test; in the Crown Court it is usually granted but may come with contributions. Privately paying clients should ask for an estimate per stage, and motoring cases are often fixed-fee.
The criminal defence firms serving Wandsworth appear below, verified firms first. Background reading: what criminal law involves and the general page on criminal law solicitors; the article on free legal help explains legal aid, and criminal law solicitors in London covers the capital's courts as a whole.
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