A placard on Whitehall in the morning can become a charge sheet by evening. Westminster is where the country protests, and the Public Order Act 2023, on top of the older offences of obstructing the highway and aggravated trespass, has made demonstrations around Parliament Square a steady source of cases, many heard at Westminster Magistrates' Court on the Marylebone Road. The same court hears every extradition request made to England and Wales and the first appearances in terrorism and other national cases, so its lists look like no other magistrates' court.
The borough's ordinary crime is West End crime: shoplifting on Oxford Street, phone snatching in Soho and Covent Garden, drugs around the clubs, assaults at closing time, drink driving along Park Lane, and the fraud and money-laundering investigations that follow Mayfair's money, much of it passing through the custody suite at Charing Cross. Anyone arrested or invited to a voluntary interview can have a solicitor in the room without charge, whatever their income, and what is said before the first question matters more than anything said later in court.
Cases too serious for the magistrates go for trial, usually to Southwark Crown Court across the river or the Old Bailey. A Westminster criminal defence solicitor prepares the case, instructs counsel, challenges disclosure and acts from bail application to sentence and appeal; firms here also handle regulatory investigations, interviews under caution with HMRC and the Serious Fraud Office, and motoring cases that threaten a professional's licence.
Legal aid is means-tested in the magistrates' court and may need contributions in the Crown Court, but fewer central London firms hold a contract than once did, so ask early; private fees are quoted per stage, motoring work often fixed.
Criminal defence firms serving Westminster 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; for fraud investigations see criminal law solicitors in the City of London.
Verified