The By Lawyers Criminal Magistrates’ Court publication has been reviewed and enhanced. Improvements following from this review include:
- The matter plan and commentary have been revised and re-ordered to better reflect the flow of the criminal Magistrates’ Court processes.
- New and amended commentary headings for improved searchability.
- The summary of the 2018 bail reforms has been incorporated into the general commentary as those provisions are now entrenched.
- The commentary on taking instructions in criminal matters has been expanded.
- The commentary on the preliminary issues which may require practitioners’ attention before the first court appearance, or before a plea is entered, has been enhanced.
- Commencement of charges is now dealt with in more detail, including notices to appear and the consequently different process which applies compared to a charge and summons, or a warrant.
- The importance of identifying whether the charge is summary or indictable has been highlighted and discussion of the different processes which apply to each stream has been enhanced.
- Discussion of the process for charges in the indictable stream has been augmented with new headings added, including the Filing hearing, The hand-up brief, Committal mention, Applying for summary jurisdiction, Pleading guilty at the committal mention and Listing a committal hearing.
Practitioners are reminded that the Criminal Magistrates’ Court publication now also includes the By Lawyers guide to Commonwealth Offences, which covers all aspects of dealing with Commonwealth offences in state courts.
This review is part of the continuing commitment of By Lawyers to updating and enhancing our publications to help our subscribers enjoy practice more.