The Johnson Partnership

This week The Johnson Partnership was named as the No: 1 Firm of criminal solicitors in Derby and Derbyshire.  The accolade was received almost 12 months to the day from the opening of The Johnson Partnerships’ Chesterfield Office.

The Firm now provides teams of specialist criminal solicitors in Derby and Chesterfield.  Centrally based expertise means that we are able to field prison law solicitors for Derby and Chesterfield based clients as well as having specialist fraud solicitors on hand to see clients in the North and South of Derbyshire.

We have been able to call on the trading standard law expertise of John Wilford who, whilst based at our Chesterfield premises, is delighted to advise clients with trading standard problems at either the Chesterfield or Derby office.  By employing a far ranging dedicated team of lawyers with expertise in everything from motoring law to major crime, we aim to head for “top lawyer status” not only in Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and the East Midlands but throughout the country.

The Prison Law section of The Johnson Partnership is based in Nottingham but provides assistance to clients nationwide.  Families and friends of clients can be seen at our Derby, Chesterfield and Mansfield offices as well as the Nottingham home base.

As of 1^st March 2012 the Department has a new Prison Law solicitor available to help clients, wherever they may be!

Euan Edwards first joined the Firm in 2005, since when he has gained substantial experience in The Johnson Partnership’s Crown Court Department as well as assisting on the out-of-hours police station rota.

Euan’s interest in Prison Law has seen him assume a substantial caseload of Parole, Adjudications, Re-categorisation, advice and assistance and judicial review work.

He augments an already strong team of specialist Prison Law advisors who have received national recognition for their pioneering work.

The Johnson Partnership Criminal, Fraud and Prison Law Solicitors are among the first in the country to have their own in-house video link system.

From their East Midlands base, this leading Defence firm is now able to hook up Counsel, clients, expert witnesses and collaborating solicitors by way of live video link.

Video conferencing with London Chambers’ as well as the majority of courts and prisons is now only the push of a button away.

In the past, clients and solicitors have spent painful hours travelling to and from London Chambers.  This is now a thing of the past!

Prison Law solicitors have had to leave home at unfeasibly early hours in order to meet with prisoners, who are only available during limited visiting hours.

The close circuit video link system allows swift and easy access for all clients and partner agencies.  Probation officers and psychiatrists will be able to make use of the system.  Expert witnesses will be able to gather information direct from the horses mouth from the horses mouth from the comfort of our East Midlands base.

Since the autumn of 2009, the Ministry of Justice has been actively considering how to cut the legal aid budget.  

During the last 6 months solicitors from The Johnson Partership have met with both Jack Straw and Ken Clarke to lobby for sensible and workable arrangements to surround any reductions in legal aid rates.

We are committed to a 3 point agenda which should enable the Ministry to deliver such cuts as it has to, but which will ensure a high level of access to justice for those who need it.

1.   Any reduction in fees has to be accompanied by an increase in the number of cases being handled by the remaining firms dealing with legally aided work. The government’s reduction in public spending may of course lead to an increase in the levels of crime. A more desirable way of increasing volume and overall efficiency would be to reduce the number of firms authorised to provide legally aided services in each area.

2.   Any reduction of fees must be accompanied by the reduction in interference of government agencies.  Solicitors are already governed by the Solicitors’ Regulation Authority. If conveyancing, probate, commercial or personal injury work is being carried out by a solicitor in England and Wales, the quality of service and the solicitors’ ability to deliver are monitored by the SRA. Legally aided solicitors have to face multiple layers of regulation and monitoring not only from the SRA, but also by way of peer review,quality audits and costs audits. Where a government wants legal aid firms to cut profit margins to the very minimum, there is no scope for fee earners and supervisors to be involved in this sort of unpaid, time-consuming box ticking.

3.   Where a reduction in fees has to be accompanied by proof that central government is committed to paying its bills on time. Now that the billing process has been streamlined and many fees standardised, there can be no excuse for delaying payment by as much as 6 to 8 months. If firms are to survive further legal aid cuts they will have to have a guaranteed stream of regular and promised payments.

Digby Johnson and Ian Boddy have been involved in meetings with both the current Ministryof Justice and his predecessor to ensure that the terms of this blueprint for survival are set out as clearly as possible to those at the highest level.

The Johnson Partnership specialise in criminal defence and business defence work of all types and Prison Law.  As the largest criminal firm in England and Wales, we cover the entire country and have lawyers specialising in every area of criminal law practice. We cover criminal offences ranging from motoring offences, VAT Fraud, Asbo’s, Youth Crime, Driving Bans, Professional Misconduct, Trading Standards law to Murder and Manslaughter. You can rest assured that every case will be handled with the expertise of the criminal solicitor expertise it deserves.

http://www.thejohnsonpartnership.co.uk/