Stages in the Criminal Process a Suspect Will Experience at the Hands of the Relevant Legal Authorities - Case Study Example

Name : xxxxxxxxxxx Institution : xxxxxxxxxxx Course : xxxxxxxxxxx Title : Introduction to law Tutor : xxxxxxxxxxx @2010 Introduction to law Underlined Terms The personnel should offer quality service since the goal of the Chamber is to offer quality services to the clients. A lot of significance is attached to confidentiality when dealing with the clients. No one should breach the confidentiality of a client according to the ethical obligations. The Chamber does not accept liability for the rights of third party. Only an appropriately licensed lawyer should offer legal advice to clients. Only solicitors are supposed to have direct contact with the clients (Ankerl 2007). Stages in the criminal process a suspect will experience at the hands of the relevant legal authorities The police will investigate and gather physical eyewitness evidence meant for identification and arresting of the suspect for reckless driving. During investigation, the suspect will enjoy protection from perverse searches and seizures through law enforcement authorities. During investigation, the suspect who is the reckless driver has the right of retaining counsel of his choice. Once the reckless driver is taken into custody, he has right to silence, appointed counsel if inexpensive to him and right to a practical bail. The State’s prosecuting attorney the charge the driver should be prosecuted for. The charging decisions will be determined using a preliminary hearing staging of the case to a grand judge. Once the State has established a precise charge against the driver, the driver will become accused who can consequently challenge the matter of the State’s case by using pretrial motions and statutory synchronized discovery. Pretrial preparation will involve casual exchanges and negotiations between the defense attorney and prosecutor intended to guard the accused from “overcharging” and prosecutorial transgression. In summary, the process will involve; Gathering the evidence on the defendant’s guilt on the driver’s action. Ultimate summary of the criminal case. Preliminary hearings of the case. Driver being accused. Selection of the jury. In camera hearing on the acceptability of evidence by the driver. Punishment to the guilty driver. The driver can then make an appeal (Lewis 2005). Statement of Claim This claim in this proceeding has been made basing on the following facts: 1. At all material times: a) The claimant was the owner of a Mitsubishi van registered number VOL 222; b) The defendant owns a Toyota Van registered number AAA 117. 2. On or around the 3rd day of March, 2010, at around 10.40 am on Plaza Street, Townsville, in the Queensland, the vehicle registered number AAA 117owned and driven by the defendant collided into the rear of the claimant's vehicle registered number VOL 222. 3. The collision referred above resulted from the carelessness of the defendant, particulars of which are as below: (a) Over speeding (b) Failing to take any elusive action in the circumstances; (c) Failing to control the vehicle to evade the said collision or at all; (d) Not keeping any appropriate lookout; (e) Failing to maintain their motor vehicle under any appropriate lookout; (f) Overtaking carelessly 4. As a result of the carelessness of the defendant, the claimant has incurred loss and damage. The claimant claims the following relief: PARTICULARS OF LOSS AND DAMAGE - Vehicle repair - $1,000 Hospital bill - $ 5, 00 (Sandford 2005). Legal assistance The driver can get the following legal assistance from Community Legal Services Scheme Advice and help solicitor regarding his criminal issue. Free legal counsel at the police station at the time of questioning. The expenses of a solicitor involved with the preparation of the case and primary representation for the proceedings at the Court. Full legal representation for defense, who is the driver in his criminal case at every court level. The driver can be provided with a duty solicitor for the provision of free legal advice and representation at jury’s court (Abel 2007). Woolf reforms to civil actions The introduction of Civil Procedure Rules has developed a universal set court process rules. This has led to the same process and jurisdiction in county court as well as in High Court. Any act can begin within the county apart from defamation and the cases whose value is less than £15,000 (£50,000 in individual injuries cases) have to begin in the county court. All operations now begin with the “claim form” being issued (Forsythe 2005). In regard to documents disclosure, the rules develop a responsibility on parties to reveal documents and hence strict schedules should be followed for the exchange of the documents and response to the questions. Early completion of the case is encouraged whereby litigation should be evaded if possible through encouraging pre-action procedures. Parties are obligated to use obliging litigation where the judge manages the timescale of the case. There are set costs for the fast-track, and charge estimates are subject matter to judicial endorsement on the multi-track. This has helped in preventing exploitation to the poor party through using a costly process. In case the case is very costly and complex to be conducted within the High Court, a case can be moved between tracks. The tracks have helped in reducing expenses and time spent in cases as well as preventing the tactical processes (Forsythe 2005). Woolf reforms to civil actions suggests that litigation ought to be the last option and disputes must be resolved fast and that strict processes should be followed; this being dependant on the claim’s nature. The parties should initially be encouraged to find modes of solving the disputes before taking a court action. This has resulted into more cooperation and the involved parties have less likelihood of adopting an adversarial approach. One inducement is the prospect that courts will enforce financial penalties and this has seen aggressive behavior mainly vanish; culture change has been observed. In regard to court control, judges have been given broad and unrestricted judicial case management authority to establish early trial dates and decline to shift them. This has resulted into reduction of both tactical applications and appeals. Moreover, there have been changes generally finding favor with well-organized litigants. Judges are applying amplified powers selectively (Forsythe 2005).  Bibliography Abel, R., 2007, All about Legal Aid, University of California Press, Berkeley. Ankerl, G., 2007, Employment Law, Benjamin Blom, New York. Forsythe, P., 2005, The Woolf reforms, University Press, Cambridge. Lewis, P., 2005, What you should know about Criminal case proceedings, SAGE, Cambridge. Sandford, C., 2005, A Practical Guide to Lawyering Skills, Cavendish Publishing, London. Read More