TIP: Shop around. Get quotes from a few law firms. You may be able to save yourself thousands of pounds. BUT: Don't choose a law firm just because they have the lowest rates. A bad solicitor can sometimes be worse than none at all.
Ask what may be expected as a retainer. If you like a particular criminal solicitor feel free to haggle over fees. A solicitor likes to charge by the hour, but often rates can be negotiated. There are too many criminal solicitors with too few clients today. You can get a better deal. Be sure and cover contingencies with him. What will it cost if the unexpected occurs? You want to know before you get a huge bill.
A lot is at stake here. If you want to break a man, tie him up in lawsuits. Interview a number of solicitors before you make a final decision. Consider trying to get a few recommendations. Unless you're skint, free legal aid isn't the way to go. You get the law you pay for, unfortunately.
If you are ever in need of one, make his job easier by saying nothing to the police. Even if they find you stooped over the body with a dagger in your hand and blood on your jacket, keep quiet. You are not obliged to incriminate yourself, whatever about the death of 'the right to silence' in the UK.
Policemen love confessions. It makes their job so much easier. They'll try to wear you down, or trip you up. Keep your mouth shut. Some cases, especially the less serious ones, never get to court due to lack of evidence, or they get thrown out for procedural reasons.
If you confess, the game is over.
Your best way to find a criminal solicitor quickly on the internet is to use a search engine, or a directory service , like Yell.co.uk.
With a search engine, like Google, add 'stop' words to the query. Your query would look like this: criminal solicitor -USA -biz -"duty solicitor", where 'USA' and 'biz' are words, and "duty solicitor" is a phrase, from type of sites you don't want in the search results.
