My legal life: Patrick Geddes, Allington Hughes Law

I qualified from Bangor University in 2009 with a degree in Law. After graduation, I went to the College of Law, Chester, to complete my LPC. I pestered local firms, the CPS and the courts for work experience and volunteered with the Witness Service. I got my first legal job soon after the LPC. I was taken on as a legal secretary in the criminal department of a general practice firm in Chester. I then worked at another firm in Chester for three years. I worked as a paralegal for a sole practitioner who trained me to be a Police Station Accredited Representative.

I joined Allington Hughes in 2015 as a paralegal in the criminal department. I was fortunate to obtain a training contract in December 2015. I qualified in June 2017 and obtained my higher rights in 2020.

I have now been with Allington Hughes for 10 years. I am a director and head of the criminal department. I would not be where I am without the help and support of many people during my education, work experience and training, including Melissa Griffiths who entrusted me to run the department.

'There is no time for self-doubt. My colleagues have always been supportive and willing and able to provide advice. But at the police station or as court duty, decisions come down to your assessment and judgement of cases'

I became duty-accredited in 2018. Since then I have had my own slot on the Wrexham rota covering the local police station and Wrexham and Mold magistrates’ courts. Usually, the firm is duty for the police station or court at least once a week and we have a steady flow of own client work in court and police stations. Sometimes this is local, other times we travel. I have gone as far as the Isle of Wight for a police interview and Truro for a Crown court trial. A recent duty day resulted in nine detainees in the police station, eight requesting duty and one a repeat own client. We also had two clients in court, one for sentence and the other a remand overnight. Any quiet time is spent dealing with admin on files or preparing matters for court.

As duty, no day is ever the same. You bounce from simple excess alcohol matters to serious assaults, and evidence-heavy drugs cases to serious sexual allegations. There is no time for self-doubt or second guesses. My colleagues have always been supportive and willing and able to provide advice. But at the police station or as court duty, decisions come down to your assessment and judgement.

Lots of cases we deal with result in guilty pleas. This is where we represent someone rather than ‘defend’ them. There are always reasons why someone has committed an offence, even if this does not amount to a defence. Good mitigation can make the difference between prison or a suspended sentence. But it is the acquittals, when they are the right results, which stick with you, such as:

• Alleged money launderers who were trying to buy their council house and only appeared to have been charged on the basis of their nationality.
• An employee who was alleged to have fraudulently claimed overtime, when in fact they were one of the few people who kept their workplace operational.
• A football supporter who was alleged to have hurled racist abuse, but had said nothing of the sort and was supported by five of the prosecution’s own witnesses. All of the clients were acquitted due to work we had done on their case.

I am now 37 with the average age of duty solicitors in England and Wales being 49. Many duty solicitors I have worked with, or alongside, are reducing their workload and heading towards retirement with no one to replace them. Recruiting in crime is hard due to the low fees and unsocial hours. Both private practice and the CPS also struggle with retention.

The criminal justice system feels like it is held together by the goodwill of those working in it. In our corner of things, the fees are low: £182.01 is the lowest fixed fee for a guilty plea case, with £321.37 as a trial fee. Colleagues in other areas charge more for one hour’s work than we get for a case from beginning to end. I would not want to do anything else, but it would be nice to be paid proper fees for the work we do. The increase to the police station fixed fee, from £185 to £223, is welcome, but it will take more than £38 to entice a new generation of solicitors to practise criminal law.