Solicitors must firmly resist requests from magistrates and district judges to take instructions from defendants while they are in the dock, the Law Society’s criminal law committee has urged.

The warning follows reports of district judges and magistrates refusing to give adjournments for meetings, committee chairman Ian Kelcey said. He said that taking instructions in such circumstances puts solicitors in breach of practice rules as they are ‘in effect waiving confidentiality’.

Kelcey blamed pressure on courts from the government’s simple speedy summary justice (CJSSS) initiative to resolve cases quickly. One west country solicitor, who did not want to be named, said she had been asked to take instructions on a pre-sentence report while her client was in the dock. She said courts should recognise that adjournments may be unavoidable when firms send one solicitor to court to cover several cases. ‘It is inevitable that courts will be kept waiting sometimes, however efficient we try to be.’

Roy Morgan, chairman of the Legal Aid Practitioners Group, said: ‘Instructions in the dock are often taken where the query is minor and straightforward, but if it is substantial or on the papers a request should be made for the case to be adjourned or at least put back in the list. Solicitors should be firm about this.’

John Thornhill, chairman of the Magistrates’ Association said: ‘Under CJSSS there is pressure to ensure that cases progress without undue delay. When a matter comes into court, magistrates expect all advocates to have prepared their cases fully. We do appreciate that, at times, this may not be possible if an advocate has been unduly delayed for reasons outside their control.’