Lawyers have recounted extraordinary scenes both of chaos and professional dedication over the past 10 days, as defence solicitors, prosecutors, magistrates and court staff worked through the night to deal with the unprecedented number of people arrested in the wake of last week’s riots across England.

An estimated 3,000 alleged offenders are expected to appear before the courts in relation to the riots.

London’s City of Westminster, Camberwell Green and Highbury Corner magistrates’ courts held night sittings to cope with the numbers last week, as did courts in Manchester and Solihull. Around 1,277 people had appeared before magistrates in relation to the riots as the Gazette went to press, of whom 64% have been remanded in custody.

But some solicitors have warned that hearings have been fast-tracked at the expense of justice.

They have reported chaotic scenes at the courts, with defendants sent to the wrong place, defence files going missing and police vans continuing to deliver alleged offenders to already overcrowded holding cells.

Joseph Wright, defence solicitor at London firm Hodge Jones & Allen, said the atmosphere in Westminster Magistrates’ Court was ‘surreal’ during the night of Thursday 11 August.

He said: ‘I represented eight people in 14 hours. There were long periods of inactivity while the clients were in transit. A van with the defendants would arrive and we would wait some more. Then the paperwork would come and we would have a frantic 15 minutes before we were up in court. Surreal.’

Vicky Thompson, defence solicitor at London firm Ronald Fletcher Baker, was on duty at London’s Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court.

She said: ‘I started work on Tuesday morning to deal with my normal caseload, but it wasn’t until 36 hours later, having worked all night Tuesday and all day Wednesday, that I was able to go home.

‘It was chaos. There was a constant stream of police vans from 2am onwards and four detainees in every cell. Most cases started without defence files. How do you discuss bail applications under such conditions?’

London firm McCormacks had two of its offices evacuated by police on Tuesday 9 August because staff were at risk from rioters.

The firm’s defence duty solicitor Alison Todd said that she then found herself, at 6am the next day, joining the ‘shell-shocked solicitors’ who had worked overnight defending the very people who had caused the offices to close.

She said: ‘We had the names of our clients, but no evidence to discuss with them and no Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) files. There were no members of the youth offending team there, either.’

Todd described ‘court rooms crammed with advocates’ and ‘supremely calm magistrates coping admirably and giving matters very careful consideration’.

She said the clients she had defended had been ‘very ordinary individuals’ who had found themselves in ‘extraordinary circumstances’.

‘They had acted impulsively,’ she said. ‘They were not ringleaders, but had been caught up on the fringes. I saw one client with no previous convictions who had picked up something abandoned by another. He has lost his good name and is likely to lose his liberty.’

Todd added that although she had dealt only with minor offenders, she was aware that other solicitors at the same court had dealt with serious cases.

A spokeswoman for the Crown Prosecution Service said that it had a system of shifts in place to enable it to cope with the workload, and emphasised that its prosecutors were able to do the same level of case preparation as on a normal working day.

But Ian Kelcey, chair of the Law Society’s Criminal Law Committee, voiced concerns about the speed of the process.

He said: ‘Everyone was trying to get things done quickly. Many of the accused may actually have been guilty, but there was a distinct feeling that speed of process had become more important to the courts than ensuring justice was done.

‘Defence solicitors have to have sufficient time to take instructions and prepare for either mitigation or advising on plea. Courts do not always have regard to the fact that some clients can be very difficult, some have learning difficulties and some find it hard to give coherent instructions. Speed of process should not overtake the fair dispensation of justice.’

Julian Young, senior partner of London firm Julian Young & Co, who undertook a late night shift at Westminster magistrates’ court, had similar concerns. He described it as ‘an excellent, but administratively incompetent idea’ to keep the courts open all night.

Young said: ‘How can young people who have been awake all night make important decisions that could affect the rest of their lives? The lawyers and magistrates were exhausted, too.

‘A democratic society should never sacrifice justice on the twin altars of speed and expediency.’