Author: Steven Bird

Today the Court of Appeal quashed a confiscation order made erroneously against our client under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and replaced it with a much smaller order under the Criminal Justice Act 1988. We did not act at the Crown Court trial where…

Response to the Transforming Legal Aid: Crime Duty Contracts Consultation by Birds Solicitors Limited About the Firm Birds Solicitors is a firm of criminal defence specialists. The firm was established on 2nd October 2000 and deals with crime at all levels from the most mundane…

On the 30th October 2014, the Crown discontinued the proceedings at Stratford Youth Court against TN, who was a child victim of human trafficking. Philippa Southwell of this firm represented TN and made successful representations that the prosecution contravened CPS guidance on human trafficking, was…

Time to re-think the legal aid cuts Mr Grayling? In the consultation on legal aid cuts, Mr Grayling stated that he wanted to save £220 million from the criminal legal aid budget (including prison law) by 2018/19 and was starting from a base of the…

On 13th January 2014, the Ministry of Justice was sent a report produced by Oxford Economics, an independent consultancy which had been jointly commissioned by the Law Society, the London Criminal Courts Solicitors Association, The Criminal Law Solicitors Association, the Legal Aid Practitioners’ Group and…

This is an extract from our response to the Legal Aid Consultation and deals with the alleged Case for Reform It is true that the criminal justice system in England and Wales enjoys an excellent world-wide reputation. What is also true is that the defence…