Once you have accepted a certificate, it is important to contact your client at your earliest opportunity.
LAA informs clients when a lawyer has accepted a certificate on their case. The client’s expectation – and LAA’s – is that you contact them within a reasonable amount of time. Consider factors such as the next court date, whether the client is in custody and if bail been spoken to. Contact within 48 hours is suggested.
In addition to alleviating stress and anxiety on the client’s part, this is essential to billing as well: you must have interviewed your client before billing under Tariff item 11.01.
Please note that the following steps are required to be able to invoice this tariff:
- Interviewed client
- Appeared in the Court of Justice on the client’s behalf
- Obtained disclosure (with the consent of the client)
Due to the extremely private nature of the contents of disclosure, it is not advisable to obtain disclosure without the consent of the client.
If you need time to attempt to contact your client on a new file, it is recommended that you appear, or have an agent (including duty counsel) appear for you, for “today only”. Advise the court that the file is new, and that you are still attempting to contact the client. This avoids counsel going on record without consent and saves the lawyer from potentially needing to come off record if no contact is ever made with the accused.