Criminal defence
Fixed fees. A billing portal you can't argue with. A system built for someone else.
Criminal work pays the same however long a case takes. So the hours that matter are the ones spent re-keying, chasing and fighting the billing, not the ones spent on the client.
25%.
The fall in the number of duty solicitors between 2017 and 2024. Fewer than 4% are under 35.
Where the hours go on a criminal file.
Police station attendances. Notes written up after the event and typed again into the case management system.
Legal aid billing. Claims prepared by hand, and redone when the portal rejects them.
Court preparation. Bundles, disclosure and digital evidence assembled from different places.
Out of hours work. Duty calls taken on a phone, with the system back at the office.
Chasing. Clients, the CPS, the court and the police, tracked in email and memory.
The systems you don't control.
The Legal Aid Agency.
Its systems were down from May to December 2025 after a cyber attack, and some firms couldn't cover salaries. The interim bulk claims portal, live since February 2026, rejects a whole submission if one fee code is missing and doesn't let you edit a claim after upload.
Fees.
A £320 police station fee and a 10% magistrates' uplift from 22 December 2025. Further changes are waiting until the Legal Aid Agency's own systems can deliver them.
Common Platform and the court's digital systems.
Defence solicitors have called Common Platform not fit for purpose, and the firm has to work with it anyway.
You can't change any of that. You can change how much of your day it takes.
What firms like yours are doing.
The criminal firms that are growing are taking control of their own systems. A case management system built around how a criminal practice actually runs, from the police station call to the final bill, means attendance notes go in once, claims are prepared from the file, and fee earners can work from a phone at the station or the court.
If you're 5 to 20 fee earners.
The partners are often on the duty rota as well as running the firm. Start with an AI Day, so attendance notes and correspondence can be drafted safely, then look at the billing.
If you're 20 to 50 fee earners.
You're probably running duty work, Crown Court work and maybe private clients on a system that treats them all the same. This is where your own system pays back fastest.
In progress. We're building a case management system for a growing criminal practice now, replacing its old system with one built around its own workflow, with AI as a main feature.
See how the build worksWhat the regulator expects.
Supervision.
Duty work is often done out of hours by people working alone. The firm still has to show it's supervised.
AI use.
The SRA issued a warning notice on misuse of AI in August 2026, and courts and tribunals have already dealt with fabricated authorities in immigration and other cases. Every AI output used in a case needs a named person who checked it.
Client data.
Criminal files hold some of the most sensitive data a firm has. Where it's stored and who can see it has to be clear.
Where to start.
Questions criminal defence partners ask.
Can you build a case management system for a criminal defence firm?
Yes. We're doing it now. We build it around how your practice runs, from the police station to the final bill, connected to your accounts system. Most builds cost £30,000 to £70,000 at a fixed price and take three to four months, with a working prototype within three working days of a free half-day review.
Can it help with legal aid billing?
It can prepare claims from the information already on the file, so they're complete before they're submitted. It works with the Legal Aid Agency's systems as they are, not as anyone wishes they were.
Can we use it at the police station?
Yes. It runs in a browser, on a phone as well as a desk.
Is AI safe for criminal files?
Only with the right tool, the right terms and a person checking every output. That's built into every system and every AI Day we run.
See your own system working, within three working days.
A free half-day review is half a day with your partners and the people who run the files. Within three working days you have a working prototype built from it.