Our Service to You
Imagine you have been arrested and charged with a serious criminal offence, lets say possession and distribution of indecent images. A conviction can mean a lengthy custodial sentence – a scary prospect especially for someone who has never been to prison before.
Imagine that this isn’t even the most serious kind of offence under that heading – you were sent some images online that piqued your curiosity although you felt disgusted about looking at them and quickly deleted them. But then you were sent some more, one of which was particularly disturbing and you sent these to someone else to look at.
Two instances, less than twenty images in total and now you are facing prison. You have lost your job, your friends and even some of your family are no longer speaking to you. You are literally alone.
Your legal team might feel like the only friends you have at the moment.
Imagine then, you haven’t heard from your solicitor for months, imagine you have emailed them four times in the past three weeks because you have questions and your head is spinning, and you are scared about what might happen.
Imagine that you have called the office every day and just get told that someone will ring you back. But nobody ever rings you back.
It is a week before the sentencing hearing. You pleaded guilty six weeks ago and have heard absolutely nothing from your legal team since and you are terrified.
You get to court on the morning of your sentencing hearing, you are represented by a Barrister who you have never met before, who doesn’t say much to the Court about you and as you are led to the cells to begin a 3 year sentence, you can’t help wondering whether it could have turned out differently.
This is a sad, but very common story. And it is a very common scenario with Legal Aid where they are so busy they just don’t have time to spend with their clients before the hearing, things are done on a very last minute basis and sometimes only the bare minimum is done.
That’s why at Forrest Williams we are different.
We care about our clients.
We understand that people commit offences sometimes, and that they are genuinely remorseful.
We want to help.
We understand you might be frightened and anxious and have lots of questions.
We treat our clients’ cases as we would treat our own families’ cases, and we are passionate about getting the very best results for our clients.
We will always return your phone calls and emails.
We don’t work 9-5 office hours, so if you email us at 9pm there is every chance you will get an immediate response.
We will work closely with our barristers to ensure we have all the information we need to get you the very best outcome.
The client in the story above would have had a much better chance of a suspended sentence or a community order if they had come to us rather than Legal Aid.
There is a misconception that Legal Aid is free. It may be for some people, but the vast majority of people have to make contributions to it.
And even if it is free for you, it doesn’t come without cost – in terms of burden you will have to carry alone during what may be the worst period of your life.
You won’t get a better service anywhere than you will get from Forrest Williams. We will be the friends you need in your darkest hours, when nobody else is there for you.
Can you afford to play Russian Roulette with your future and your freedom?
To discuss your case, call our team now on 01623 397200.
