Know-How Legal Workflow
Criminal litigation
Criminal Litigation Workflow and Precedents
This is the second release in Thomson Reuters Know-How Series which is designed to provide Criminal defence Litigators with step by step information in the form of easy to follow modules about practice, procedure and the various tasks that lawyers involved in criminal litigation cases need to complete.
The modules are designed to be used by criminal Litigators of all levels of experience.
Criminal Litigation Know-How provides comprehensive step by step coverage of:
- Initial steps in criminal cases;
- Applying for bail;
- Case management;
- Trial preparation;
- Sentencing;
- Appeals;
What does Criminal Litigation Know-How include?
Step by step guide – processes are mapped out into clear and simple steps that efficiently guide you towards the right outcomes.
Expert guidance - each step is accompanied by expertly written practical assistance and advice.
Tasks - the steps provide a separate list of tasks that need to be completed at each stage of a process.
Notes and Further Reading references - highlight and link to related materials that provide guidance and supplementary information.
Forms and precedents - downloadable templates provided in context for immediate use. Download a precedent as a Microsoft Word document. Used in conjunction with the unique Thomson Reuters Precedents Drafting Aide, users can save and adapt precedents to their own, specific needs.
Same platform access - related research publications and additional precedents are also available on Westlaw NZ, subject to subscription.
Civil litigation
Criminal Ligation Know-How follows the release of Civil Litigation Know-How.
Our Expert Authors
Criminal Litigation Expert Author
Douglas Ewen
Douglas is the architect of the Civil Litigation workflow steps and author of the expert guidance that accompanies each step. Douglas has practiced as a barrister since 1996. His work varies from human rights cases and judicial review to criminal jury trials and appeals.
Prior to post-admission legal practice, he worked as an outdoor clerk and then litigation legal executive for 4½ years in both London and New Zealand, in both the private and public sectors.
Starting at very much the bottom of the legal ladder, the work was an invaluable introduction to the nuts and bolts of actually getting things done in the court environment. This is best typified by his experiences on the first day on the job as an outdoor clerk in London in 1988. Douglas found himself, without being told by his employer that this might happen, making an application in front of a Queen’s Bench Division Master, without that much of an idea what a Master was, let alone what the application was about. With the kind assistance of registry staff and an uncommonly patient Master, the application succeeded.
For Douglas, the experience was both salutary and transformative. It was immediately apparent to him that, in moving a case forward (and surviving the experience), knowledge of the court's rules and practices was at least as important as substantive law, especially in dealings with the registry and its staff. Knowledge of the rules and having a good working relationship with court staff simply makes the job easier.
These early experiences led to one of Douglas’s abiding interests and subsequent specialisation in matters of procedure, civil and criminal. Pleading practice, a field replete with technical requirements, is an area of particular interest and research. Douglas has been involved in efforts to innovate the way civil pleadings are presented through use of merged pleadings, in an effort to simplify and clarify issues in a case.
Douglas runs a mixed civil and criminal practice, in the High Court and District Courts. Whilst formerly running a general civil caseload, these days through choice the civil litigation side of his practice concentrates on human rights cases, with a particular focus on wrongful detention cases.
Douglas has also lectured at Victoria University, School of Law, in advanced procedure, and was appointed as a member of the Legal Aid Review Panel by the Attorney-General, until its disestablishment in 2011.
Criminal Precedents Author
Frances Iggulden
Frances Iggulden is a barrister specialising in criminal law. Frances is based at Sentinel Chambers in Auckland. Frances was admitted to the bar in 2009. She commenced her legal career in a small firm in Taranaki. During her time in Taranaki Frances specialised in litigation across a broad spectrum including family, civil, employment and criminal law.
In 2012 Frances moved to Auckland and commenced employment with a barrister specialising in criminal law. Since that time criminal law has also been Frances’ speciality.
Frances has practiced as a barrister sole at Sentinel Chambers since 2015.
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