About
Standard, Academy of Criminal Law
A NSW criminal law education platform. It gives people facing a Local Court matter the process, the law and the words for court, in plain English, in the order their matter happens.
What this is
Standard is built around the common first charges that bring people to the Local Court without a lawyer: drug driving, drink driving, possess prohibited drug, common assault and speeding. Each is a full self-representation course, running from the notice or charge through to after court. Around the courses sit a before-court course on penalty notices and suspensions, a court election and licence appeal tool, 29 guides on the questions people ask first, and a glossary of the terms the court uses.
Every page carries two registers. Plain English is for the person with the court date, and shows only what changes the outcome. Full detail is for law students and aspiring practitioners, and carries the legal basis, the authorities and the way a practitioner reads the same material. A switch at the top of every page moves between them.
Who built it
Standard was built by Jason Pham, principal solicitor at JBP Law, a criminal and traffic defence firm in Parramatta, with the firm's solicitors. The content comes from the same work the firm does every week in the Local Court: reading the facts sheet, deciding the plea, preparing the folder of references, letters and program reports, and standing at the bar table.
Why
Many people who come to a criminal defence firm cannot afford to be represented for a first offence, and most of them will plead guilty and be sentenced in the Local Court. What they need is not complicated: the process, what the Judge is weighing, what to prepare, and what to say. A solicitor gives a client that in the first meeting. Standard gives it to anyone, free, in the order it happens, with the points marked where a fixed-fee review by a lawyer changes the outcome.
How it is kept accurate
Content is written by practising NSW criminal lawyers. Legal figures on the site, such as penalty notice amounts, demerit points, maximum penalties and disqualification periods, carry the date they were current as at and the legislation they come from. Notice amounts change on 1 July each year and court maximums change by Act, so those figures are checked against the schedule after each change.
Every page shows when it was last reviewed. Laws change. If something looks out of date, tell us through the consultation page and it will be checked.
What it is not
General information about NSW criminal law only, not legal advice. Reading it does not create a solicitor-client relationship between you and the lawyers who produced it. Every matter turns on its own facts. If you are unsure about any part of your matter, get advice before court.
The lawyers behind Standard
JBP Law is a criminal and traffic defence practice in Parramatta, NSW. Standard marks the points in each course where a fixed-fee review by a solicitor is worth having: the plea, the election, the folder before it is handed up, and an appeal inside the 28 days. If you later ask JBP Law to run the matter, the review fee comes off the fee.