Youth crime unit

We have a specialist team which provides advice and representation for young people in police station, youth and adult magistrates’ court, Crown Court and on appeal.   Our work involves the whole range of youth offending from joy riding, graffiti, street robbery to serious sexual offences, firearms, drug dealing and murder.
 
Our experienced team is led by Mark Ashford who is acknowledged as one of the foremost youth crime lawyers in the country.   He is the co-author of a legal textbook on defending young people accused of crime and he regularly trains other lawyers on youth court law and practice.

Our team regularly help young people who are under arrest in police stations across London and beyond.   We represent young people in the youth courts at Thames (Bow Road), Stratford and Highgate where lawyers in the team are often duty solicitors.   Our Crown Court work covers courts across London, including trials at the Old Bailey, as well as serious cases further afield.

We have a special interest in defending young people who have a learning difficulty, mental disorder (e.g. autism, ADHD) or a mental illness and we have strong links with specialist mental health professionals who we can call upon to help achieve the best result.

We can also help young people with:

• anti-social behaviour orders (ASBOs)
• parole applications
• prison discipline and adjudications
• secure accommodation applications
• police harassment
• wrongful arrests and assaults by the police

We work closely with our colleagues who can help with legal problems involving being in care or homelessness.