Often, yes. Bail must be granted unless the Court is satisfied there is good reason to keep you in custody. The Court considers three risks: that you will not turn up to court, that you will interfere with witnesses or evidence, and that you will offend while on bail. Where the prosecution opposes bail, those concerns can be answered with a suitable address and conditions, such as a curfew, and bail is often granted on the first day.

In weighing those risks, the Court looks at the charge and the strength of the evidence, your record, and how you have kept to bail and other court orders in the past. Where the charge involves family violence, protecting the complainant comes first. On more serious charges, the Court may grant bail only on electronic monitoring. That needs an application and an assessment of the address, which usually takes two to four weeks.

For a few charges the usual position is reversed, and it is for us to show that you should have bail: murder, a serious Class A drug charge, a serious violent or sexual charge when you already have a conviction for one, or a new serious charge while already on bail, for someone with a prison record. The same applies once you have pleaded guilty or been found guilty. Bail is harder to get in those cases, and in a small number it is not available at all while you wait to be sentenced.

We make sure the Court has a safe place for you to go, and conditions that answer its concerns.

Sentences run from a discharge without conviction through to imprisonment, and for the most serious charges, life. The maximum is kept for the worst cases of their kind, so the realistic range is usually well below it, and it can be worked out early for the charge in front of you.

The Judge works in steps. The starting point comes from the offending itself: what happened, how serious it was, and your part in it, measured against similar cases. The Judge then adjusts for you personally. Previous convictions can add to it. A guilty plea, remorse, your background and circumstances, and the steps you have taken since can bring it down, and the earlier the plea, the larger the reduction. Where the result is a prison term of two years or less, the Court can impose home detention or a community-based sentence instead.

We make sure the Judge sentences on the right facts, and knows the person in front of them.

The law presumes you are innocent until proven guilty. The prosecution must prove the charge beyond reasonable doubt, and there is no obligation on you to prove anything. The evidence decides whether the charge can be proved, and what charge, if any, is the right one.

A case can be won before trial. Evidence obtained unlawfully or unfairly can be challenged and excluded, and without it the prosecution may be unable to proceed. Where the evidence does not support the charge, the prosecution can be pressed to withdraw or reduce it. If the case goes to trial, a Judge or jury decides whether the charge is proved.

It begins with the law: exactly what the prosecution has to prove. Then the evidence, all of it, and your account of what happened. From that comes an honest analysis of the case and clear advice, so that the decision whether to defend the charge is an informed one. The decision is yours. Once it is made, the defence is run without holding back.

We make sure your side is heard, and the prosecution is held to its proof.

There are options at every stage, and the earlier they are pursued, the better. Before any charge is laid, the Police can sometimes be persuaded not to charge at all, or to deal with a less serious matter by way of a warning.

Once a charge is laid, diversion, or a referral to Te Pae Oranga, the iwi community panels, can see it withdrawn once agreed steps are completed, with no conviction. Charges can also be negotiated with the prosecution: withdrawn, reduced, or amended so that they reflect what actually happened.

At sentencing, the most important alternative is a discharge without conviction. The Court can grant one where the consequences of a conviction would be out of all proportion to the seriousness of the offending. Others include a conviction and discharge, an order to come up for sentence if called on, community work instead of a driving disqualification in some cases, and the remission of fines.

We make sure every option is considered before you decide.