Every year the London criminal courts deal with about a quarter of a million people charged with a criminal offence. Nearly all these cases are heard in the magistrates ' courts, and we regularly appear there to defend our clients.

Most cases are decided by a bench of two or three magistrates, who are not lawyers but have a legally-qualified clerk to advise them, but in some of the busier courts, mainly in London and other large cities, your case may be heard by a district judge. There are no juries in magistrates' courts.

There are three kinds of criminal offence:

• summary offences, which only the magistrates' court can try
• either-way offences, more serious than summary offences, which can be tried in the magistrates' court or the Crown Court
• indictable-only offences, the most serious of all, which only the Crown Court can deal with.

Indictable and either-way offences

If you are charged with an either-way offence, you have the right to be tried in the Crown Court, by a judge and jury. You may be sent to the Crown Court whether you like it or not, if the magistrates' court decides the case is serious enough. If you are tried in the magistrates' court for an either-way offence and found guilty, you may be sent to the Crown Court for sentencing.

If you are charged with an indictable-only offence, your case will start in the magistrates' court, which may deal with preliminary questions such as bail, but you will eventually be tried in the Crown Court by a judge and jury. 

Representation and more

• applying for legal aid
• applying for bail if your case is not finished at the first court hearing
• deciding whether to ask to be tried in the Crown Court if you are charged with an either-way offence