As your charges move towards a resolution, be it a trial, plea of guilty or case conferencing the court wants updates on what is happening. If you have a lawyer, check with them if you have to attend court for the next “mention”.
A mention is a date set for you and/or your lawyer to come to court with the prosecution to advise the court what is happening. Sometimes, the parties might argue about something and the court will have to make a decision. Lots of different things can happen at a mention such as adjourning it for you or your lawyers to negotiate with the police, or setting a date for a trial or sentence or a future date to allow something else to occur.
Every court and every magistrate runs the mentions differently but there are some guidelines about what is happening. Each court runs differently so there are no hard rules. The order of who goes first often looks like this.
- Barristers
- Solicitors
- Clerk (junior members of law firms)
- Unrepresented members of the public.
Unlike a docket system at your local deli, the above list is fluid and changes depending on the lawyers and Magistrate in the court. For example, a barrister (who should go first) might allow clerk go ahead of them if the clerk just has a mention and the barrister has a sentence or the court might want to do all the mentions before doing pleas of guilty for the day. Chances are if you have a lawyer and are represented you will not be waiting quite as long as you would if you are representing yourself if you even have to attend at all.
