Thanks OscarZulu,If you read a lot of websites on the topic you'll find that people accuse the Duty Solicitor i.e the free lawyer with which the Police provide you of being "in cahoots" with the Police.While this is not entirely true, their experience of working in a Police Station is hardly very enjoyable and there have been a number of incidents where irate clients have been unable to distinguish between their Legal Adviser and the Police and ended up attacking them. They also have a huge workload and the hourly rates offered to legal aid Solicitors is a pittance (Suggestion: Sign up to the Crimeline newsletter for Criminal Defence Solicitors, it contains some useful info for lay people like us).On top of that many female Solicitors have confessed they feel uncomfortable representing male clients who have been accused of harming a woman in some way - while this isn't a problem for drugs related offences, obviously you want a Solicitor who has no qualms whatsoever about fighting your corner so it makes much more sense to use a law firm who can send someone with specific experience of the type of crime of which you've been accused.This is very important for people like us as if the interviewing officers believe they have evidence obtained through digital forensics, you're going to want an Adviser who has a sound knowledge of the internet and encryption techniques. Hiring a Solicitor may not cost as much as you thought and almost every firm will at the very least give you a free consultation at the Police Station. You might even find a firm willing to accept a payment plan, so my advice to anyone in the UK is to engage a Solicitor now and not wait for the Police to choose one for you.V.Quote from: oscarzululondon on May 13, 2012, 09:16 pmQuote from: vlad1m1r on May 01, 2012, 04:53 amI am actually in the process of writing a guide for people living in the UK for dealing with the Police. I'm very interested in this too. One thing I'm hoping on is that the fresh budget cuts (20%) hurt them too much to allow them to bother with people like us. Personally I wish the cuts were deeper, I've seen plenty of examples where the police have simply too much money and investigate ridiculous things. I'm really glad about the price of rising petrol too, the met have started sending patrol teams out on tamdem bikes recently in my area which is simply hilarious.The other issue we have in the UK is that when you get arrested, the police do find a lawyer for you but unless you specify one then it's one of their choosing, and every time I've been in trouble its A) either been some dumbfuck lawyer or B) been in cahoots with the police and stitched me up. Someone needs to make a comparison website of good criminal defense lawyers in the UK willing to work on legal-aid.