Court attendance notes vs police station attendance notes: what changes

A police station note and a court attendance note do different jobs. Here is how I approach each, and what has to travel from the custody file to the courtroom.

I have been a criminal defence solicitor since 2001 and I still attend police stations. Over that time I have written thousands of attendance notes, and the most common weakness I see when files are reviewed is not a bad police station note or a bad court note on its own. It is the gap between them: information recorded at the station that never makes it into the court file.

What each note is for

The police station attendance note is a contemporaneous record of the investigation stage: arrival, custody record review, disclosure, consultation, advice, the interview and the outcome. It is your evidence of what happened in a closed environment where you may be the only independent witness.

A court attendance note records a hearing. It tells the next person who picks up the file what happened in court, what was decided, what the client was told and what has to happen next. It is less about evidence of police conduct and more about continuity of the case.

Police station note essentials

I will not repeat the full police station structure here. The guide to what LAA attendance notes need and the attendance note template cover it in detail. The short version: times, disclosure, advice and reasons, instructions, the interview, and the outcome (charge, bail, release under investigation or no further action).

Court attendance: what the note must cover

For each hearing I record:

• The hearing itself: court, courtroom, date, the bench or district judge, the prosecutor, and the type of hearing (first appearance, bail application, case management, trial, sentence).
• Pre-hearing work: time spent reviewing papers, taking instructions in the cells or the consultation room, and speaking to the prosecutor.
• Bail: the prosecution position, the grounds relied on, the conditions proposed, my submissions and the decision with reasons.
• Pleas and case management: pleas entered or indicated, issues identified, directions made and any witness requirements.
• Outcome and next date: the result, the next hearing date and venue, and whether the client was told in terms they understood.
• Advice: what I advised in court and the client's instructions in response, particularly on plea and on credit for a guilty plea.

Yes, I write a separate note for each hearing. A single running note covering several hearings is hard to audit and easy to misread.

Billing evidence differences

The police station claim and the magistrates court claim are separate claims assessed against separate rules, so each note has to stand on its own. The LAA Standard Crime Contract Specification sets the file and record requirements, and the Criminal Bills Assessment Manual explains how claims are assessed. In my experience the court note fails audit for the same reasons a station note does: missing times, no record of who did the work, and no explanation of why the work was necessary. There is more on this in attendance notes and legal aid billing.

Carrying information from custody to court

The items I make sure are carried from the station note into the court file are:

• The disclosure given before interview, and anything that was refused.
• Whether the client answered questions, gave a prepared statement or made no comment, and the reasons for that advice.
• Any special warnings given.
• Vulnerability, appropriate adult involvement and fitness for interview.
• Any PACE issues noted at the time, such as delays in access to legal advice or review problems.
• The charge wording and the bail decision or remand position at the station.

If these are not in the court file, the advocate at the first hearing is working blind, and arguments about adverse inferences or exclusion of evidence become much harder to run later.

Template checklist

• Court, date, hearing type, bench, prosecutor
• Time on papers, instructions, waiting, advocacy, travel
• Bail position, submissions, decision and reasons
• Pleas, issues, directions
• Outcome, next date, client informed
• Advice given and instructions received
• Cross-reference to the police station note

Frequently asked questions

What should a court attendance note include?

The hearing details (court, date, type of hearing, bench and prosecutor), the work done before the hearing, bail submissions and the decision, pleas and directions, the outcome and next date, and the advice you gave with the client's instructions. Record times for each element of the work.

Do I need separate notes for each hearing?

I write one note per hearing. Each claim and each hearing should be supported by its own record, and separate notes are much easier to follow when the file is reviewed or audited.

Should the court note repeat the police station note?

It should not copy it out, but it should carry over the points that matter in court: disclosure, interview approach and reasons, special warnings, vulnerability and any PACE issues noted at the time.