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Duty solicitor software: structured notes for every attendance

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Product editorial team — criminal defence workflow guidance for England and Wales. Content reviewed for general professional workflow accuracy; not legal advice.

Custody Note is built for the reality of duty work — irregular hours, unreliable Wi-Fi, and the need for consistent, defensible records at every police station visit.

Custody Note Quick Capture form — Attendance Type, Client Name, Police Station, Offence summary, DSCC Number, and Instruction received timestamp, designed to be filled while still on the DSCC call
Quick Capture — built for the DSCC call. Attendance type, client name, station, offence summary, DSCC number, instruction time.
Custody Note home screen with five workflow tiles — Custody Attendance, Voluntary Attendance, New Tel Advice, Quick Capture, Open Matters — and an Online / Backup queued / Local only status bar
The home screen — Custody, Voluntary and Telephone Advice tiles cover every duty-solicitor scenario.

What is Custody Note?

Custody Note is Windows 10 or later (64-bit) desktop software for criminal defence practitioners who attend police stations. It does not run on Mac or mobile devices. It provides structured, section-by-section forms for:

Custody Note Telephone advice INVB form — Section 1 of 4, Call Details: file/matter ref, instruction received timestamp with Now button, date of telephone advice, source of referral, DSCC number, police station, instructing firm, fee earner
Telephone advice — Section 1: Call Details. The structured form duty solicitors actually use on every callout.

Why duty solicitors need dedicated software

Duty work is unpredictable. You may attend two or three stations in a shift, at all hours, with variable connectivity. Generic note-taking apps and practice management systems are not designed for this environment:

Custody Note custody attendance Section 1 of 9 — Case Reference & Arrival, with attendance type, file/matter ref, instruction/referral and time-of-instruction accordions, Within 45 mins of duty call dropdown, and instructing-firm picker
Section 1 — Case Reference & Arrival. The 45-minute first-contact test required by the LAA is captured here.

Key features for duty solicitors

Custody Note Telephone advice INVB form — Section 3 of 4, Outcome: outcome dropdown, Convert to Attendance Note shortcut, outcome code, further attendance likely, further follow-up needed, case concluded date
Telephone advice — Section 3: Outcome. If a call escalates to attendance, one click converts the INVB to a custody note.

How it fits into your duty workflow

Open or create a record when you receive the instruction. Work through each section — client details, disclosure, consultation, interview, outcome — at the station or on the way. Export the PDF for the firm, use the billing fields to support your LAA claim, and move on to the next matter.

Custody Note Firms You Work For page with Add new firm and Use existing firm buttons, optional QuickFile import add-on, and a firm contacts table
Firms You Work For — manage every instructing firm in one place; they autocomplete on every new note.

Pricing

30-day free trial with all features. After that, £15.99/month. No credit card needed to start. See full pricing details.

Download Custody Note and try it on your next duty attendance.

Next steps

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