Access to real justice for all.

Melbourne Criminal Lawyer developed our Prime Defence Package on the back of research that revealed that 97% of criminal cases are resolved by the police withdrawing charges, or clients pleading guilty to fewer charges. Only a small percentage ever get to a contested hearing or trial which is the most expensive part of criminal defence.

Taking a fixed fee approach.

MCL cases are run by lawyers at law firm Kauthen Legal or alternative legal practices that we refer customers to. Our goal is that by the time of your first court appearance, most of the negotiations are done. As part of this, you will also know your options and case strategy. If your matter is a bit more complex, we will attend court as many times as needed to resolve your case. This means there are no surprises and less anxiety.

We've got pleas down to a fine art.

If we advise you that the charges can be proven, we offer a fixed fee to attend your Plea Hearing with a well crafted plea structured to persuade the magistrate to only impose the minimum sentence without conviction. As part of this, we supply you with reference templates and connect you with service providers to provide reports for your plea.

What about Legal Aid?

Legal Aid is only eligible for people on low incomes. For everyone else they need to fund their own defence. Legal Aid has freely acknowledged the pressure on their criminal law service and "putting the quality of service people receive at risk and reducing the number of people [they] can help". Our experience has shown that Legal Aid, while free, can produce mixed outcomes like with any legal service depending on the experience of the solicitor a client is assigned. Legal Aid is also under significant funding and time pressures and lawyers while highly skilled are operating in challenging circumstances. Our firm is supportive of Legal Aid and the work they do, however our goal is to offer choice of representation to clients on the financial margins.