Going to court for the first time?

Once you are in the room make sure you make yourself known to the Court Officer who will ask you whether you want to get an adjournment for legal advice or to enter a plea of guilty or not guilty on the spot. 

Once the Court Officer has taken down your name and confirmed that you are in attendance, you may need to wait until the Magistrate deals with the applications that Solicitors have from the bar table. Please do not sit at the bar table if you are not represented, this will not make the Magistrate get to you faster. 

 

Once the Magistrate is ready to deal with your matter, you must declare whether you want some time to get a lawyer or whether you want to enter a plea of guilty. If you enter a plea of guilty, no matter what your reason for pleading guilty is, the court will take that as evidence that you are guilty of the offence charged. 

It is important that you seek legal advice before entering a plea of guilty to ensure that your position is protected and you have the best set of facts which the Magistrate will read on your sentencing. If you are not represented it is important to prepare yourself by collecting references and other material which will assist you on sentence. For more information on how to prepare references please go to our page: Preparing for Sentence. 

If you are entering a plea of not guilty your matter will be adjourned to allow the NSW Police to serve the brief of evidence on you. This can take some time, up to 2 months for the brief to be complete depending on the type of matter. 

If you maintain your plea of guilty it is important to get a lawyer to help you at the hearing. You will be at a significant disadvantage if you try to run your hearing yourself. 

Please ensure that if you are not in the court room for any period of time that you are in an area around the court room in case your matter is called by the Court Officer. 

You can find out which court you need to attend at this website: Online Registry