If you have been convicted of a crime, it may be possible to appeal against your sentence or conviction. Defendants convicted in the Magistrates’ Courts have an automatic right of appeal to the Crown Court. However, an unsuccessful appeal may result in costs being awarded against you or your sentence being worse than what was passed at the lower court.

Defendants convicted in the Crown Court can apply for permission to appeal to the Court of Appeal. Nicholls & Nicholls are one of the few firms in the country who offer the service of consideration of your appeal.

There are certain grounds on which you can appeal:

• New evidence has come to light, which was not available at the time of your trial.
• The Judge made an error in law, or applied it incorrectly to the facts of your case.
• You were provided with negligent or incorrect legal advice by your lawyers.
• Your sentence is ‘manifestly excessive’ (far too long).

Consideration of an appeal with legal aid or public funding is only available in very specific circumstances. For this reason, we provide an initial contact questionnaire to ascertain whether or not this funding is available to you.

It can take a considerable amount of work to demonstrate that an individual has grounds to appeal. This means that the process is lengthy and long-winded when ensuring that we can challenge certain decisions or evidence in a case or assess any new evidence.

Case law in this area is significant. Nicholls & Nicholls have a dedicated appeals department who know how to progress these cases in the most efficient manner and to instruct barristers who have experience in dealing with the issues commonly found in appeal cases. 

If you need advice as to whether you can appeal against a conviction or a sentence, Nicholls & Nicholls can help. We can give clear advice in plain English and keep you fully informed of everything that is happening in your case. Nicholls & Nicholls have many years of experience in handling criminal appeals on a legal aid and private basis across the whole of England and Wales.

The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) is an independent body created by the Criminal Appeal Act 1995. The Commission has been created in situations where appeals to the Court of Appeal have been unsuccessful and that there is something materially wrong in law in your case or fresh evidence has come to light.

The CCRC receives over a thousand applications for review every year. Very few are referred for an appeal but of the ones that make it, there is currently a success rate of between 65% and 75%. It can also take up to 12 months for the CCRC to consider the submission made on your behalf. The process is therefore not a swift one. Nicholls & Nicholls can assist with the process of lodging an application with the CCRC.