Waiting

Waiting is a horrible part of my job that I just cannot get away from. Waiting can be caused by many factors, here are a few examples of waiting:

1. Client does not arrive on time. Untimely Clients drive me crazy as their untimeliness usually disrupts the rest of my day, even where I have accounted for some element of time slippage. Last week I was at an East London Magistrates Court dealing with a number of matters. When I had dealt with the Clients who had turned up I made some enquiries where my missing late Client was. When I spoke to him on his mobile phone he told me that he was on his way, but had got up late. He only arrived one hour and forty minutes late. His late arrival was compounded by the busy Court list and I did not finish at Court until late in to the afternoon.

2. Waiting for the police to make a decision. After most Clients have been interviewed at the Police Station the Police have to seek advice from the Crown Prosecution Service as to what they do next. Normally after a wait of between one hour to two hours the CPS respond and do exactly what the Police Officer wanted to do had the decision been his to make.

3. Waiting for the CPS to serve papers in s. 51 cases. It drives me up the wall when the Crown Prosecution Service do not serve the evidence on cases that have been sent from the Magistrates Court to the Crown Court. In the past month I have had a glut of cases where the CPS were routinely making applications to extend the time for service of the case papers after the original date for the papers had long gone! Case law states that the CPS can serve their papers late and there is virtually nothing I can do to stop it.