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How to get paid when a Criminal Solicitors Practice owes you money! 1. Send invoices as soon as the job is finished. It should almost go without saying. As soon as you have finished a particular job you should send an invoice straight away. Criminal firms cannot pay you until have received your invoice and papers. As a freelance police station rep, you want to get a good reputation. One of the ways of getting and maintaining that good reputation is to ensure that criminal firms get your notes well within the 24-hour period specified by the Legal Aid Agency. Make it a regular practice to email those notes in PDF form and send the original notes in the post as soon as possible. 2. Send statements at regular intervals. Criminal practices are busy places. Unfortunately, this may mean that your outstanding invoices may not get the attention that they deserve. Sending statements at regular intervals, say 7 or 14 days will ensure that the practice knows your bills are outstanding. If the practice knows that they are outstanding they are likely to pay them. 3. Ensure that they are sent to the right person. Invoices that go to the wrong person will usually not be paid. It is always a good idea to get the name of the person who has authority to pay your bills. In most criminal practices it will usually be one person. Cultivate your relationship with him/her. You will be paid so much more quickly. 4. Use a credit controller if necessary. Having a credit controller is a really great idea and it is not necessary to employ one full-time. Currently, I have a freelance credit controller who is paid per telephone call. Having a credit controller is not extremely expensive if you find the right one. Regular telephone calls usually ensure that your invoice will not be forgotten. 5. Send regular reminders. This is a great way to ensure that you get paid. Currently, I have an accounts package, quick file that automatically lets me know when client invoices are overdue. This has a facility to send automatic emails with a polite nudge to let my clients know I have not forgotten the invoice. It is well worth investing in a good accounts package. Quickfile is free for new users and only costs £49 a year. 6. Don't work for those who will not pay. Ultimately, you are running a business and must treat it as such. It is not worth working for clients who will not pay your invoices or work on credit periods that you find unacceptable. One of my now ex-clients used to think it was okay to pay me every 90 days despite him being paid by the legal aid agency every 30 days. I now no longer work for him. 7. Offer generous early settlement terms for prompt payment. I offer 10% discount for early payment by bank transfer. It is a great way of ensuring your invoices are paid early and good for clients too. 8. Don't be afraid to sue if necessary Do not be afraid to resort to legal proceedings if necessary. There are many different debt collection agencies. 9. Ask around - Other reps will know who pays on time and those who pay late. (and those who don't pay at all!) Other police station representatives are usually a good mine of information as to who are good payers and who to avoid. Ask around and you will quickly get to know the best practices to work for. This 10. Get a good accounts package A good accounts package pays for itself in months. I recommend quick file. All advice brought to you by

How To Become a Police Station Representative? (1) Find out what it is like The best way of becoming a police station representative is to actually find out what it is like. Whilst at this stage you will not actually be able to experience going to a police station and advising a suspect the easiest way of finding out what it entails is actually to go and find someone who actually does the job on a day to day basis. Contact a police station representative and actually have a chat with them. Most police station representatives are by their very nature quite nice and approachable. Be polite and remember they may be very busy at certain times and their clients come first. However, if you leave a telephone number and/or email address they will usually come back to you. Don't expect an immediate reply! They may be very busy dealing with clients at the very moment you ring. (2) Find that every elusive supervising Solicitor! Without that supervising solicitor, you cannot complete your portfolio. He/She has to sign the portfolio off at the end and should be available during your training period to both give feedback on what you have done and how you can improve. He/She should also be available if you go to a police station on your own. Every one of us gets situations which are thrust upon us which as a new rep you may not know the proper way of dealing with. To find him/her ask friends or family if they know anyone who practices criminal law as a solicitor and who may be ready to help you. Most police station rep sites will let you put free adverts on their sites. Write to criminal practices asking if you can shadow a criminal solicitor in your holidays. You may only get one reply but you only need one supervising solicitor. (3) Be enthusiastic Everybody likes someone who is enthusiastic and is passionate about what they are doing. Be ready for the fact that being a police station rep will be a 24 hour 7 day a week job. Accept the fact that if you are to be successful this is not a 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. job. You can't knock off in the middle of a police station interview and leave. Sometimes you may be at the police station for hours if not days. The average police station attendance is three hours. If you are doing something serious like a murder or a terrorism case it will be days. Clients and firms (let alone the police) will not be impressed if they see a new face. Remember it is the clients liberty and sometimes the rest of his or her life that will be affected. (4) Register with an assessment organisation You have to pass Part A of the portfolio and pass the written exam. Without this, you cannot apply for your pin no. Check the regulations you may be exempt from the exam if you have done and passed recently a law degree. Check the regulations as they can change quite frequently. Remember you have to pass everything (portfolio, exams etc within a year). Remember very few people pass the first time so give yourself lots of time in case things go wrong. (5) Learn, Learn, Learn! Get hold of some criminal texts and learn criminal law to a high standard. Get hold of a copy of the definitive book - Ed Capes Defending Suspects at Police Stations. A copy of Blackstone's Criminal Law or Archbold may not go amiss. Subscribe to Legal websites and remember a little learning goes a long way. Keep up to date with sentencing and Criminal Practice. (6) What Do I Need? Next post coming soon for the characteristics you will need as a police station rep!