The duty solicitor, or your own lawyer
The duty solicitor is free to everyone, whatever you earn, and is available at the police station at any hour. Your own solicitor is also free at the police station if they take legal aid. The duty solicitor is almost always the right choice at that moment, because they are there now.
Last checked against the law on 22 October 2026.
Advice at the police station is always free
This is the part people most often get wrong. Legal advice in a police station is free to everybody, regardless of income or savings, and asking for it does not make you look guilty.
It is not means tested and there is no form. You ask the custody officer and they arrange it.
Duty, or somebody you choose
The duty solicitor is a qualified criminal solicitor on a rota. If you name a solicitor of your own instead, the police must contact them, and that firm will usually attend free under the same scheme.
The practical difference is time. The duty solicitor is available immediately; your own may take hours to arrive, and you stay in a cell meanwhile.
What changes after the police station
After the interview, funding is means tested and the choice matters more. You can change solicitor, and a firm that handles your kind of case well is worth finding.
For the Crown Court, a solicitor will instruct a barrister. You can ask them to instruct a particular one.
What to do about it
At the police station: ask for the duty solicitor and do not wait for anything better. Afterwards, if the case is heading to the Crown Court, that is the point at which choosing counsel matters.
This page explains a process. It is not legal advice and it is not a substitute for it: what is right in your case depends on facts that are not on this page.