What is a Summary Case Conference?

A “summary case conference” is an important step in the Magistrates’ Court process. It enables your lawyer to conduct negotiations with a police prosecutor to determine whether the matter can resolve and discuss any issues with the police case against you.

The Magistrates’ Court requires this to be done 7 days in advance of your Mention hearing. A summary case conference is ordinarily done via email, however, it can also be done via a telephone or Teams call. These can also be conducted on the morning of Court.

The primary aims of a summary case conference are to:

Advance your matter
Put your legal position forward
Assess the prosecution’s position or ‘bottom-line’

What Happens Before a Case Conference?

Prior to a summary case conference, it is important that your lawyer has the following:

Brief of evidence from police;
Your instructions in relation to the allegations;
Time to conduct legal research; and
Information about your personal circumstances.

The brief of evidence enables your lawyer to assess how the police allege that you have committed the offence/s. A summary of the allegations against you is included, which often provides critical information about the conduct and evidence police are relying upon to support the charge. It also helps your lawyer to assess the seriousness of the conduct alleged, a helpful indication in negotiating with police. The more serious the alleged conduct, the more difficult it may be to successfully negotiate a charge.

Your lawyer can also request any evidence police have in their possession, such as:

a copy of your record of interview;
body worn camera footage of police officers who arrested you or executed a search warrant;
in-car (dash cam type) footage; or
CCTV.

It is not guaranteed that all of this evidence, referred to as disclosure, is available or has been provided by the time of your summary case conference.

To negotiate, we must understand your instructions in relation to the alleged conduct. Whether you deny or agree to the conduct, and the basis of that, is critical. Your state of mind at the relevant time, such as your intention or knowledge, may be determinative of whether a charge can or cannot be made out. It is critical that your lawyer has this information prior to conducting a summary case conference.

Your personal circumstances will often guide the legal advice you receive. Implications of pleading guilty on your employment or ability to hold a particular licence will be critical in you being able to make an informed decision as to the financial resources you ought to put towards your case. Other aspects of your life may be relevant to the approach your lawyer takes in a summary case conference, which only your lawyer can assess once informed.

Finally, in preparing the summary case conference approach, your lawyer will conduct comprehensive legal research to assess whether there is any scope for negotiation of the charges. Ultimately, the prosecution are required to prove each element of the charge/s beyond reasonable doubt on the evidence they are relying upon. This is an incredibly high standard applied in all criminal cases.

What Happens at a Case Conference?

At the start, there is often a brief discussion or outline of the matter’s important facts, such as the charges and any relevant dates or time periods.

The issues in dispute will then be made clear. Clearly articulating and distilling the central issues, particularly in matters that involve voluminous evidence or numerous charges, is a key skill of all lawyers. Paying particular attention to a specific element of a charge, as opposed to broad denials of any criminal conduct, can help confine the discussions with the police prosecutor.

The charges may be disputed in their entirety, or an offer to plead guilty to some of the charges, but not others, may be made on your behalf. Less serious alternative charges may be offered in order to compromise with the prosecution.

Your lawyer and the prosecutor will then engage in a debate where it is often the case that two competing positions collide. Many prosecutors are reasonable and are willing to negotiate where real issues exist, and subsequently offer their ‘bottom-line’. This is a great opportunity to gain an insight into the Prosecution’s position on the allegations, noting that a police officer charged you and not this police prosecutor your lawyer is dealing with.

However, prosecutors are not always willing to negotiate and this is something you should be prepared for. This has been commonly the case in 2024 particularly with family violence offending, a hot topic covered extensively in the media. This is one example of how broader public policy interests and considerations are factored into a prosecutor’s conduct.
Prosecutors may deny your offer entirely, or propose a counter-offer in response.

A summary case conference can also sometimes be utilised as an opportunity to decide what parts of the brief (i.e. statements) will be provided to the defence. And because with preliminary briefs the Police will not have taken a lot of statements, it means they will have to go off and obtain them. You can expect Prosecutors to be trying to stop this happening and putting up objections to various witness statements being asked for.

What Happens After a Case Conference?

After a case conference, the mention hearing will be held. At this hearing, there are five possible options:

Adjourn to a plea hearing;
Finalise your matter through a plea of guilty;
Adjourn to a further mention;
Adjourn to a contest mention; or
The charge/s be withdrawn.

If your offer to plead guilty to a particular charge/s is agreed or you instruct your lawyer to approve a counter-offer made by the prosecutor, your matter will often be adjourned to a plea hearing in the future. This enables appropriate materials to be gathered by you and your lawyer, such as character references or evidence of your engagement in offence-specific programs or any appropriate therapeutic treatment or counselling in the community.

Subject to the capacity of the Court and the status of materials in support of your plea, you may be able to have your matter finalised at the Mention hearing. Magistrates are often able to deliver sentence on the same date, but this is not always the case.

The Court can adjourn your matter to a further mention, although this is uncommon once a summary case conference has taken place. This might apply where there is outstanding disclosure which are preventing full negotiations to take place. Many Magistrates’ practice in relation to this differ.

If your matter does not resolve through the summary case conference process, it will be adjourned to a contest mention hearing for further efforts at negotiating the matter with the prosecution. Do not be deterred or disheartened if your matter is required to proceed to a contest mention. We often advise clients that the best outcomes from negotiations are realised at the Contest Mention hearing stage. Here, typically more experienced police prosecutors are able to afford more time to the legal issues in dispute and to the legal arguments your lawyer is making on your behalf.

If the charge/s are withdrawn, which is uncommon at an early stage but is possible, the prosecutor will make an application to withdraw the charge at a future hearing. It is important that your lawyer attends this hearing to ensure the charge is appropriately withdrawn and to avoid issues with miscommunication that can sometimes arise between prosecutors.

In order to protect your interests, it is important that you engage a criminal lawyer to conduct the preparations required for a summary case conference and then advocate on your behalf during the process.