Criminal Defence Lawyers

How we can help you. Doogue + George will
handle your case with determination and fight for your rights.

Being charged with a criminal offence is stressful. You need to know what steps to take reduce the impact on your life, your livelihood and your family.

One of the first steps in the right direction is getting the right criminal law advice.

The information you will find on this site has been written by Melbourne criminal lawyers who work only in criminal law. You will find information about Victorian criminal offences and case studies written for you in plain language. If you have been charged with a criminal offence in Melbourne or other parts of Victoria, come to us for clear and practical advice about your case.

Cases are won through hard work; it is important that lawyers are accountable to clients. We will take your calls and if we aren’t in the office we contact you when we have the first opportunity to do so. It is important you feel comfortable discussing all the case issues with your lawyer.

Conversations with clients are legally privileged, meaning we do not discuss or disclose our conversations with anyone else. You should feel comfortable and confident that we have done everything that needed to be done to win your case.

You will be booked for an appointment right away, we will take instructions and begin working on your strategy as soon as possible, regardless of whether you are pleading guilty or not guilty. There is always a lot for you to learn about the court process and how it occurs. The more we know about you and your case the more we can assist you to get the best result.

It is also very important that you are able to ask questions about the issues confronting you now. Often some of the stress and anxiety of a situation can be dealt with by answering questions or referring you on to services (such as psychologists) that might help deal with the stress that is being faced.

Further information that can help you

Preventing Charges From Being Filed

It is possible to stop criminal charges from being filed. Doogue + George have been involved in this process in a number of cases, depending on the allegations and the circumstances.

We may approach the Police and present part, or all, of our client’s case. We provide the Police with statements we have taken from witnesses and other evidence that we have gathered. We also tell them matters we believe should be investigated more (such as where there is an important witness they have missed or are choosing not to get a statement from).

In some matters like sex charges there is often a complex process of authorisation of the charges and it is good to have input at that stage. We will contact the investigators and discuss the case with them and provide them the other narrative to the matter that they may be missing. Having the other side of a story explained to the Prosecutor or Police can make a difference in whether they proceed. The decision to provide material should not be taken lightly.

Often because it is an adversarial system it is better not to tell the Police everything because they will then try to undermine the client’s case or the witnesses that they are relying on.

Defence Strategy & Investigation

The most important issue in defending a case is the issue of what strategy is planned for the case. The essence of defence work is working out, at an early stage, what you are going to do and why you are planning to do it.

Our lawyers once they are instructed will be able to tell you what their strategy for the Court case is and why that is the right way to handle their case. We have an enormous amount of experience in criminal cases spanning decades and many thousands of defended prosecutions.

With experience comes knowledge about how to get the best result for you.

We do not just sit and wait for the paperwork to arrive from the Police once you have been interviewed. There is a lot that can, and should, be done.

The most important time in a case can be prior to being charged or around the time of the interview. We often get private investigators involved in cases and look for what has been missed which would help our client.

We specialise in criminal law cases and defence work which covers areas from traffic offences, drink driving, sexual offences, drugs law, assault and violence offences, and other criminal charges.