What happens at a Local Court mention, in plain English.

A court attendance notice arrived in the post. The notice has a date, a courthouse and a courtroom number. It says "mention," and most clients arrive in our office without a clear picture of what a mention actually is. A mention is the first listing of a criminal matter in the New South Wales Local Court. The work of the day is procedural; the work that follows is substantive. This note explains what to expect, what the magistrate will ask, what the prosecutor will say, and the small number of decisions that have to be made on the day.

What a mention is, and what it is not.

A mention is a short, administrative listing. It is not a hearing. No witnesses give evidence. The magistrate does not decide guilt and does not impose a sentence (unless you plead guilty on the day and the matter is short and uncontroversial, which is rare). The function of the mention is to identify the matter, confirm the accused person is present, take instructions on the plea, and set the next listing date.

Mentions are usually listed in groups. A magistrate will sit through a list of 30 to 100 matters in a morning. Each individual matter takes between two and ten minutes on the bench, depending on what has to be done. The longest part of the day is the waiting.

Before the day.

The work that makes a mention go well is done before the listing. Three pieces of paperwork matter.

1. The court attendance notice. The notice tells you the charge, the date, the time, the courthouse and the courtroom. Read each of those four pieces of information carefully. Most mentions at busy courthouses are listed at 9.30am. The courtroom number on the notice is the courtroom you start in; if your matter is moved to another courtroom during the morning, court staff will tell you.
2. The fact sheet. The police-issued fact sheet is the prosecution's summary of the alleged events. It is not the brief of evidence; the brief of evidence comes later. The fact sheet is the document the magistrate will read if the matter resolves on the day. We will have read it before the mention.
3. The criminal record check. The prosecution will provide its copy of any prior record to the court. If you have priors, we will have discussed them with you in advance.

Bring the court attendance notice to court. Bring photo identification. Bring nothing that you would not want a court officer to inspect. Phones are permitted in the public gallery but must be silenced.

What to wear.

Dress the way you would for a job interview at a small professional firm. A collared shirt and trousers for men. A skirt or dress trousers and a blouse, or a modest dress, for women. Cover tattoos where you can. Closed shoes. No hats inside the courtroom. The dress code is not enforced as such, but the magistrate notices, and the prosecutor notices, and the way you present is part of the impression you make on every listing of the matter.

Arriving at the courthouse.

Arrive 30 minutes before the listed time. There is a security screening on the way in (metal detector, bag X-ray). The court list for the day will be on a noticeboard or screen near the registry: matters are listed in alphabetical order under the courtroom number. Find your name and the courtroom.

If we are appearing for you, we will meet you at the courthouse. We will identify ourselves to you, introduce ourselves to the prosecutor and to the court officer for the courtroom, and confirm that your matter is on the list. We will then sit with you, usually in the public gallery of the courtroom, until the matter is called.

If you are appearing without a lawyer (which we strongly discourage on any matter that is not a clearly minor traffic offence), the duty solicitor at most NSW Local Courts can provide brief assistance to financially eligible accused persons. The duty solicitor is not a substitute for your own lawyer; the work the duty solicitor can do on the day is limited.

The courtroom layout, briefly.

The magistrate sits on a raised bench at the front of the courtroom. The bar table (a long table in front of the bench) is where the lawyers stand to address the court: police prosecutor on one side, defence lawyer on the other. The witness box is to one side of the bench; on a mention day, it is empty. The dock (where the accused stands in some matters) is at the back of the courtroom and is used principally for matters where the accused is in custody. On a standard mention from bail, you sit in the public gallery and stand when your matter is called.

What happens when your matter is called.

The court officer announces the matter. You stand. You walk to the bar table and stand behind your lawyer. The lawyer addresses the court.

The prosecutor will identify themselves, identify the charge, and provide any information the magistrate needs to know about service of the brief, custody status, or unresolved procedural questions.

The defence lawyer will identify themselves and announce their appearance. The lawyer will then state what the matter is doing on the day: entering a plea, requesting an adjournment for instructions, requesting an adjournment for the brief to be served, or some combination. Section 192 of the Criminal Procedure Act 1986 (NSW) is the provision under which the plea is taken. The magistrate will, in due course, ask whether the accused pleads guilty or not guilty.

The lawyer will say something like:

"Your Honour, I appear for [the defendant]. The matter is for first mention. Instructions are still being taken. We seek an adjournment for two weeks for instructions and for the brief of evidence to be served. Bail is consented to in its current form."

That, in most cases, is the substantive work of the day. The magistrate will set the next listing date, confirm the bail conditions remain in force, and move to the next matter.

The decision points.

There are a small number of decisions that the magistrate may require to be made on the day. They are not all decisions you will face; they are listed here so that you can be ready for the ones that apply to you.

Plea. The magistrate will, at some mention (rarely the first, often the second), take your plea. Section 192 of the Criminal Procedure Act 1986 requires the court to state the substance of the offence to the accused and ask how the accused pleads. Your answer is "guilty" or "not guilty." The decision is one we will have worked through with you in advance.

Adjournment. Adjournments are routinely granted on first mention. The most common reasons are to take instructions, to await service of the brief of evidence, to allow a subjective case (character references, treatment plans, employer letters) to be prepared, or to obtain particular evidence. The adjournment period is usually two to six weeks.

Bail. If bail conditions are working, the lawyer will ask that they continue. If a condition is impractical, the lawyer can ask the magistrate to vary it on the mention. Variation applications are not always granted on the day; sometimes the matter is stood over and the prosecution is given time to consider its position.

Election (Table offences). Some offences are Table 1 or Table 2 offences in Schedule 1 of the Criminal Procedure Act 1986 (NSW). Table 1 offences can be elected to be tried on indictment by either the prosecution or the defence. Table 2 offences can be elected by the prosecution only. Where the offence is a Table offence and the prosecution has not yet indicated whether it will elect, the matter is adjourned to allow that decision to be made. The election decision is significant: a Table 1 election sends the matter to the District Court for committal and trial; non-election keeps the matter in the Local Court for summary disposal.

The brief. Where a plea of not guilty has been entered or is foreshadowed, the prosecution is required to serve a brief of evidence on the defence. The brief contains the witness statements, exhibits, and other material the prosecution intends to rely on at hearing. The Local Court Practice Note (Local Court Criminal Practice Note 1) is the governing document for the timing and content of the brief on summary matters. The standard direction at first mention is that the brief be served within a defined period, typically a few weeks, with the matter listed for reply some weeks after that.

The not-guilty path from the mention.

Where a plea of not guilty is entered (or foreshadowed), the matter is set down for a defended hearing. The hearing is the trial: a magistrate sitting alone, the witnesses giving oral evidence, the prosecutor and defence lawyer each making submissions, and a verdict at the end. Defended hearings are listed for half a day, a full day, or two to three days, depending on the number of witnesses. They are typically listed three to six months after the not-guilty plea is entered.

The mention is followed by a reply mention (where the defence indicates its position on the brief), a directions mention (where the timetable for any pre-trial applications is set) and the hearing itself. Each of these is a separate listing. The lawyer will tell you which of them you must attend personally and which can be dealt with by appearance on your behalf.

The guilty path from the mention.

Where a plea of guilty is entered, the matter proceeds to sentence. Sentence can sometimes be done on the day, particularly for minor matters where the magistrate has the fact sheet, no priors, and a short defence submission to consider. More commonly, the matter is adjourned for sentence in two to six weeks to allow a subjective case to be prepared: a written submission, character references, employer letters, evidence of any rehabilitation steps (treatment, courses, community work), and any medical or psychological reports that bear on the sentencing exercise. The sentencing date is the day the magistrate imposes the sentence.

The early-plea-discount regime under section 25D of the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 (NSW) rewards a guilty plea entered at the earliest available opportunity. For an indictable matter, an early plea at the committal stage attracts a 25 per cent discount. For a summary matter the discount is the residual common-law discount under R v Thomson and Houlton. The decision when to plead is, accordingly, not only an evidentiary decision; it is also a sentencing decision. The lawyer will work that through with you before the mention at which the plea is entered.

The ACT Magistrates Court equivalent.

The Australian Capital Territory uses the ACT Magistrates Court rather than a Local Court, but the architecture of the first listing is similar. The first mention is administrative. The defendant's plea is taken under the Magistrates Court Act 1930 (ACT). Matters proceed by adjournment to a case-management mention, then to hearing for defended matters or to sentence for matters where a plea of guilty is entered. The dress code, the courtroom layout, and the practical work of the day are functionally identical to the NSW position. Where Aaron is appearing in the ACT, he attends on the same basis as he attends a NSW Local Court mention.

What can go wrong.

Two things go wrong with some regularity on a first mention.

Failure to appear. If you do not attend a listing for which your attendance has been required, the magistrate is empowered to issue a warrant for your arrest and to revoke bail. We will tell you which listings require your attendance and which we can attend on your behalf. Where a personal appearance is required and a real difficulty arises, contact us early so the matter can be addressed by application before the listing rather than after a warrant has been issued.

An impromptu conversation with the prosecutor. The police prosecutor will sometimes wish to discuss the matter with the lawyer (and, by extension, with the accused) outside the courtroom on the day. The conversation is useful. It is also not a conversation the accused should be part of unless the lawyer specifically invites you in. Anything you say to the prosecutor is admissible. We do the talking.

One last note.

The first mention sets the tone for the matter. A well-prepared, calm appearance, with instructions taken in advance, the brief of evidence requested, and the next listing date set, is the right outcome from a first mention. The substantive work is in the weeks and months that follow, on the brief, on the subjective case, and on the contested hearing or the plea in sentence. Our job is to make the day itself uneventful.

If your matter is listed for a first mention and you have not yet engaged a lawyer, the days before the listing are the right days to do so. Walking into a courtroom alone is not the answer.

This note is general information about a first listing in the New South Wales Local Court and the equivalent first listing in the ACT Magistrates Court. It is not legal advice for any particular case. The Criminal Procedure Act 1986 (NSW), the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 (NSW), and the Local Court Practice Note all change. For advice on a real matter, contact us through our contact page or phone 0421 717 019.

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