PIERS Blomfield, a criminal defence lawyer, now defends the people whom in the past he would have prosecuted.
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Mr Blomfield began as a police prosecutor after working as a policeman for 12 years. However, in November he did his best to transform an old tattoo parlour into a law firm, beginning to work from the other side.
“One of the challenges for me was always to open up my own business and to practice on my own,” Mr Blomfield said of his decision to switch.
“You always have to push yourself and starting your own business is like jumping off a cliff.”
While Mr Blomfield admits his career change has caused a little confusion in the courtroom, he said the switch from prosecution to defence has ultimately been a smooth one.
“On more than one occasion the magistrate has looked at me and referred to me as ‘sergeant’ even though I was the defence lawyer,” he said.
“It's not that difficult to switch hats though, you're just running the same arguments but backwards,” Mr Blomfield said.
“As a prosecutor you are operating under a certain paradigm to do everything firmly and fairly. As defence your main consideration is doing everything in the best interests of your client and trying to get them the best result possible without misleading the court.”
The role of the defence solicitor has long been subject to scorn, with popular thought questioning the morals of defending people accused of terrible things.
“The onus is on the prosecution to prove a case beyond a reasonable doubt and you’re innocent until you are proven guilty,” Mr Blomfield said.
“These are basic maxims of our legal system and they are important.”
Although he admits former colleagues question his ability to defend certain people, for the most part he said they understand it is just his job.
“There's a good bunch of criminal lawyers in town,” he said.
“We all get together and it's nice to be part of that group and not have them all shut up when I sit at the table.”