Being charged is not the same as being convicted.
Assault, theft, dishonesty, drugs, wilful damage, threatening behaviour. What happens between now and your court date decides which one you end up with. We get your police file, tell you what's realistic, and write the list of things that will earn it. $230 the first appointment, phone or Zoom anywhere in New Zealand.
✔ 30+ years experience
✔ No Law Society complaints
✔ Anywhere in NZ, by Zoom
Melanie Coxon
Barrister
Thirty+ years, and no Law Society complaint in any of them.
Melanie Coxon is a barrister sole, admitted in 1993, and her first case was as a junior in a murder trial. She has appeared in her own right in the High Court — including an application that got a murder charge dismissed after a disputed confession was excluded, and a change-of-plea application that ran two and a half years and ended with the Crown consenting to the charges being dropped.
She has also been dealing with the same Auckland police prosecutors for three decades, which matters more often than the High Court does.
Her client liaison, Christopher, is usually the one who picks up the phone and chases your paperwork. Twelve of our fifty-three Google reviews name him, which tells you how much of this he does.
When they say it's impossible, that means there are a thousand solutions.
Most of this is won before you get to a courtroom. Here's our part.
From the first appointment you have a barrister of 33 years reading your police file, telling you plainly how this can end, and writing the list of things that will earn the best version of it.
Then she puts it to the police or to the judge in writing, with the evidence attached. That's what changes outcomes here — not how well anyone speaks on the day.
You do a fair share of it, and we won't pretend otherwise. That isn't work handed back to you — it's the reason these cases come out well. Knowing which things count, and in what order, is our job. You deal with Melanie herself throughout.
Why the argument isn't the one you'd expect
A discharge without conviction — a section 106 discharge: guilty, but no conviction recorded — isn't granted because you're sorry. The law asks whether a conviction would be out of all proportion to how serious the offending was. So the case is built out of documents: what a conviction would cost you, and what you've already done about it. Getting that right, in writing, is most of what the fee pays for.
What we do on a criminal charge
Your full police disclosure, obtained and read before anything is decided
Straight advice on what to plead, and when
Your list of things to do, in the order that counts
Talking to the police, where diversion or a lesser charge is worth asking for
Written submissions and a sworn affidavit, with the evidence attached
Melanie in court herself — no juniors, no hand-offs
Christopher on the phone throughout, so you're never chasing us
Phone and Zoom appointments anywhere in New Zealand
Charged per appointment and per appearance, not by the hour. Where the fixed prices stop is set out below.
What this costs, and where the fixed prices stop
Here it is before you ring, because nobody wants to have to ask. Most criminal barristers charge by the hour, between about $350 and $700, and almost none publish it. We charge per appointment and per appearance instead.
A straightforward guilty plea — one appointment, one appearance at the Auckland District Court — is $460. Add written submissions on sentence and it's a few hundred more.
A discharge without conviction normally runs to three appointments and two appearances at $230 each, plus $2,875 for the submissions and affidavit, and $1,150 if it's granted.
And then the honest part. Not everything here is fixed, and this is exactly when it isn't:
If your case is factually complicated, or your instructions make it complicated, we'll agree a fee once we have the full police disclosure and Melanie has had a chance to grasp what's involved. Only then can anyone realistically assess the time it will take and what it should cost. You'll have that figure in writing before any work starts.
You can pay in instalments — the section 106 fee is quoted as five payments of $575 for that reason. Debit card, credit card or online transfer.
And if money is what's stopping you ringing, ring and say so. The free options above are real, and we'd rather point you at one than take your $230.
Legal service fees
Phone, Zoom or office appointment - $230
Court appearance, Auckland District Court - $230
Court appearance, other greater Auckland courts - $287
Diversion appeal submissions plus $575 if the appeal succeeds - $690
Section 106 discharge — submissions and affidavit, as 5 × $575, plus $1,150 if granted (appointments and appearances charged separately, as above) - $2,875
Defended hearing, Auckland District Court plus $230 per preparation step - $1,725
Serious, complex or jury-trial matters - after disclosure
Typical totals, so you can plan: a guilty plea and one appearance, $460. A full section 106 application, about $5,175 if the discharge is granted.
There are four ways a criminal charge ends. Only one of them is a conviction.
Most people assume the choice is guilty or not guilty. It isn't. Roughly in order of how good it is for you —
Diversion: the charge is withdrawn
A police scheme, not a court order. First offence, lower-end offending, and the police may withdraw the charge on conditions — an apology, reparation, sometimes a course. Do them and it goes away. No conviction. Nothing on your record. It isn't a right, but a refusal can be appealed, and we've had those appeals succeed.
A section 106 discharge: guilty, but no conviction recorded
The judge finds the charge proved and then declines to convict. You walk out having been found guilty of nothing. The test isn't remorse, it's proportion. More on section 106 discharges →
Convicted and sentenced — and the sentence is arguable too
A conviction still leaves a wide range: a fine, supervision, community work, home detention, prison. Written submissions move you along it, and the strongest are built from what you've already done.
Defended: you fight it, and it's dismissed
If you didn't do it, or the evidence doesn't get there, you defend it. That starts with the disclosure, read properly. Melanie runs defended hearings in the District Court; for a jury trial, see "Some charges don't belong on a page with prices on it" above.Three of those four end with no conviction on your record. Which one is realistic for you depends on the disclosure — and getting it is what the first appointment is for.
This describes how these cases usually run in New Zealand. It isn't advice on yours.
Your list of things to do, and ours
Two of our Google reviews describe the service in the same three words, without being asked: Melanie gave me a list of things to do.
That's genuinely what this is, and there's no trick. Here's the whole thing in order, with who does what.
Three of the five are ours. The two marked YOU are where these cases are won, and both can start this week, before you've been to court.
None of this is a promise of a particular outcome. Every case turns on its own facts.
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A guilty plea at a first appearance is a plea to whatever was written at the time of arrest. It's rarely necessary and rarely in your interest. Ask for the matter to be put over — courts grant that as a matter of course.
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The summary of facts, the officer's notebook, witness statements, any video, your own interview. It is regularly the first time anyone finds that the police account and yours differ, or that the charge is pitched higher than the facts support.
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The summary of facts, the officer's notebook, witness statements, any video, your own interview. It is regularly the first time anyone finds that the police account and yours differ, or that the charge is pitched higher than the facts support.
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At the first appointment you're told plainly how this can end, what would have to happen to earn the best version of it, and by when. Where diversion or a lesser charge is worth asking for, that conversation is ours too.
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An anger management programme can run 16 weeks. A CADS alcohol and drugs course runs around 8 weeks. Sentencing dates come faster than either.
Reparation paid, an apology written and community work nobody ordered you to do all carry weight — a 17-year-old did 100 hours before sentencing and was discharged without conviction. Another did 50 hours with no promise of anything at all. All of it counts for far less the week of sentencing. And none of it is a guarantee; it has to be done on that basis.
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Written submissions and a sworn affidavit: what happened, what you've done since, and exactly what a conviction would cost you — with the evidence attached. The employer's letter. The registration body's rules. The visa refusal. Assertions do not get discharges; documents do. Then Melanie argues it herself.
The work that earns a discharge takes months. Your court date won't wait for it.
A 16-week anger management programme started the week you're charged finishes before a typical sentencing. Started the week before, it's a receipt for an enrolment.
That is the whole difference, and it is decided now, by you, not later, in a courtroom, by someone else.
Some charges don't belong on a page with prices on it.
If you are facing a charge that carries years of imprisonment, a jury trial, or a Crown prosecution, this is not a fixed-fee matter and we won't quote you one on a website.
What we will do is take the call, read the disclosure, and give you a written fee once we can see what your case involves. If it's beyond what this practice should be handling, we'll say so and point you at someone who should. That referral costs you nothing.
Family violence charges are run differently from the rest of criminal law, in a specialist court, with bail conditions that can keep you out of your own home from the first day. A discharge without conviction is much harder to obtain and for some charges it is effectively not available at all. If that's your situation, ask about it directly on the first call and you'll get a straight answer about what is and isn't realistic.
If you are in custody now, don't read a website. Ring, or have someone ring for you.
Recent outcomes
Every one of these was earned before anyone got to a courtroom.
Cannabis for supply → possession → discharged without conviction.
A young man was charged with possession of cannabis for supply, which is a supply charge and a serious one. After discussions with the police the charge was reduced to simple possession. Submissions were then filed for a discharge without conviction, and it was granted — protecting his ability to work and to travel.
Burglary, aged 17 → discharged without conviction.
A teenager pleaded guilty to acting as the lookout on a burglary and was found with burglary tools. He was an A-grade student who had never been in trouble. On advice he completed 100 hours of voluntary community work before he was sentenced, with no promise of any result. On the strength of that and detailed submissions, the judge discharged him without conviction. The matter ran over six months.
Assault in a bar → discharged without conviction, after a work visa had already been refused.
A man struck another patron while holding a glass. He completed an anger management course and a four-week alcohol course, attended a restorative justice conference with the man he'd hit, paid $1,000 reparation for emotional harm and wrote him a letter of apology. He had already been refused a work visa for a country he needed to travel to, having declared the charge. After written submissions, affidavits and oral argument, the judge granted a discharge on condition he paid $500 to a charity.
Theft from an employer → no prison sentence, and permanent name suppression.
A woman took more than $100,000 from the business she worked for. Submissions secured interim name suppression at the outset. She repaid the money in full, and a plea arrangement saw some charges dropped. She had already begun 150 hours of voluntary community work by the time she was sentenced, and a psychological report was filed with the submissions. She avoided a custodial sentence, and permanent name suppression — rarely granted in a case like this — was ordered because of the effect publication would have had on her seriously ill son.
Criminal charge FAQs
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Not necessarily, and this is the question people most often have wrong. If you're diverted or discharged, there's no conviction to be on anything. If you are convicted, New Zealand's clean slate scheme means most convictions stop showing on a standard criminal record check once you've gone seven years without another one — provided you were never sent to prison, the fines are paid, and the offence isn't one of the types the scheme excludes. It isn't automatic for everybody and it doesn't apply overseas.
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Sometimes, and this is exactly why people apply for a discharge. Other countries make their own decisions and a New Zealand clean slate doesn't bind them — visa applications routinely ask whether you have ever been charged or convicted, not whether it still shows on a check. If your job, your residency or your travel depends on the answer, say so on the first call. It changes what's worth applying for.
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It depends on your contract, your professional registration and what you're charged with — some registrations require you to disclose a charge, not just a conviction. Get advice before you disclose anything, and get advice before you decide not to. Both can be the wrong move, and which one is wrong depends on your paperwork.
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It's possible but it is not routine, and it is much harder than it was. The court has to be satisfied that publication would cause extreme hardship, or the kind of harm the law specifically recognises — to you, or to someone else such as a child or a victim. It's applied for early, and it's argued. We've obtained permanent suppression in a case where nobody expected it, and been refused in cases where it seemed likelier.
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For a first charge at the lower end — a minor assault, a small theft, possession — prison is not a realistic outcome, whatever the maximum in the Act says. It becomes a genuine possibility with serious violence, dishonesty at scale, and repeat offending. If you're in that territory you'll be told so directly on the first call rather than reassured, because everything about how the case is run changes.
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No. Melanie is a barrister and can take your instructions directly for criminal work — you don't need to find and pay a second lawyer first.
Find out where you actually stand.
One appointment, $230, phone or Zoom, usually the same day. You'll come off the call knowing what you're charged with, which of the four outcomes is realistic for you, what you'd have to do to earn it, when you'd have to start, and what the whole thing will cost.
If the answer is that you don't need us, you'll be told that too.
What our customers say
Melanie acts for clients throughout New Zealand — Invercargill to Cape Reinga. You won't need to travel to Auckland, and she can often cover the interim appearances so you're not taking days off work.