Our Gold Coast office, Southport

Finding us, and finding the court

Davenport Street runs through central Southport. We are on Level 1 at number 52. The courthouse is further along the same street at the Hinze Street corner, which means if you have a 9:00am mention you can meet us beforehand and walk over together rather than trying to find each other in a foyer with three hundred other people in it.

If you are driving, the streets around the courthouse have metered parking and it is gone by about 8:15am on a sitting day. The shopping centre car parks on Scarborough Street are a safer bet if you are coming for a court date. If you are catching the tram, the G:link light rail stops at Nerang Street station, a short walk from both our office and the courthouse.

Coming from Brisbane by train, the heavy rail line stops at Helensvale. You change to the light rail there. Allow well over an hour from Brisbane Central, and more if you are travelling before 9:00am.

The courts we appear in from Southport

A Gold Coast charge does not automatically go to Southport. The court is printed on your notice to appear or bail undertaking, and it is worth reading it properly before you make travel plans.

• Southport Magistrates Court, corner of Davenport and Hinze Streets. The busiest court on the coast. Magistrates matters run across courts 1 to 9. Read our Southport Magistrates Court guide before your first mention.
• Southport District Court, in the same building on levels 3 and 4. Serious indictable matters, sentences and jury trials. See the Southport District Court guide.
• Coolangatta Magistrates Court, 136 Musgrave Street, Coolangatta. Matters from the far south of the coast, including Coolangatta, Bilinga, Tugun, Currumbin and parts of Palm Beach.
• Beenleigh Magistrates Court, corner of Kent and James Streets. Charges laid in the northern corridor around Ormeau and Pimpama often list here rather than at Southport. Our Beenleigh guide covers it.

We also appear in the Federal Circuit and Family Court for Gold Coast family law matters, and in the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

Who walks through the door here

The Gold Coast office runs a different mix of work to Brisbane. A large share of it comes out of the entertainment precincts: public nuisance, assault occasioning bodily harm, obstruct police and drug possession charges arising in Surfers Paradise and Broadbeach, which are two of the fifteen safe night precincts declared under the Liquor Act 1992 (Qld).

The second big block is traffic. Drink driving, drug driving, disqualified driving and high speed charges off the M1 and the Gold Coast Highway. Losing a licence hurts more here than it does in Brisbane, because outside the coastal strip served by the tram there is very little public transport to fall back on.

The third is family law, and a good deal of it involves people who moved to the Gold Coast from somewhere else and now want to move back. Relocation cases, cross border arrangements with the Tweed, and property pools built out of small businesses and investment units.

We also act for a lot of people who do not live here. Interstate visitors, New Zealand and UK expats, and Tweed Heads residents charged on the Queensland side of the border. For most simple offences a solicitor can appear at a mention on your behalf, so a Sydney resident with a Southport listing does not necessarily have to fly up.

What the first appointment looks like

It costs nothing and it usually takes about forty five minutes. Bring whatever paper you have: the notice to appear, the bail undertaking, the QP9 if police have given you one, any suspension notice from Transport and Main Roads, or the application and affidavit if it is a family law or domestic violence matter.

You will leave knowing what you have been charged with, what the realistic range of outcomes is, what the next court date is actually for, and what we would charge to run it. The fee is fixed and it goes in writing before we start.

If you have a court date inside the next week, say so when you call. Early advice is worth more than late advice, particularly if there is a record of interview being scheduled or a licence suspension clock already running.