The new module appears in the Criminal Case Management set of modules and is divided into three steps:

• [CE1] Step 1. Overview of joinder and severance issues
• [CE2] Step 2. Joinder/severance of charges against one defendant
• [CE3] Step 3. Joinder/severance of trials with multiple defendants

These informative and easy-to-read steps begin as follows:

“A significant proportion of the clients who seek your assistance will be either (a) facing multiple criminal charges or (b) facing trial for one or more offences together with one or more other defendants. In either case, you need to consider the application of the statutory provisions and case law authorities relevant to issues of ‘joinder’ (trying multiple charges against one defendant together, or trying multiple defendants each facing one or more charges together) and ‘severance’ (splitting off one or more charges faced by a single defendant, or splitting off the trials of one or more defendants from those of other defendants). Joinder and severance of charges against a single defendant are discussed in [CE2] below, and joinder and severance of trials with multiple defendants are discussed in [CE3] below.”

The steps identify legal, procedural and practical matters to consider, along with relevant tasks and further reading.

This addition brings the total number of modules in Criminal Litigation Workflows on Westlaw New Zealand to 44.