Mr G. Spong
The defence in criminal cases before the Supreme Court is completely different and in a class of its own. This is because of the special nature of Supreme Court proceedings. Spong has an extensive cassation practice. Given his specialisation, he is regularly consulted by colleagues from "factual" practice.
Substantial differences exist between criminal proceedings before the Supreme Court and criminal cases before the lower courts. One of the most striking differences is that no new facts or defences may be brought to the attention of the Supreme Court in the proceedings before this Court.
The Supreme Court only rules on whether the lower court has made juridical errors, for example has failed to observe important procedural rules or has applied the law wrongly or incorrectly. This system means that the Supreme Court only takes the existing case file into account. The most important parts of this file are the official report of the case and the judgment against which an appeal to the Supreme Court has been lodged. Clients can contribute to the defence in proceedings before the Supreme Court by indicating the aspects they regard as critical.