While the Law Society supports expansion of the Public Defender Service (PDS), NZLS President John Marshall QC has come out strongly against the cut in legal aid remuneration, according to an article in Law Talk , the NZLS Magazine.
Last year (under the previous Labour Government) was the first time legal aid rates had been increased in twelve years. This year they are being decreased.
Marshall says:
If the Minister of Justice is serious about “ensuring high quality, value-for-money access to justice for all”, then he should not have reduced remuneration for lawyers doing legal aid work.
The full article is here.
Decreasing the amount of money available for legal aid is a disgrace. Legal aid lawyers only got an increase last year after 12 years of working on the same rates. Access to justice for all is a fundamental concept of out justice system. Legal aid lawyers now have to take a pay cut on what is already poor remuneration. I know lawyers do not do legal aid work to get rich but to give something back to the community, but cutting rates is not on. We run the risk of good lawyers refusing to do legal aid work
The cynical thing is that Crown Prosecutor’s rates were not decreased. Yes, Mr Power, even the most despicable of people are entitled to be tried and represented by the best.
Oh good God! I missed this piece of news. Where I live it’s actually ‘peanuts and monkeys’ already without a decrease. The quality of legal aid here is tantamount to malpractice – only because LA payment is so low no-one with any skill will go there and there are so few lawyers on the ground and so many looking for advice and legal support the good ones can pick and choose not to take the LA clients.
I’m less concerned about the despicable and evil – more concerned about the DV cases, the children, and the victims fighting the other side.