Legal aid revamp to cut costs
The government will today unveil a plan to crack down on the legal aid system and slash its rising costs.
The legal aid bill has grown massively, increasing by 61% over the past three years from $111 million to $172 million, according to Justice Simon Power.
He will today announce major changes aimed at bringing down costs, including taking control of 50% of criminal cases where legal aid was used, One News reported last night.
Those cases would be handled by state-owned Public Defence Service, which is already being trialled in Wellington and Auckland.
Another planned change would restrict access to legal aid for less serious criminal cases by setting limits based on income. Only single people on less than $22,000 a year and people with children on less than $50,000 a year would be able to get legal aid.
At a forum in February, Mr Power said changes were needed to meet an expected $402 million funding gap over the next five years.
He has been driving legal aid reforms following Dame Margaret Bazley's report on the legal aid system, which identified system-wide failings and called for urgent action to rebuild trust and confidence in it.
Last week, Parliament passed the Legal Services Bill, which will fundamentally reform the system.
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Comments and questions6
You Lawyers out there who have been (over) feeding at this trough have only yourselves to blame for this - i hate the thought of inc. govt bureaucracy but what do you do when the taxpayer is being ripped off.
Great, so the poor will now either get no funding or have a government bureaucrat defending them. The rich drive Ferraris and the poor walk or bus so the legal system should be no different but I wish the hypocrisy about an equal society would stop already. And the Police should officially stop arresting rich old white men...
Do you remember what pro bono means?
Power cited as the defining example ..... a saving in Auckland of approx $1-million over FIVE years.
Wow. That's inflation these days, whatever the official stats tell you.
So we are getting almost certainly inferior legal aid....and more importantly have compromise a key pillar of our system.....for less than bugger all.
Is this one they owe Curly Wee?
This will have no impact on poor, criminal scumbags, but will have far reaching implications for we unlucky saps who pay for everything.
Fcuk me, that's scary. I earn a lot more than $50k, but would struggle to find money to pay a lawyer if I was ever facing a charge. So what happens when I'm found not guilty - do I get to sue the state to recover costs?
I do pro bono publico work, indeed I just spent all day drafting submissions for a High Court judicial review case I am doing for a family whose child has a serious illness and who immigration services are trying to have deported. Indeed, I have not only given my time for free, but my staff's time (research/admin) and disbursements such as copying thousands of pages for use at trial. However, I can only do a limited number of cases like this otherwise my practice would go broke and I would help nobody. So, I have to very carefully pick who I help pro bono which means many people I have to refuse. Besides, what other business would give away its product for free because people cannot afford it? Lawyers may get a bad name, but I see many examples of us acting better than other industries.
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