This section has resources for duty lawyers and other legal aid provider rosters. It includes information about the operation of the duty lawyer service and the responsibilities of duty lawyers.
The National Schedulers, within National Service Delivery Operations Support (NSD Ops), provide support and information on the duty lawyer rosters, including available assignments, and facilitate the admission process for both courts with a Public Defence Service (PDS*) presence and those without (non-PDS).
Please click here(external link) for more information about the Public Defence Service
Lawyers seeking admission to a court with no PDS presence must apply to the national schedulers in NSD-Ops.
Email: duty.lawyer@justice.govt.nz
Lawyers seeking admission to a court with the PDS must register their interest with the national schedulers in NSD-Ops. The schedulers will provide information on the current roster vacancy situation. Ongoing admissions to rosters at courts with a PDS are controlled by the roster admission policy [PDF, 667 KB]
Email: duty.lawyer@justice.govt.nz
The duty lawyer operational policy outlines:
Operational policy [PDF, 302 KB]
Duty Lawyer attendance - tax invoice [PDF, 329 KB]
The deputy register or duty lawyer supervisor will certify that the tax invoice - attendance form is correct before it’s emailed to the legal aid office. This form is in the above Operational policy document.
The court-specific duty lawyer instructions for courts with PDS are listed below:
Napier & Hastings [PDF, 58 KB]
Papakura & Pukekohe [PDF, 68 KB]
Wellington, Lower Hutt & Porirua [PDF, 80 KB]
The Duty Lawyer Operational policy for the AODT Courts and other relevant information can be found on the Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment (AODT) courts page.
Duty lawyers who are appearing in the Young Adult List will need to fill out the Duty Lawyer Checklist [PDF, 126 KB] at the young adult’s first appearance.
The duty lawyer roster and other legal aid lawyer rosters can be found here.
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