This is the What's new for legal aid lawyers archive for news items from 2025. For current news items, please see the main What's new for legal aid lawyers(external link) section.
27/03/25
Court of Appeal judgment on the Legal Services Commissioner v Fawcett case
Jurisdiction: All
On 21 March 2025, the Court of Appeal released its decision in the Legal Services Commissioner (LSC) v Fawcett case.
The LSC is now taking time to consider the judgment in full, seek advice, and determine next steps. More information will be communicated in due course.
If you have any questions in the meantime, please email lsc@justice.govt.nz
13/03/25
Following the KPMG’s independent review of the duty lawyer service in 2024, we are making some changes to improve the way we complete duty lawyer rosters by:
Duty Lawyer Rostering Changes – Transition plan
To move all courts onto a three month roster we have created a transition plan, some courts have entered into the new rostering cycle.
This new schedule is designed to ensure a nationally consistent rostering approach for preparation and publishing of the rosters. Our aim is to ensure the transition is smooth and to minimise any disruption. We will be communicating any schedule alterations to courts and duty lawyers throughout this process, with the goal of achieving smooth nationwide implementation.
The transition plan can be found on our website(external link), it contains a projection of the dates for changes to the duty lawyer rosters.
New Survey Platform
A new web-based form on CitizenSpace will be used to request information from duty lawyers about their availability for upcoming rosters.
When it is time for duty lawyers to submit their availability, we will send an email with a link to the survey from duty.lawyer@justice.govt.nz. Duty lawyers will access the survey and enter their information and the dates they are not available. We will use this information when creating the rosters.
This change will improve the accuracy of data and streamline the rostering process, ensuring that availability is recorded electronically and in one place rather than by individual emails.
Contact Information for Duty Lawyers
We will also be asking all Duty Lawyers to complete an update of their phone number, and office physical and postal address. A link to an online form will soon be sent to duty lawyers to enter this information.
If there are any questions or concerns around the upcoming changes, please email duty.lawyer@justice.govt.nz
6/3/25
There was an issue with Westpac Corporate Online last night which affected some provider payments. The issue has been resolved and payments will be made today.
If you received a remittance advice and have not received payment by COB today (Thursday 6 March) please contact either Greg Ishikawa-Pearson Greg.Ishikawa-Pearson@justice.govt.nz or Kamini McCarthy Kamini.McCarthy@justice.govt.nz.
6/03/25
The Ministry has increased the timeframe for providers returning to legal aid services after a period of absence from one to three years effective immediately.
If a Provider has been absent for three years or less, they may now resume providing legal aid services without submitting a new application. The only requirement is that a Change of details form(external link) is submitted. Further information can be found in the Provider Manual(external link) and Applying to be a legal aid lawyer guide(external link) .
Please note that this process will not apply if there has been a quality or service contract cancellation.
If you have any questions, please contact legalaidprovider@justice.govt.nz.
28/02/25
The Minister of Justice, Hon Paul Goldsmith, has announced that the triennial review of legal aid setting will commence this year. The Minister’s media release is available on the Beehive website(external link).
The review will be carried out by the Ministry of Justice, who will consult publicly as part of the review.
The scope of the review will be focused on ensuring the legal aid scheme is efficient, is of good quality, and promotes access to justice in a way that is sustainable and cost-effective.
Further information on the review and how to participate will be available in due course.
27/02/25
Following the successful rollout of text message reminders to PDLA lawyers in the Auckland area, the Ministry of Justice will be sending daily text message reminders to PDLA lawyers on rosters in Northland, Hamilton, and Christchurch from 03 March 2025, as a reminder of upcoming shifts.
The Ministry has received positive feedback for this initiative in Auckland and we look forward to supporting the PDLA rosters with this service.
The text messages will be templated as follows:
"Hi [First Name], please note that you are rostered on for PDLA tomorrow in [Location]. Please do not reply to this text message. Regards Ministry of Justice.”
Saturday and Sunday reminders will both be sent on Friday, and Monday’s will be sent on Sunday.
The PDLA rosters will continue to be available on our website at Police Detention Legal Assistance Roster | New Zealand Ministry of Justice(external link).
Further information about PDLA rosters can be found on our website at Police Detention Legal Assistance | New Zealand Ministry of Justice(external link)
27/02/25
Overview
A new operational process will begin on 3 March 2025 to improve information available to the criminal court about the existence of dependent children. Information will be more consistently provided to the District Court about the existence of dependent children when a primary caregiver is potentially facing a custodial remand or sentence.
As part of the new process, approved by Heads of Bench, several court forms have been updated to enable information about the existence of dependent children to be captured and shared with the court. These changes sit alongside existing processes that can also support identifying dependent children, such as oral submissions.
Making this information known to the Court will:
Impact on practice
All counsel should consider making inquiries of their client, to understand whether they are the sole or primary caregiver of a dependent child or vulnerable adult. With consent from their client, Counsel has opportunity to bring this information to the attention of the court through written or oral submission and should inform the court of the existence of dependent children where the defendant is potentially facing a custodial remand or sentence.
Counsel can expect judges to ask questions about parental responsibilities at an early stage, including at the time of bail and when setting bail conditions.
Both the Duty Solicitor Instruction sheet and the PDS Client Information Sheet have been amended to prompt and record this information.
Making Children Visible [PDF, 983 KB]
20/02/25
Appendix 1 (Instructions on bail matters for duty lawyers in the District Court) of the CPIP Duty Lawyer Operational Policy has been updated to clarify:
You can find the latest version of the policy here: Criminal Process Improvement Programme (CPIP) | New Zealand Ministry of Justice(external link)
20/02/25
Last week, Legal Aid Services launched a survey for providers regarding legal aid forms. Thank you to those who have already completed this.
If you have not yet completed the survey and would like to offer your feedback, the survey will be open until 23 February 2025.
Legal aid forms - Ministry of Justice - Citizen Space(external link)
12/02/2025
In response to feedback received at the workshops last year, Legal Aid Services are currently looking into how we can improve timeliness and efficiency when it comes to processing invoices and applications.
As part of this work, we will be launching a survey on how the forms are completed now, current challenges and how these forms could function in future to provide a better service.
We encourage all legal aid providers to complete the survey. The survey will be published on Citizen Space on 12 February 2025 and will be open until 23 February 2025.
https://consultations.justice.govt.nz/osd/022914f2/(external link)
30/01/2025
The Form 50 (Expert Request Form) is no longer required following a policy update that became effective in April 2019.
We have continued to receive Form 50’s since this change, however this information should now be provided as part of the criminal ATG Form 51.
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