Apply for a review

Fee to apply for a review

There’s no fee to apply to the Review Authority for a review.

How to apply

You must apply for a review within 20 working days of the date on which you were told the Secretary for Justice’s decision.

In exceptional circumstances, you can ask the Authority to give you an extension of time to apply for a review. There is a space in the Application for Review form for you to explain why the Authority should consider your application even if it is late.

 You must file your late application no later than 3 months after being told of the Secretary for Justice's decision.

What you need to send us

You’ll need to tell us what parts of the decision you’re asking the Authority to review. You can ask for a review of the Secretary for Justice’s decision about:

  • declining your application for approval
  • imposing conditions on your approval
  • imposing interim restrictions under s101 of the Legal Services Act
  • imposing sanctions under s102 of the Legal Services Act
  • cancelling your approval.

You should send us documents to support your application but you can’t send us any information that was not given to the Secretary for Justice at the time the decision was made.

If you're asking the Authority to review a decision on more than one legal aid service or legal service, you need to select the legal aid service or legal service that relates to the decision(s) you want reviewed. You can choose more than 1:

Criminal 1

Civil

Immigration/Refugee

Criminal 2

Court of Appeal/Supreme Court

Māori Land Court/Appellate Court/Waitangi Tribunal

Criminal 3

Duty Solicitor

Mental Health

Criminal 4

Family

Police Detention Legal Assistance

Application form

Fill in this form:

Application for review [PDF, 1.5 MB]

Post or email the form to us along with the original decision and copies of any other information you want to provide. All documents must be in English. Documents emailed to us must be in pdf format.

Email: tribunals@justice.govt.nz

Postal address:
Review Authority
Tribunals Unit
DX SX 11159
Wellington

Present your case

You can present your own case or have a lawyer, or advocate, present it for you.

Appoint an advocate to represent you

You can appoint an advocate to act for you. They don’t need to be a lawyer ­– any person can be your advocate provided they have your written authority to do so.

The Authority will communicate directly with your advocate.

Both you and your advocate need to sign this form:

Authority to Act Form 2023 [PDF, 179 KB]

If you hire a lawyer, you may be able to get legal aid to help with legal costs. A lawyer, your local Citizens Advice Bureau or Community Law Centre can tell you more about this.

Withdraw an application

You can withdraw your application at any time before a decision is made, but you must do so in writing.

Fill in this form and email or send it to us:

Withdrawal of application [PDF, 936 KB] 

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