Groups seek reforms based on evidence, reflective of Treaty of Waitangi
The New Zealand Law Society (Te Kāhui Ture o Aotearoa) and the Law Association of New Zealand (TLANZ) have shared submissions addressing concerns in the legal aid scheme to the Ministry of Justice for the 2025 triennial legal aid review.
In its submission, the law society called for evidence-based reforms and ongoing boosted funding of the legal aid system.
“If funding is decreased, or remains stagnant, the effects of that funding shortage will be felt across the justice system,” said Frazer Barton, the law society’s president, in a news release. “For example, the courts could see an increase in self-represented parties who are ineligible for legal aid, which can then contribute to delays and backlogs in the courts.”
The law society’s submission included feedback about the legal aid system from criminal, family, and civil legal aid providers and other legal professionals. It also included the findings of a report commissioned from Deloitte Access Economics.
The report’s cost-benefit analysis revealed at least $2.06 in benefits for every $1 invested in legal aid. The report’s economic impact analysis found that, relative to a scenario without legal aid, the expected economic impact of legal aid services from 2025–30 was $2.2bn in net present value (NPV) gross domestic product (GDP) terms.
“Deloitte’s analysis shows that investment in legal aid not only provides a return on investment but prevents cost and inefficiency elsewhere in the system – this suggests that there is no sound basis to refuse greater investment in the legal aid scheme,” Barton said.
The submission asserted that, while legal aid investment has decreased over the past 15 years, it should increase to advance access to justice while ensuring the legal aid scheme’s sustainability in the long term.
“Our submission shows that, without an immediate increase to investment in the legal aid system, the system would soon become unsustainable, and its collapse would create a significant barrier to those who cannot otherwise access justice,” Barton said.
The submission also argued that the government should:
“We urge the Government to consider the feedback and evidence we have included in our submission and make informed decisions which would ensure the future of legal aid, and adequate funding for the scheme and providers,” Barton said in the law society’s news release.
“We welcome the Government’s acknowledgement that change is needed,” said Tony Herring, TLANZ president, in the news release. “But the proposals on the table do not go far enough to address the scale of the crisis. When people in poverty cannot access legal advice or representation, the justice system itself is falling short.”
TLANZ encouraged the government to go further in its legal aid reform proposals, given that the legal aid system faces extreme strain and struggles to meet the needs of those it should serve.
“We urge the Government to take bolder steps to ensure the system works for the people who rely on it and for the lawyers who keep it going,” Herring said.
TLANZ’s submission to the justice ministry focused on the following primary concerns:
“The legal aid system is not just a safety net,” Herring said in the association’s news release. “It is a foundation of equal justice under law.”
Paul Goldsmith, justice minister, previously announced that the government opened a public consultation on potential ways to achieve an efficient and sustainable legal aid system that meets current needs. The consultation commenced on 11 June and closed on 23 July.
