Public Defence Service Faces an Uncertain Feature, Says Law Society President Temm

The newly instigated Public Defence Service may not have a long-term future, according to Law Society president Jonathan Temm.

The NBR "Briefcase" columnist John Bowie quotes the President as saying that the public defence service, set up in response to a major overhaul of the legal aid system in the wake of Dame Margaret Bazley's highly critical report in 2009, may wind up being operated in a manner the same as any other government departments, the column said, burdened by sky high administration and infrastructure costs.

“The major issue here was to obtain an enduring solution. It was clear that something had to be done, but just as it is with the Accident Compensation Act, legal aid is a politically-charged situation,” Mr Temm is quoted as saying.

The Bazley report castigated the way in which legal aid was being operated, with what she claimed were 200 corrupt lawyers who rorted the system and took backhanders and charged illegal "top up" fees that defrauded the system and the taxpayer.

In an effort to stem the mounting legal aid costs, which were almost $124 million a year, the government implemented the public defender service, which has also aroused the ire of many legal aid lawyers and non-legal aid lawyers alike, in part because of the administrative-heavy legal aid system and in part due to criticism of the Public Defence Service itself.

“It is questionable whether the expanded public defence service will be able to endure. We have been told that it costs the same or less than private providers. However, it may end up too costly to run long term, particularly if benchmarked against the low criminal fixed fees paid to private lawyers, which are about to be implemented.”

Mr Temm said that he supported a so-called "mixed model" of public defender service  and says the Public Defence Service employs a number of good experienced senior lawyers, but the fact that it is turning into a large government department will create a cost structure in employment and infrastructure terms that must be burdensome.

“In a few years time we may see what has occurred in other government departments – cost cutting at the expense of some services.”

He sees further amendments ahead, just as the legal aid legislation has been previously meddled with by successive governments.

“Every 10 years there is a new system,” he said.

Another concern for the President is the number of senior counsel and firms who have not signed on as legal aid providers because of the remuneration rates. While Mr Temm doesn’t anticipate a lot of traction publicly for any argument over low, hourly rates, the reality is that senior lawyers with significant overheads receive net hourly rates that fall short of the money a plumber can easily earn.

Source: Lawfuel.co.nz