Parliament passes legal aid reforms

A bill which fundamentally reforms the legal aid system passed its final reading in Parliament today.

The Legal Services Bill is part of the Government’s response to Dame Margaret Bazley’s report on the legal aid system which identified system-wide failings and called for urgent action to rebuild trust and confidence in legal aid.

“The new legislation is aimed at improving the quality, efficiency, and effectiveness of legal aid for the people who use it, and for the taxpayers who pay for it,” Justice Minister Simon Power said.

The measures include:
• Introducing a new quality assurance framework under which legal aid lawyers will have to demonstrate competency to a selection committee according to objective criteria. The quality of services provided will be monitored by the Ministry. Lawyers will have to re-apply to be a legal aid lawyer after a fixed term (up to five years).
• Disestablishing the Legal Services Agency and shifting responsibility for the administration of legal aid to the Secretary for Justice.
• Establishing an independent statutory officer, the Legal Services Commissioner, who will have responsibility for granting legal aid and ensuring the independence of lawyers in the Public Defence Service.
• Streamlining eligibility for low-cost criminal cases. These cases will involve a shorter application form and will not be subject to repayment, unless they exceed a set amount.
• Allowing the Secretary for Justice the flexibility to establish different legal services and deliver services in different ways.
• Replacing the Legal Aid Review Panel with the Legal Aid Tribunal, which will consider applications for review of decisions of the Legal Services Commissioner.

Separate from the new legislation, the Legal Services Agency has undertaken a series of operational improvements for the delivery of legal aid, while the Government will soon announce proposals to address the enormous cost pressures the legal aid system is facing.

Mr Power said expenditure on legal aid has grown substantially in the past decade, increasing by 61 per cent over the past three years, from $111 million in 2006/7 to $172 million in 2009/10.

“Together, the Government’s measures will improve the administration and quality of legal aid services and ensure that the system remains financially sustainable.”

In the 2009/10 financial year the Legal Services Agency made 89,042 new grants of legal aid.

The Bazley report can be found here. Previous Government announcements on legal aid can be found here