Legal Aid In Civil Actions
(From Our Own Reporter) WELLINGTON, March 28.
Persons who have reason to appeal in civil court cases, but who cannot afford the services of a lawyer may soon be able to get legal aid under a scheme now being examined by the Government.
Some Government members, including the AttorneyGeneral (Mr Hanan), regard this as a logical development of the social security system, and a necessary complement to the criminal injury compensation legislation passed last year. Since last July, a special committee of the Law Society, under the chairmanship of Mr J. C. White, has been formulating proposals and referring them to district societies. The result has now been examined by the New Zealand executive, and the result will soon be passed on to Mr Hanan.
If they are acceptable, legislation will be submitted to Parliament this year. The committee’s proposals are based largely on the English system of legal aid. The aid for civil cases, it is understood, would be administered by the Law Society, which would provide the personnel for legal aid committees and an appeal committee. Persons requiring legal aid would have to set out their claims for it, including a statement on their means. Applications would be referred to the Social Security Department, and the committee would then decide whether to
grant a certificate giving unconditional help, or whether payment for the legal profession could be made on a levy system. An applicant would then be free to choose a lawyer. Payment to the legal profession would be from a Government fund administered by a legal aid committee. Lawyers’ fees would be handled directly by the fund.
Government approval for the scheme would appear to
depend very much on its cost. The preparation of adequate costing figures is understood to have been one of the main problems of the committee, which comprises, besides Mr White, Messrs R. K. Davison, Q.C., president of the Auckland Law Society; J. B. O’Regan representing the Wellington Law Society, and J. G. Seeman, a Lower Hutt solicitor who has been closely connected with the English legal aid scheme.
Legal Aid In Civil Actions
Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30711, 29 March 1965, Page 3
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