Legal aid review sought

Press, 26 May 1977, Page 6

Legal aid review sought

Urgent review of the legal aid system, and new prospects of employment for law graduates, were suggested to the Royal Commission on Courts in its second day of hearing in Christchurch I yesterday. The chairman of the Newj. Zealand Legal Association (Mr T. M. Abbott) said that some staff in court offices were poorly trained, and that law graduates in Christchurch, who were characteristically unable to find: employment in legal offices I at the start of the year,! might be usefully occupied: by the Justice Department! before they took up practice: [in the private sector. ' Their training should give I ■them aptitude to deal with! '“the kind of trivial matters[ that should never get before! !a Magistrate.” Better organ-! isation and application of; management techniques ini:

the offices would ensure; smoother running of the! Magistrate’s Court. Certainly there was an urgent need of over all review by the Justice Department of its [ methods of staff training [and supervision of court [staff, Mr Abbott said. He submitted that the system of offenders legal aid was open to abuse and should be restructured on the same basis as civil legal aid. Significant changes were [needed to ensure that defendants made some contribution to the legal aid grant if it were possible, and : that their contribution was [re-assessed with a change in ! financial circumstances; that the defendant should be per-s mitted the counsel of his choice, instead of a solicitor [allocated from the legal aid panel; and that payment was made on a time and effort

basis instead of an appearlance basis. Under the present system individual Magistrates granted or refused legal am, and this inevitably led to inconsistencey. Sometimes legal aid was granted to a defendant, but no counsel wa"S assigned when the defendant appeared in court again. A specially appointed legal aid officer in his own office in the Justice Department, away from both the Magistrate’s Court and the (Supreme Court, could better investigate the financial circumstances of applicants for legal aid, Mr Abbott said. He suggested that long delays to the public, who arrived at 10 a.m., could perhaps be avoided by an alpabetical system that allowed people to appear at hourly intervals, at least in traffic and maintenance cases.