Are lawyers battlers for justice or money-grubbers?

Lawyers increasingly fall into two camps: those who care about justice and those who see themselves as business people trying to make money, says the head of the New Zealand Law Society.

President Gary Gotlieb told a Law Society Council dinner in Wellington the world was awash with lawyers.

His comments are published in this month's edition of the Auckland District Law Society's Law News, but he told the Herald they were directed at international trends in the profession, and he did not believe it was a problem in New Zealand yet.

Mr Gotlieb said his speech was in support of the Lawyers and Conveyancers Bill, introduced to Parliament in 2003 and yet to be passed.

He said the bill would ensure lawyers were properly qualified and provided a service maintaining principles and values, stamping out the chance of New Zealand sharing in the trend overseas where globalisation had seen lawyers focus on the bottom line rather than their clients.

Mr Gotlieb, who also heads the Auckland society, is quoted in the Law News as saying there was a widening division between the two groups.

"The first take the view that our principal ... role is to serve the client. The second group maintain we have core values or fundamental obligations, which must be upheld irrespective of the client's instructions."

Commercial lawyers and those who worked for large international firms tended to fall in the first category. Those who had concerns about human rights tended to comprise the second.

Mr Gotlieb said he had attended three International Bar Association conferences, much of which were devoted to "the strategies necessary to ensure that lawyers' incomes not only grow but grow spectacularly".

This emphasis on law as a business had its dangers. "We are not traders. We have real privileges but we have fundamental obligations to uphold the rule of law, remain independent and facilitate access to justice," he said.

Lawyer Deborah Manning said most lawyers in New Zealand were already in the money-focused category.

"There is a disproportionate focus on the financial gain that lawyers can make from being lawyers, rather than being aware of the important function that they play in upholding the rule of law," she said.

Charges

* Partners in the big firms: $400-$500 an hour.
* Juniors in the big firms: $120-$400 an hour depending on experience.
* Specialists such as tax lawyers: Up to $600 an hour.
* Suburban firms: About $150-$250 an hour.
* Revenue of major law firms in New Zealand: Estimated between $60 million and $90 million a year.