Lawyer standards poor - Finlayson

Standards among some lawyers are so poor that one addressed the court by saying "Yo judge", Attorney-General Chris Finlayson said yesterday.

This week Mr Finlayson said courts were backlogged because "the overall standard of the bar, and particularly the criminal bar, is not high enough in New Zealand".

He was considering giving judges the power to impose financial penalties on lawyers who wasted time and increased court costs, and said there were too many "incompetent" lawyers.

Yesterday in Parliament, Mr Finlayson said his concerns were shared by many in the profession. "One even told me recently of a lawyer who, having no knowledge of basic court etiquette, addressed the court by saying 'Yo judge'," Mr Finlayson said.

- NZPA