KEY POINTS:
Law Society president Chris Darlow is confident the Government will increase legal aid rates this year, resolving a crisis in the legal aid system.
The government is freeing up access to the legal system by upping salary thresholds for legal aid so that from March one in four
New Zealanders qualify.
But as the change, first signalled in 2005, goes into effect lawyers are refusing legal aid work because the rates paid for it haven't changed for ten years.
"We are approaching a tipping point - we may have already reached it - where the wider community is denied access to justice," Mr Darlow said.
Abused women were not getting competent legal advice. "It is becoming a serious crisis."
He said there had been some useful dialogue with Minister of Justice Mark Burton.
"I'm quietly confident we are going to see some action on rate increases this year," he said.
The minister had turned his mind to the issue though getting officials on board had been a harder. He hoped to meet with Mr Burton in early February.
A spokesman for Mr Burton said once the changes to eligibility had been bedded in a review of the rates would be undertaken.
He said it had been 20 years since eligibility had been changed and 10 years since the rates were reviewed. The government's view was to look at extending access to legal aid for those who needed it before looking at the rates for lawyers.
Without it more people would qualify for legal aid but there wouldn't be the resources for the work to be done.
National's associate justice spokeswoman Kate Wilkinson said the pay of service providers should have been addressed before the system was opened to 435,000 more New Zealanders.
"It's around the wrong way," she said. National will discuss legal aid at a two-day caucus at the end of next week.
The profession said there was a crisis but the Legal Services Agency said there was not, Mr Darlow said.
There was no doubt that senior lawyers had largely pulled out of doing legal aid work altogether, he said.
Ms Wilkinson was concerned about "horrific bureaucracy" in the legal aid system. The administration costs per legal aid grant had gone up to $203.76 from $180.66 last year and the number of fulltime equivalent staff employed by the Legal Services Agency had risen to 237.8 in 2006/07 from 140.5 in 2004/05.
Ms Wilkinson said legal aid rates had not been increased for ten years and the Legal Services Agency did not believe there was a shortage of providers.
She has highlighted the problem in Blenheim where she said domestic violence victims are appearing for themselves.
"In Blenheim their duty solicitor for even criminal work comes from Nelson," she said.
"It is all about access to justice. Justice should be available to everyone and the legal aid regime is not conducive to that in the sense that it is not supporting the providers," Ms Wilkinson.
Mr Darlow said the government had signalled an intention to review the rates but the profession was becoming frustrated with the time it was taking.
- NZPA