Top legal aid lawyer's bill under investigation

The Law Society is investigating the legal aid work of Auckland lawyer Charl Hirschfeld.

One News reported tonight that the Legal Services Agency, which is responsible for allocating legal aid money, said Mr Hirschfeld had withdrawn his contract, effective from the end of this week.

A spokesperson for the agency confirmed it had completed an investigation into payments to Mr Hirschfeld, but would not say what that investigation found.

One News said it had learned the agency had passed the matter on to the Law Society.

"The New Zealand Law Society has received information from the Legal Services Agency regarding an Auckland practitioner and we are going to thoroughly investigate that," said society president Jonathan Temm.

Mr Hirschfeld netted $3.2 million in legal aid money last year.

- NZPA