Minister welcomes opening of Hamilton Public Defence Service

Justice Minister Simon Power today welcomed the opening of the Hamilton Public Defence Service (PDS), which will operate at the Hamilton District and High Courts.

The PDS is a Government-funded independent criminal legal aid and duty lawyer service, which uses salaried staff rather than contracted lawyers.

The PDS was piloted at the Auckland and Manukau courts in 2004 and after its success was rolled out to other courts in Auckland from 2008, and Wellington earlier this year.

“I’m delighted at this further expansion of the PDS,” Mr Power said.

“Two independent evaluations have found it provides a high-quality service, as well as mentoring and training opportunities for junior lawyers.

“The evaluations also showed the PDS achieved cost savings with no difference in outcomes for the client, as measured by overall conviction rates.”

The PDS is part of the Legal Services Agency, which is an independent Crown entity.

The Legal Services Act 2011 shifts responsibility for the legal aid system to the Ministry of Justice, and will come into force on 1 July. An independent statutory officer will be responsible for the management of cases in the PDS, maintaining its independence from the Government.

“The PDS plays an integral part in the new, higher-quality legal aid system the Government is designing in response to Dame Margaret Bazley’s report of 2009.

“It’s also a crucial component of the legal aid sustainability package I announced last month to help close the $402 million gap between the legal aid budget and forecast expenditure over the next five years.”

Legal aid expenditure has been increasing rapidly. In 2006/7 it was $111 million, and in 2009/10 it was $172 million – an increase of 55 per cent.

“As part of the sustainability package, the PDS also will be rolled out to Tauranga, Hastings/Napier, and Dunedin, and to Christchurch when circumstances allow.

“PDS offices will also be contracted to take on up to 50 per cent of local caseload over time. Currently they can take on up to 33 per cent.”

Mr Power said that while the Government is expanding the Public Defence Service, the private bar remains an important and valued provider of criminal legal aid services.

“There will always be room for both the Public Defence Service and the private bar and I have no intention of changing that.”

Previous announcements on legal aid can be found here.

FACTSHEET – PUBLIC DEFENCE SERVICE

The Public Defence Service (PDS) was established in the Auckland and Manukau courts in 2004 to provide publicly-funded, high-quality criminal defence services as an alternative to private lawyers funded by legal aid. After the success of the pilot, the PDS was made permanent in those courts in 2008.

It has since been expanded to all courts in Auckland – Manukau, Waitakere, North Shore, Pukekohe and Papakura. The Wellington PDS office opened in February, and a further PDS office will open in Hamilton in May. The PDS will be expanded into Christchurch when circumstances allow.

PDS lawyers are qualified to the same standard and meet all the requirements of a lawyer in private practice.

A particular focus of the PDS is training and professional development. Lawyers at all levels are supported to develop their abilities with a focus on maintaining a high-quality service for defendants. This approach has attracted high-calibre lawyers at all levels of seniority into the service.

Since its commencement, the PDS has also benefited from attracting staff who reflect the diversity of the legal aid client base, including Māori, Pacific Island, and Asian lawyers and administrators.

A formal independent evaluation found that the PDS achieved cost savings with no difference in outcome for the clients as measured by overall conviction rates. It also found that the PDS maintained or improved the quality of legal services.

Two independent evaluations in 2007 of the PDS pilot at Auckland and Manukau have been published. The key evaluation findings were:

• The cost of PDS provision fluctuated from year to year and by location, but overall produced around 10% savings compared to the estimated cost of equivalent private provision ($985,000 savings over the four-year pilot period).

• The PDS maintained or improved the quality of legal services as measured by three indicators – client experience, case handling and outcomes, and stakeholder perceptions.

• Stakeholders, including the judiciary, prosecutors and court staff, noted that the quality and preparation that PDS lawyers demonstrated in their cases, and pointed in particular to mentoring and training opportunities that PDS senior staff were able to provide to junior lawyers.

• The flow of PDS cases through the court system led to a two thirds reduction in jury trials, resulting in material savings in court time and costs.

• Savings in court time through avoided jury trials were estimated to be in the order of $400,000. These savings do not include prosecution cost savings, which would also be substantial.
• Cost savings were achieved with no difference in outcome for the client, as measured by overall conviction rates. For serious cases, the conviction rate for PDS cases was significantly lower than that for privately provided cases.