Simon Power

Wellington, Nov 27 NZPA - Legal aid is in for a major overhaul after a damning review report and a commitment from the Government to fix the serious problems it identified.

The report, released today, said the system was being undermined by incompetent, unscrupulous and sometimes corrupt lawyers looking after their own interests.

Administrative costs were out of control and there were serious concerns about the way it was open to abuse by bad lawyers.

Justice Minister Simon Power, who ordered the review in April and appointed Dame Margaret Bazley to head it, said the problems went to the centre of the integrity of the legal system.

"Things must change, and fast," he said.

"When someone as experienced in providing services to the public as Dame Margaret talks about system-wide failings, a system open to abuse, and appalling behaviour, we know we have a problem."

Mr Power said he would take some of the recommendations in the report to cabinet on Monday.

Law Society president John Marshall QC welcomed the report and said the society was concerned about any lawyers who were not working adequately.

"However, we do need concrete evidence and not just anecdotal reports to initiate the formal complaint process," he said.

"While we have yet to consider it in detail, we can say that we are delighted that it reflects much of our own position on the subject."

The report recommended the Legal Services Agency, which administers the aid, should lose its independent status and be folded into the Justice Ministry.

Legal Aid helps those who cannot pay for their court defence, so their financial circumstances do not deprive them of a fair hearing.

Dame Margaret, who pulled no punches in the report, said some lawyers and defendants were "abusing the system to the detriment of clients, the legal aid system, the courts and the taxpayer".

"While there are very good lawyers in the legal aid system, there is also a small but significant proportion of very bad lawyers who are bringing themselves and their profession into disrepute."

She said there could be as many as 200 corrupt lawyers in the system and they should be disbarred.

The situation could not be allowed to continue, she said.

"The damage that incompetent and unscrupulous lawyers can inflict on their unsuspecting clients -- and the potential to destabilise the court system, with resulting wasted expenditure of public money -- is simply too great."

The report said the ties holding lawyers together as a profession were breaking down, with some lawyers operating as businesses without professional standards, and the legal aid system had played a role in that.

Poor practices included:

* lawyers making sentencing submissions without having read the pre-sentence report;

* lawyers ignorant of legal principles and not realising their own ignorance;

* lawyers failing to turn up to court;

* "car boot lawyers" using a District Court law library phone as their office number and using interviewing rooms as their offices;

* lawyers gaming the system by delaying a plea or changing pleas part-way through the process to maximise payments -- Dame Margaret said unverified sources believed up to 80 percent of lawyers practising in Manukau District Court could be gaming the system;

* lawyers who demanded or accepted top up payments from clients who do not understand legal aid;

* widespread abuse of the preferred lawyer policy by duty solicitors, including taking backhanders for recommending particular lawyers to applicants.