Duty lawyers

This section has resources for duty lawyers. It includes information about the operation of the duty lawyer service and the responsibilities of duty lawyers.

Management of the duty lawyer rosters

The duty lawyer roster is managed either by:

the Wellington legal aid office (for non Public Defence Service courts)
the Initial Criminal Legal Service unit (ICLS) which is based at the Manukau PDS office

Having an approval as a duty lawyer does not guarantee a place on the duty lawyer roster. To view the selection criteria, you can download the section criteria.

Duty lawyer selection criteria [PDF, 49 KB]

Admission to duty lawyer rosters

Lawyers seeking admission to a court with no PDS presence must apply to legal aid.

Email: RostersDL@justice.govt.nz

Lawyers seeking admission to a court with the PDS must register their interest with the ICLS. The ICLS will provide information on the current roster vacancy situation. Ongoing admissions to rosters at courts with a PDS are controlled by the roster admission policy [PDF, 667 KB]

Email: duty.lawyer@justice.govt.nz

Operational policy

The duty lawyer operational policy outlines:

responsibilities, including completing legal aid applications
attendance requirements and arranging replacements
payment requirements (rates and disbursements)
supervision of the service and the role of the PDS
specific arrangements in place at courts with PDS

Operational policy [PDF, 299 KB]

Duty Lawyer attendance - tax invoice [PDF, 329 KB]

The deputy register or duty lawyer supervisor will certify that the tax invoice - attendance form is correct before it’s emailed to the legal aid office. This form is in the above Operational policy document.

Duty lawyer instructions

The court-specific duty lawyer instructions for courts with PDS are listed below:

Auckland [PDF, 65 KB]

Dunedin [PDF, 120 KB]

Hamilton [PDF, 537 KB]

Manukau [PDF, 63 KB]

Napier & Hastings [PDF, 58 KB]

North Shore [PDF, 63 KB]

Papakura & Pukekohe [PDF, 68 KB]

Tauranga [PDF, 87 KB]

Waitakere [PDF, 71 KB]

Wellington, Lower Hutt & Porirua [PDF, 80 KB]

Duty lawyer instructions for Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment (AODT) courts

The Duty Lawyer Operational policy for the AODT Courts and other relevant information can be found on the Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment (AODT) courts page.

Duty lawyers in the Young Adult List

Duty lawyers who are appearing in the Young Adult List will need to fill out the Duty Lawyer Checklist [PDF, 126 KB] at the young adult’s first appearance.

Duty lawyer rosters

The monthly rosters are generated to provide the courts with the required number of duty lawyers to effectively service the court. These are released periodically as and when the court provides Legal Aid with the required information.

Ashburton - expires 20 November 2022 [PDF, 160 KB]

Blenheim - expires 31 December 2022 [PDF, 221 KB]

Dannevirke - expires 30 November 2022 [PDF, 140 KB]

Gisborne, Wairoa & Ruatoria - expires 30 October 2022 [PDF, 243 KB]

Gore - expires 31 December 2022 [PDF, 181 KB]

Greymouth - expires 31 October 2022 [PDF, 80 KB]

Huntly - expires 31 December 2022 [PDF, 222 KB]

Invercargill - expires 31 October 2022 [PDF, 200 KB]

Kaikohe - expires 31 December 2022 [PDF, 179 KB]

Kaitaia - expires 31 December 2022 [PDF, 162 KB]

Kaikoura - expires 31 December 2022 [PDF, 101 KB]

Levin - expires 31 December 2022 [PDF, 168 KB]