Ministry of Justice

In 2025, the Government undertook a review of the legal aid system. The Ministry of Justice released a discussion document [PDF, 489 KB] and received a wide range of submissions from organisations representing the legal profession, law firms, individual lawyers, and members of the public. 

In June 2026 the Ministry published a summary document of the feedback received:  Legal Aid Review 2025 – summary of consultation feedback. [PDF, 415 KB]   It also published a range of Cabinet material. [PDF, 1.1 MB]

In response to the outcome of the Triennial Legal Aid Review, Justice Minister Hon Paul Goldsmith, launched the Accessible and Affordable Justice programme at a Law Association of New Zealand meeting in Auckland on 12 June 2026. 

The legal aid scheme is under pressure, and balancing access to justice against responsible government spending proves an ongoing challenge. Legal aid spending has increased significantly in recent years and is expected to continue to do so. 

Legal aid providers are also experiencing increased workloads across the profession that have been exacerbated in regions with fewer providers. 

Pressures on the scheme reflect what is happening in the courts, such as the increasing volume of court cases, the cost for third party and specialist reports, and changes to legal aid eligibility and remuneration in recent years. 

The review covered the profile of legal aid and how it has changed over time, the sustainability of the legal aid scheme, eligibility and repayment settings, provider procurement and coverage, provider incentives and remuneration, and legal aid quality assurance. 

A discussion document informed the review. It outlined the scope and objectives for the review and set out the current settings for legal aid, the challenges facing the scheme, and proposals to address them. 

The Review identified that the legal aid scheme is under severe strain. Feedback from legal aid lawyers was that they were struggling to service their clients and respond to the administrative demands of the system. The legal profession also noted the scheme was struggling to retain existing lawyers and attract new ones. The cost of legal aid is outstripping inflation and has risen from $192.5 million to $304.7 million in the last five years and is projected to increase further. 

In response to the review of the legal aid scheme, the Ministry of Justice is leading the Accessible and Affordable Justice programme.  

Analysis undertaken by the Ministry has identified that increases in the cost of legal are not driven solely by the number of cases, but also by how they work their way through the court system. Legal aid costs are largely being driven up by changing practices in the justice system – such as a significant increase in the number of defendants electing trial by jury and increasingly complex cases, as well as inefficiencies, churn and delays.  

These pressures cannot be addressed solely through changes to the legal aid scheme as many of the issues stem from how cases are progressed and resolved. It will take concerted action by everyone in the Justice sector to find meaningful solutions.  

The Ministry will be working with the legal profession, the Judiciary and Justice sector agencies on a range of high impact changes to produce timeliness gains and efficiencies that will flow through into savings in the justice system and the legal aid scheme.  

The programme will look at a wide range of options, such as changes to jury trial settings, changes that reduce demand for legal aid, and changes that reduce the effects of high volumes of case material and the complexity of evidential requirements. 

The programme will also consider targeted changes to legal aid scheme settings. These settings influence overall demand on the scheme and influence how cases progress through the system. 

Practitioners Advisory Group

In working with the profession, the Ministry has established a small Practitioners Advisory Group, with members appointed by the Secretary for Justice. The group brings together experienced practitioners with a strong understanding of how the system operates in practice and will be used to test proposals and options at an early stage. The work of the Advisory Group is outlined in the Terms of Reference [PDF, 243 KB].

The Advisory Group is to be chaired by former Court of Appeal Judge, Hon Raynor Asher KC.  The members of the Group are:

• Raynor Asher KC graduated BA, LLB (Hons) from the Auckland Law School in 1972. He was the New Zealand Harkness Fellow to the United States (1973-74) and graduated with a Master of Laws from the University of California (Berkeley) in 1974. He was a partner at Kensington Haynes & White (now Dentons) from 1976-86. In 1986, he commenced practice as a barrister sole and took silk in 1992. He was President of the New Zealand Bar Association, and then President of the Auckland District Law Society, before serving as Vice President of the New Zealand Law Society.  He was appointed to the High Court in 2005 and to the Court of Appeal in 2016. While on the Bench, he was President of the Legal Research Foundation, Chair of the Rules Committee and Chair of the Media and Courts Committee. He retired in March 2019 and resumed practice at the Bar as an arbitrator, mediator, and advisor. He is now Chair of the New Zealand Media Council, and a member of the Vanuatu, Samoa and Cook Islands Courts of Appeal.
  

• Anna Devathasan is a director and senior prosecutor at Kayes Fletcher Walker, the office of the Manukau Crown Solicitor. She prosecutes serious crime in the High Court and District Court and has practised in South Auckland for more than 10 years.

• Anna McConachy completed an LLB (Hons) and BSc (Genetics) at the University of Otago in 2010 and was admitted to the Bar in 2011. She has more than 15 years’ experience in civil and criminal litigation, including more than 10 years as a Crown prosecutor. Anna has conducted more than 150 trials in the District and High Courts across a broad spectrum of serious criminal offending, including serious violence, drug offending, sexual offending, manslaughter and murder. After eight years practising in Auckland, Anna relocated to Rotorua in 2018, where she is a Partner at Gordon & Pilditch and Senior Crown Prosecutor.

• Justin Wall was admitted as a barrister and solicitor in 2009. Prior to becoming a defence lawyer in 2018, he worked as a High Court judges’ clerk, a junior to a Queen’s Counsel, and a Crown prosecutor. He has appeared at all levels of the court system, including the Supreme Court and the Privy Council. He also holds a Master of Laws (with Distinction) from the London School of Economics and Political Science, specialising in criminal law. He has Legal Aid approval for PAL 1–4 matters, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court appeals, and civil proceedings. He is a member of Federal Chambers in Auckland.

• Melissa Russell has practised as a sole barrister in Northland since 2007, bringing almost two decades of broad and practical experience across the justice system. She has extensive experience in the criminal, family, youth and mental health jurisdictions. She is a Court-Appointed Youth Advocate and Lawyer for Child. 
• Simon Shamy is a Christchurch-based criminal barrister. Over the course of nearly four decades in practice, he has developed a broad and substantial litigation practice. Although his practise now predominantly involves serious criminal trials/appeals, it also encompasses high-level commercial litigation and complex relationship property disputes. He has appeared as senior counsel at all levels of the New Zealand courts, including numerous appearances in the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court.