Current Awareness

The Current Awareness page provides Internet links to recent news and information about legal aid and related legal services in New Zealand. The Ministry of Justice in particular (as the administrator of legal aid and other services under the Legal Services Act 2011) is monitored for new postings, along with the New Zealand Parliament, law societies/organisations and legal/mainstream media outlets. The page is updated regularly (at least weekly) by the product editor.

Overview of the Legal Aid Tribunal

This discursive commentary, written by Legal Services author Steven Zindel, provides an introduction to the administration, procedure, jurisdiction and jurisprudence of the Legal Aid Tribunal. The commentary is divided into the following main sections:

• [TR1] Introduction
• [TR2] Trends in decision-making
• [TR3] Reconsideration a prerequisite
• [TR4] Composition of the Tribunal
• [TR5] Practice notes
• [TR6] Code of conduct
• [TR7] Other matters for Tribunal members
• [TR8] Applying for a review
• [TR9] Time limits
• [TR10] Review procedure
• [TR11] “Manifestly unreasonable” or “wrong in law”
• [TR12] Financial eligibility for legal aid
• [TR13] Criminal legal aid eligibility
• [TR14] Civil/family legal aid eligibility
• [TR15] Application for review must be in respect of a live proceeding
• [TR16] MOJ cannot be sued for mistakes in granting decisions, such as in assessing merit
• [TR17] Payment for legal aid work
• [TR18] Appeals from Tribunal decisions
• [TR19] Conclusion