“Everyone in Aotearoa New Zealand deserves a fair hearing in court, including the right to a lawyer with the time and resources to help them, whether or not they can afford it” said CBANZ President Annabel Cresswell.

“The services of a duty solicitor are available to everyone when they first appear in Court. Duty Lawyers spend every day at the frontlines of our under-resourced justice system. They take care of those who cannot afford legal fees, in the most high-pressured conditions, dealing with addiction issues and mental health challenges. This service needs to be preserved.

“The hourly rates and work conditions imposed on Duty Lawyers, are far below those of lawyers in private practice.

“This is despite Duty Lawyers dealing with a massive workload, demanding legal work, and incredibly challenging circumstances. They do important work that often affects people’s rights and liberties for many years to come.

“The treatment and pay provided to Duty Lawyers by successive governments has made this work unsustainable or even unsafe. That is, in turn a breach of the rights of all New Zealanders to access justice and fairness in our courts.” Says Ms Cresswell.

“These inequities disproportionately impact communities most likely to be charged with crimes in our system, and least likely to have the resource of legal fees. That is, our communities of colour, especially Māori, disabled whānau, those with mental health issues, and the Rainbow community.

“This action is being taken by individual duty lawyers as an individual choice. We stand with the Duty Lawyers for a New Zealand where everyone can access justice, no matter what their income. That means the government must support our hardworking Duty Lawyers to protect the rights of our most vulnerable in court.” Ms Cresswell said.

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