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Summary of recommendations

Chapter 6: Choice – between community-based and private lawyers’ services

It is recommended that:

• the government review the funding provision for community-based legal services (including but not limited to those under Part VIA of the Law Practitioners Act and s 95 of the Legal Services Act), to ensure that a long-term funding base is available for meeting all community legal needs;

• the Legal Services Act be amended to create a further category for the funding of community legal services, in addition to those listed in s 95(1) of the Act (for community law centres, law-related education, research and pilot schemes);

• the Legal Services Board’s administration budget be reviewed, having regard to its strategic, research and oversight roles in respect of legal services;

• a new procedure be adopted for appointing non-lawyer members of district legal services committees, to enable consultation with, and nominations to be made by, interested people and groups in each legal services district;

• the Legal Services Act be amended to enable the Legal Services Board to review the legal needs of communities of interest whose members reside in more than one legal services district, and to empower the board to establish and fund measures to meet those needs;

• section 154 of the Legal Services Act be amended to allow greater flexibility in the response to unmet legal needs identified under the section, so as to enable district committees (with the agreement of the board) to

– fund the activities of citizens advice bureaux, and

– fund other specialist groups and legal practitioners who can demonstrate their ability to satisfy unmet legal needs,

and to impose on district committees an ongoing responsibility to review legal needs irrespective of whether a community law centre exists in the district;

• section 6 (and its companion provision s 55(8)(b)) of the Law Practitioners Act be repealed and replaced by a section which

– enables a community law centre established or operated under the Legal Services Act to employ practitioners, and

– entitles a practitioner employed by a law centre to hold a practising certificate subject to the power of the district law society to impose such conditions as it thinks are necessary to ensure the adequate supervision of a practitioner who is not otherwise qualified to practise on his or her own account.

Chapter 7: Cost of legal services: civil legal aid

It is recommended that:

• the current financial criteria for eligibility for civil legal aid be revised upwards and tied to an appropriate index to maintain their value over time;

• the current general requirement for an initial contribution from legal aid recipients be reviewed to assess whether it is warranted and, if so, to ensure that its level and manner of application ensures equitable results for aid recipients;

• the options for simplified application procedures be investigated urgently;

• the New Zealand Law Society and the Legal Services Board publicise more extensively the availability of free and low-cost legal services other than those provided through the legal aid scheme;

• the Legal Services Act be amended to achieve a more equitable recovery (charging and further contribution) system for all categories of applicants;

• the Legal Services Board in the meantime investigate whether inequity results from the capital test’s focus on the kind, rather than the value, of property which may be deducted, and develop measures to reduce any such inequity;

• the Legal Services Board ensure that all legal aid recipients receive a simply worded statement which sets out the conditions on which aid is made available and contextual information which indicates the incidence and value of the recoveries that are required from aid recipients, and which advises recipients to ask their lawyers or other appropriate contact people for clarification of any points about which they are uncertain;

• the Legal Services Board monitor the effects of its new charging instructions;

• the Legal Services Board take all possible steps (including publicity among lawyers) to ensure consistency and equity in the manner by which the initial contribution is required to be paid or exempted by district subcommittees;

• the Legal Services Board and New Zealand Law Society explore the feasibility of accreditation schemes as a means of assuring the service quality of civil legal aid lawyers;

• the Legal Services Act be amended to enable the board to fund the piloting and establishment of alternative means of delivering legally aided services which include quality assurance measures;

• the Legal Services Board develop a more comprehensive programme of public education about civil legal aid;

• the New Zealand Law Society and the Legal Services Board co-ordinate and increase their efforts to inform the profession about the use and operation of the civil legal aid scheme in New Zealand.

Chapter 8: Choice among private lawyers

It is recommended that:

• district legal services committees ensure that regularly updated information about family and legal aid lawyers is available to women, especially through community groups likely to be approached by women for referrals;

• law firms which offer services in areas known or likely to be of particular relevance to women, including family and legal aid work, consult with community groups which are likely to refer women clients in order to improve the quality and effectiveness of their referrals;

• the Family Law Section of the New Zealand Law Society promote members’ efforts to publicise their professional and personal knowledge and skills;

• the Legal Services Board continue its efforts to establish a well-publicised 0800 specialist legal information service, one function of which would be to make appropriate referrals to prospective women clients;

• in the meantime, the Legal Services Board and district legal services committees consider providing relevant information, and operational and advertising funding, to existing 0800 telephone information services so that women can obtain appropriate referrals to lawyers from those services;

• the Legal Services Board and district legal services committees, the New Zealand and district law societies and the Department for Courts co-ordinate their efforts to publicise the availability of referral services, in consultation with the providers of those services;

• law societies pursue the introduction of accreditation programmes which include training in gender and cultural issues to ensure accredited lawyers have, and maintain, the skills necessary to meet the needs of diverse women clients;

• law schools at which Mäori and/or Pacific Islands students are under-represented review their initiatives in consultation with Mäori and Pacific Islands people in their communities;

• those law schools develop new initiatives in order to attract Mäori and/or Pacific Islands students, utilising all relevant sources of information, advice and assistance, including community sources, to help in the support of those students;

• the New Zealand Law Society, together with the district law societies, collect information about the effects of discrimination on minority and ethnic groups;

• the New Zealand Law Society and district law societies work collaboratively to develop a coherent and comprehensive policy for the implementation, development and monitoring of EEO in the legal profession;

• the EEO policy incorporate targets for change so that progress can be monitored;

• the New Zealand Law Society consider appointing an EEO resource person to promote and monitor the progress of the profession towards the attainment of its planned targets;

• law firms demonstrate compliance with the EEO policy and employer obligations by the development and implementation of written EEO policies.

Chapter 9: Diversity of service provision by private lawyers

It is recommended that:

• funders, producers and distributors of legal information re-evaluate the effectiveness of pamphlets and other written sources as the primary means of communicating information;

• funders and producers develop alternative and supplementary media for the provision of legal information to women;

• funders and producers consider the development of legal information in media that will meet the specific needs of women with disabilities;

• all organisations involved in the provision or distribution of legal information to women consider the following when developing a communication strategy:

– what information the target audience needs,

– how people in the target audience are feeling when they seek information,

– whether other barriers to effective communication with the target audience exist – ie, literacy, culture, socio-economic status,

– the respective roles of the provider and receiver of information, ie, does the provider have an enforcement role which may discourage users of information to seek it from that provider;

• the Institute of Professional Legal Studies and New Zealand Law Society work together to develop educational strategies to promote better understanding among law students and lawyers of the needs of people with limited fluency in English, and the needs of deaf people;

• the Legal Services Board and Department for Courts foster the co-ordinated efforts of state and community agencies responsible for providing services to New Zealanders from non-English and non-Mäori speaking backgrounds, to develop programmes for the training, career development and use of interpreters in the justice system;

• funders and producers of legal information develop and implement policies for the translation of written and other forms of information (for example, videotapes) in consultation with the groups of women most likely to use them;

• law firms extend their efforts to promote the caregiver-friendly nature of their facilities and services, and the availability of home visits to clients who find it difficult to attend appointments at the firms’ offices;

• law firms review the caregiver-friendly nature of their facilities and services (through the use of client surveys, for example) and consult with women and community groups about ways to improve them;

• the New Zealand Law Society, its Family Law Section and district law societies publicise lawyers’ obligations under the Human Rights Act and co-ordinate the promotion of practices to overcome the access barriers currently faced by women who are responsible for the care of children;

• the Department for Courts review its courthouse design standards with regard to the provision of play areas in courts, and develop options to allow sufficient flexibility in meeting the needs of court clients in each area of the country;

• all law firms carry out a disability audit of law firm premises to identify existing physical access barriers;

• the Legal Services Board and district legal services committees promote the development of new and increased disability-friendly services options by lawyers, including increased publicity of those services among community groups;

• the New Zealand Law Society educate law firms about the requirements of the Building and Human Rights Acts to assist firms to meet the requirements of the current law;

• the Legal Services Board establish a capital works fund for law centre premises which need to be made accessible to people with disabilities;

• the Legal Services Board and community law centres work together to develop guidelines to ensure accessible community law centre services to people with disabilities;

• the Institute of Professional Legal Studies provide in its courses information about, and teach techniques to overcome, the barriers to communication that diverse clients experience when seeking information from a lawyer;

• the New Zealand Law Society continue to include wherever possible in its continuing legal education programme material on interpersonal communication skills;

• the proposed Code of Client Service emphasise the vital importance of high-quality, plain-language communication between lawyers and their clients;

• lawyers and law firms review their current familiarity with social services that are relevant to the needs of their women clients;

• lawyers and law firms explore the development of new and diverse ways to link with relevant social services in their areas (such as through the employment of a community worker);

• district law societies explore the development of resources (in consultation with local communities) that would assist lawyers and law firms to contact social services relevant to their women clients in their area.

Chapter 10: Accountability to clients for the quality of lawyers’ services

It is recommended that:

• the New Zealand Law Society act urgently to introduce a Code of Client Service, the content of which pays particular attention to the information needs and circumstances of women clients;

• the Code be supported by an accessible means of resolving clients’ complaints about service, consistent with the best practice principles identified by the New South Wales Law Reform Commission;

• the Code and the complaints process be promoted to the public in the context of a publicity campaign designed to raise public awareness of the services provided by lawyers.

Chapter 11: Communication: understanding law in its social context

It is recommended that:

• each law school develop a plan to enhance its teaching of law with regard to the effects of gender, including measures for monitoring and reporting on progress (including, for example, evidence in the form of student assessments, course appraisals, relevant seminars attended by staff, qualifications of new staff, performance reviews of all staff by colleagues based on clear performance measures, and EEO measures);

• the initial focus of law schools’ plans be on developing academics’ knowledge of the extensive jurisprudential base from which gender-related critiques of legal rules and processes have been made;

• legal educators support universities’ efforts to produce new materials to assist in law school education on gender-related issues, including the provision of funding where appropriate;

• the IPLS develop a plan to enhance its training with regard to the effects of gender, including measures for monitoring and reporting on progress;

• the New Zealand Law Society develop a plan to enhance the continuing legal education programme’s regard for the effects of gender, including measures for monitoring and reporting on progress;

• the Council of Legal Education consider all steps by which it may lawfully require or encourage the university law schools and the IPLS to develop, monitor and report on progress against the recommended plans;

• the Council of Legal Education and New Zealand Law Society, in consultation with all “stakeholders” in formal legal education, review the statutory scheme of regulation of formal legal education for the purpose of achieving better co-ordination of education measures at all three of its stages.

Chapter 12: Ideas for further change

It is recommended that the Ministers of Justice, Courts and Women’s Affairs consider:

• commissioning research which employs gender analysis to determine whether and if so how the justice system can promote the just treatment of women by an increased emphasis in family dispute resolution processes on non-judicial methods of dispute resolution conducted by suitably trained and skilled professionals;

• amending the Guardianship Act to empower the Family Court to stay repeat applications for custody and access which the Court considers to be groundless;

• increasing, by statutory change, the Family Court’s power to punish for contempt of its procedures; and

• authorising the development of clear and well publicised guidelines for the use and funding of counsel to assist New Zealand courts in cases which raise public interest issues.

It is recommended that:

• to ensure the just treatment of women is promoted by the justice system, all future studies of its operations be conducted in the light of the six principles and by means of the four part process identified by this study.