It's time to take action

This article first appeared in BusinessDesk on 8 April 2023

2023 is shaping up to be a tough year for many. As inflation sticks, recession looms and extreme weather events roll in with more frequency and scale than ever before, not only are basic costs to live increasing but so too are the numbers of people in need of legal representation without the means to pay for it. In May 2022, it was widely reported that 20,000 Kiwis had been turned away from legal aid representation in the previous 12 months. I confidently predict that these numbers will be escalating by the day.

There have been recent increases to the income eligibility thresholds of legal aid and these moves are welcome, but they will have a limited impact on a system that relies on lawyers to show up and offer legal aid in the first place. The fact that many practitioners are no longer prepared to continue operating in the system points to more foundational problems at play. Some might argue that anything less than a structural overhaul of the legal aid system will act as little more than a band aid. Be that as it may, economic shifts means we're likely to see more people unrepresented in court, the vulnerable continuing to be the hardest hit and access to justice becoming a case of have/have nots. Pro bono is essential in helping bridge this gap to justice and assisting the increasing proportion of the population ineligible to legal aid. It can't operate in isolation nor as a replacement to a well-funded legal aid system.

The recent release of the 2022 Trust Law Index of Pro Bono confirmed my thinking that we must take a structured approach to pro bono. It said even having one element of pro bono infrastructure – a policy, a pro bono committee or a pro bono employee – increased average pro bono hours to an average of 32 hours per lawyer, compared to the average 13.5 hours done by lawyers without infrastructure. The report also notes that lawyers working at firms with a pro bono policy performed more than 2.5 times more pro bono work than their counterparts without a policy.

There is an undeniable case for a centralised pro bono system in New Zealand and we must do better. I believe that if we unite and work collaboratively, we can put in place a structure that reflects the equivalent pro bono model established successfully in Australia. Streamlining and unifying our pro bono efforts, establishing referral mechanisms, setting national targets and providing firms with resources and infrastructure to ignite pro bono programs that will operate at scale would be a massive win for our society. Not only would this result in greater amounts of legal work being undertaken pro bono, it would also bridge the gap to justice.

With your help, let's get this centralised pro bono system on the agenda across the legal industry.

Let's all work together for the good of all.

Let’s make 2023 the year that access to justice turns a corner and becomes accessible once more.

What can we do?

I propose bringing together leaders and firm representatives to discuss how we can formalise our approach and put robust infrastructure in place to develop our pro bono sector. I'd suggest hearing from the Australian Pro Bono Centre and then working together to:

• Consider establishing a New Zealand Pro Bono Centre;
• Set national pro bono targets for firms/practitioners to voluntarily agree to;
• Develop a pro bono manual or best practice handbook; and
• Put in place mechanisms for inter-firm collaboration to bring together specialists to service large projects.

Given the complexity of access to justice, centralising the system won't solve the problem but it's one step in the right direction.

If you're in agreement and want to make change happen please do get in touch with me.

Laura Scampion
Country Managing Partner
DLA Piper in New Zealand