Serious Fraud Lawyer Auckland New Zealand

The Courts are increasingly finding themselves dealing with unrepresented defendants as the new legal aid regime starts to cut deeply into the ability of people to obtain a fair trial. I would have to say that even when a defendant is represented it is hard for him or her to obtain a fair trial let alone when a defendant is struggling to deal with the court and prosecution process on their own. The new procedure sees people charged with serious fraud and theft offences assigned a lawyer randomly off a list if they are unable to afford to represent themselves. I have thought for a long time that the legal aid system also artificially distorts the market for criminal defence services by pushing up the cost of private services for private clients. Many people refused legal aid are simply unable to pay the level of fees that would have been paid had they been represented on legal aid. This in turn increases the number of unrepresented defendants in Court which in turn increase the number of appeals which in turn increase the number of retrials. Contrast the position with government prosecuters who on a complex case have a virtually unlimited budget to outlast the defendant on. None of this makes for a real justice system but simply corrodes respect for the judicial system. I woudl have thought the Department of Justice would be concerned about these types of issues but apparently not. They are only concerned with filling the new prisons of their sister organization the ineptly named Department of Corrections.