Legal aid isn’t necessarily a free service as some people believe. More often than not, the Ministry of Justice, who administers the legal aid system, will require those who have been granted legal aid, to repay to the Ministry money paid to a lawyer for work undertaken on behalf of a legally aided person.
If a person owns property of substance such a house, the Ministry will require a caveat to be lodged against the title of that property to cover the grant of legal aid.
We can assist clients who wish to apply for legal aid in the following areas, family law, civil law, employment disputes, appeals from ACC decisions (Reviews), appeals from decisions of the Tenancy Tribunal and most other Tribunals. Where a client wishes to apply for legal aid, we can assist the client with completing the legal aid application but we cannot undertake any work on the file until legal aid has been granted.
Please note that we do not do criminal legal aid.