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New Zealand's legal aid bill has shot up $30 million over the past year, despite a government shake-up of the legal aid system.
Justice Minister Simon Power is slamming the 19% jump in costs, from $131 million last year to nearly $162 million this year.
He said the increase is not justified when the rise in the number of legal aid cases was only up 4-4.5% from last year.
"What that tells me is that each individual case is costing a lot more, and that is not sustainable."
For the second year running, Auckland lawyer Charl Hirschfeld's practice has been the highest earning legal aid firm.
It earned $3.2 million in legal aid in the last year. That's despite Hirschfield asking for a 15% pay increase late last year.
His staff told ONE News he was unavailable to comment for this story.
Rainey Collins was the second highest-earning firm, earning $2.5 millon. Tamaki Legal came third ($1.8 million), and Kensington Swann was the fourth highest earner ($1.3 million).
The Law Society blames expensive methamphetamine trials and Waitangi Tribunal work for the rise in costs.
Four of the five highest earners either specialise in, or handle a lot of, Waitangi Tribunal work.
"Legal aid was never really intended to fund the kind of demand
that the Waitangi Tribunal work was making and it's skewing the
figures across the board generally," Law Society president Jonathan
Temm told ONE News.
He said the society is asking for Tribunal cases to be funded
differently and separately.
Dame Margaret Bazley's damning report into Legal Aid last year prompted the government crackdown on the system.
The report recommended the Legal Services Agency, which administers the aid, lose its independent status and be folded into the Justice Ministry.
Bazley made more than 80 recommendations for change in her review, and said at the time she was horrified with the level of abuse of legal aid.
In two months, cabinet will consider a range of options to control the legal aid spend.
