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A group of legal aid lawyers is taking the government to the High Court today over removing clients' rights to choose their own lawyer.
The Legal Services Agency is now allocating lawyers to legal aid clients accused of committing minor offences.
Barrister Iswari Jayanandan told TV ONE's Breakfast the government has effectively "thrown the baby out with the bath water".
"They've said lawyers are rorting the system, so rather than fixing the system, we'll take away people's fundamental rights."
She says there is a risk now that incompetent lawyers will be assigned to cases.
"How can someone who's just come out of law school be as competent as someone who's been in the practice for 10, 15, 20 years?
"You're putting yourself in a situation now where the government is allowing everybody to get the same number of cases and potentially, where is there an incentive for any lawyer to do better than the base common denominator? There's no incentive."
The government introduced the new rules with the aim of reducing costs and speeding up the system. But Jayanandan says the opposite has happened.
"It used to be the system where you appeared in court for the first time, you were assigned a lawyer then and there and you could meet the lawyer. The lawyer could dispose of the matter if they chose to on the day.
"These days, you turn up at court, you're then given three weeks as an adjournment for Legal Aid to assign you a lawyer and then come three weeks later you might have to get further adjournments because you might not have disclosure and the lawyer is not ready to address the matter in three weeks time.
"The start itself has now been stalled because you're not in a position to deal with it on the first day."
She says because legal aid is like a loan and is paid back, people should have the right to choose.
The policy change came into effect in November 2010.
Last night, the government passed the second reading of the Legal Services Bill which would see legal aid administered by the Ministry of Justice and quality checks imposed on legal aid lawyers.
Labour backed the bill, saying the changes are necessary.
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