Criminal lawyer billed taxpayers $1 million

Publicly listed figures show Ms Fendall has received more than $1 million of legal aid in the past three financial years. Photo / NZ Herald

A criminal-law barrister paid more than $1 million in legal aid over the past three years has been suspended from the list of lawyers who can make a living from the taxpayer-funded system.

Robyn Fendall has been suspended by the Legal Services Agency this week for allegedly over-billing as a supervising duty lawyer at the Waitakere District Court in West Auckland.

A Legal Services Agency spokeswoman declined to comment on the reason, as Ms Fendall had appealed against the decision. A panel would examine the evidence and review her appeal.

The spokeswoman would not say whether the decision to suspend Ms Fendall from the legal aid list was temporary or permanent.

Publicly listed figures show Ms Fendall has received more than $1 million of legal aid in the past three financial years, including $572,000 in the 2006-2007 financial year.

Ms Fendall declined to speak to the Weekend Herald, saying: "I'd need to talk to my lawyer first before I can talk ... Why don't you ring my lawyer and she can fill you in?"

Her lawyer, Maria Dew, did not respond to messages left by the Herald.

The suspension comes after weeks of debate about the growing legal aid bill and calls for reform in the way the justice system is funded.

Dame Margaret Bazley is reviewing legal aid for Justice Minister Simon Power, after the taxpayer-funded bill rose from $84 million five years ago to an estimated record $144 million next year.

Dame Margaret recently issued a discussion document which said legal aid in criminal courts, particularly in Auckland, was characterised by "inefficiencies and poor service".

She accused some legal aid lawyers of turning up for court unprepared, over-committing themselves with cases and seeking unnecessary adjournments.

A small but significant group were described as "car-boot lawyers", paid between $105 and $182 an hour and saving on costs by having no office.

Dame Margaret listed complaints about lawyers coming to court without having done basic preparation, such as reading the prosecution's brief or even speaking to clients.

Lawyers were also over-committing themselves and not attending court hearings because they were at another case.

Dame Margaret said barriers to becoming a legal aid lawyer were low.

There was no real monitoring of performance "to ensure the taxpayer is getting value for money", and few sanctions were available.

Attorney-General Chris Finlayson has also criticised the standard of many criminal lawyers in the past week.

He described some as incompetent and suggested financial penalties for those who wasted the court's time.

Criminal Bar Association president Anthony Rogers wrote in an opinion article last week that it was regrettable that the Dame Margaret's discussion paper did not sufficiently acknowledge the "utter dedication and professionalism" shown by most lawyers.

Suggestions that criminal lawyers were "rorting the system" did not take into account the detailed paperwork needed to invoice the Legal Services Agency.

"Far from clipping the ticket to gain payment for unnecessary court appearances, most lawyers assiduously avoid additional appearances," said Mr Rogers.

"They are simply too busy to play such games."