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A new pro bono legal network is set to boost the amount of support available for people who cannot afford to pay for a lawyer.
The Framework for Collaborative Pro Bono in Aotearoa is led by Te Ara Ture, a division of Community Law which connects people who need advice with volunteer lawyers.
The initiative aims to address gaps in legal aid, motivate more lawyers and firms to work pro bono, and advocate for legal reform.
So far six firms have signed up: DLA Piper, Gilbert Walker, Holland Beckett, Luke Cunningham Clere, Russell McVeagh and Simpson Grierson.
Each firm had agreed to a voluntary target of at least 25 hours of pro bono work per full-time lawyer each year.
Te Ara Ture director Sabrina Muck said the framework would provide access to justice for vulnerable communities who otherwise had nowhere else to go.
"As a profession, we are well aware of the high levels of unmet legal need in our society," she said.
"The launch of the collaborative framework offers an identifiable and structured pathway for lawyers across New Zealand to engage in providing pro bono services."
Community Law chief executive Sue Moroney said the approach was "groundbreaking" and would benefit those who currently slipped through the cracks.
The threshold for legal aid was very low, so many people missed out, she said.
"There are people who sit above that income threshold, but still there is no way that they can be affording to pay $300 and $400 an hour for a lawyer to address their issues," she said.
"They might be issues about losing their job, or perhaps there's a marriage break-up or a relationship break-up, and they need some legal support around that, so these are the sorts of issues that are really fundamental to people's day to day lives," Moroney said.
She expected the initiative would gain momentum and the number of firms signed up would grow quickly.
Te Ara Ture said the network was inspired by models in the United Kingdom and Australia which each provided more than 500,000 hours of pro bono work last year.
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