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New Zealand police station legal advice

21.04.2011

1) The document “The Police Detention Legal Assistance Scheme” gives a brief overview of the New Zealand Police Detention Legal Assistance Scheme (PDLA), publically made available, and aimed at the consumers of the service who need a quick summary of what their rights are and how they can access them.

2) The Chief Justice of New Zealand issued a “Practice Note on Police Questioning” on 16 July 2007. These judicially-developed guidelines for police questioning give parameters for how a person can be questioned by the police and what obligations and rights the police have in conducting that questioning.

3) The Legal Services Agency of New Zealand issued a “Policy on the Police Detention Legal
Assistance Scheme and Duty Solicitor Scheme” in November 2007. All PDLA lawyers are required to discharge their duties in accordance with this policy, which sets out the guidelines for listing, remuneration rates, claims and procedures for approved PDLA lawyers of the PDLA Scheme. The manual also includes the Protocols for Duty Solicitor and outlines the procedure followed by Agency staff for compiling the duty solicitor roster.

4) The Form for Payment for Attending Police Station is an example of a form used by New Zealand PDLA lawyers who make a claim for remuneration to the Legal Services Agency for their work.

5) The “Guidelines for when personal attendance may be desirable”, issued by the New Zealand Legal Services Agency in April 2008, are intended to assist Police Detention Legal Assistance lawyers in determining whether legal advice or assistance under the PDLA scheme should be provided over the telephone or face to face.

  • Geographical area: International