Legal Services Commissioner
Justice Centre I 19 Aitken Street I DX SX10125 I Wel ington
T 04 918 8800 I F 04 918 8820
[email address]
9 October 2025
C Robin
[FYI request #32333 email]
Our ref: OIA 126081
Tēnā koe C Robin
Official Information Act request: Annual invoices for Police Detention Legal
Assistance
Thank you for your email of 17 September 2025, requesting information regarding legal aid
funding. Specifically, you requested:
the total annual amounts invoiced relating to PDLA (Police Detention Legal
Assistance) per legal aid provider operating in the Northland cluster (Whangarei,
Dargavil e, Kaikohe, Kaitaia), across the following periods:
1 July 2019 to 30 June 2020
1 July 2020 to 30 June 2021
1 July 2021 to 30 June 2022
1 July 2022 to 30 June 2023
1 July 2023 to 30 June 2024
1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025
Your request has been referred to me for a response as it falls within my responsibilities as
Legal Services Commissioner and is being managed in accordance with the provisions of
the Of icial Information Act 1982 (the Act).
I have interpreted your request to mean the total annual amounts invoiced for PDLA by
provider
firm operating in the Northland cluster for the six financial years listed above.
In response to your request, please refer to Table 1 attached for the total legal aid amount
invoiced to firms relating to PDLA operating in the Northland region by financial year
between 1 July 2019 and 30 June 2025.
Please note that this response, with your personal details removed, may be published on the
Ministry of Justice website at:
Of icial Information Act responses | New Zealand Ministry of
Justice.
If you are not satisfied with this response, you have the right to make a complaint to the
Ombudsman under section 28 of the Act. The Office of the Ombudsman may be contacted
by phone on: 0800 802 602, by email at: [email address], or via the
webform:
Make a complaint (for members of the public) | Ombudsman New Zealand.
Nāku noa, nā
Tracey Baguley
Legal Services Commissioner
Table 1: Total legal aid amount invoiced to firms relating to Police Detention Legal Assistance (PDLA) operating in the Northland
region by financial year between 1 July 2019 and 30 June 2025.
ACT 1982
Firm name
2019/2020
2020/2021
2021/2022
2022/2023
2023/2024
2024/2025
Aaron Dooney - Barrister
$750.00
$450.00
-
-
-
-
Courtney Legal
$75.00
-
-
-
-
-
D J Blaikie
$750.00
$1,425.00
$750.00
$1,500.00
$750.00
$1,500.00
David Sayes - Barrister
$15,000.00
$13,500.00
$11,250.00
$10,350.00
$16,500.00
$16,500.00
Foster Law Limited
$909.00
$300.00
$375.00
-
$900.00
$2,325.00
J Day - Barrister
$17,700.00
$19,200.00
$21,975.00
$17,700.00
$16,575.00
$16,575.00
Jarrod Griffin - Barrister & Solicitor
-
$7,725.00
$6,900.00
$5,100.00
$2,700.00
$5,025.00
Jonathan Natusch, Barrister
$1,650.00
$3,225.00
$1,875.00
$1,725.00
$2,100.00
$600.00
INFORMATION
Mdlaw Ltd
$450.00
$525.00
$450.00
$525.00
$75.00
$225.00
Melissa Russel Barrister
-
$1,500.00
-
-
.
-
Sam Mcdonald Barrister
-
-
-
$975.00
$2,400.00
$3,975.00
Shannon-Leigh Litt - Barrister
$3,759.00
$5,895.00
$1,800.00
$525.00
$2,925.00
$3,622.50
Stephen Nicholson - Barrister
$2,250.00
-
$750.00
$675.00
$2,109.00
$825.00
Stephen Ross Criminal Lawyer
$1,500.00
$1,200.00
$1,875.00
-
$2,250.00
-
Te Hihi Chambers
$618.00
$4,425.00
$3,450.00
$3,750.00
$4,350.00
$2,925.00
Tracy Spencer - Barrister
$2,700.00
$2,034.00
$2,484.00
$675.00
$900.00
-
Wiremu Puriri- Barrister
$10,500.00
$6,750.00
$6,000.00
$2,250.00
-
-
Table notes:
• This document contains data drawn from a database that is subject to change, as new data is continually recorded and/or recoded.
• This data only includes invoices with an 'Approved' status. Excludes 'Pending', 'Rejected', 'Waiting' and 'Created' invoice statuses.
• Includes approved services, where the amount approved is not zero.
• Regions are classified as per Stats NZ regions
(Stats NZ Map Hub). A region is based on the lawyer's location because this is usually
the best indicator. Grants described as having no region do not have a region recorded in our database.
• Excludes reversed/credited invoices.
• Al amounts are exclusive of GST.
• Where information is not existing for a measure, a dash ('-') is used in the tables.
RELEASED UNDER THE OFFICIAL
