Duty Solicitor Roster for week beginning 14 March
A duty solicitor roster for the week beginning 14 March has been prepared and sent to Christchurch practitioners. New Zealand Law Society Canterbury-Westland branch President Allister Davis says the roster allocates a senior and two juniors for Rangiora and two seniors and two juniors for the Prison on each day. There will also be a Youth Advocate rostered each day, including Saturdays.
“Rangiora Court will commence at 10:00am so please be there at 9:00am,” he says. “For those going to the Prison, please be there at 8:30am to allow time for screening and to get over to where Court is taking place. Cell phones must be left in your car at the Prison, and cannot be taken in with you.
“Both courts are running morning and afternoon, although for the Prison, not all duty solicitors need stay on for the afternoon – we rely on the seniors there to sort out who stays on.”
Mr Davis says the roster is revolving seniors and juniors at the same rate as usual, but given that there are more juniors than seniors, seniors are being rostered slightly more often.
“Sign-off sheets should now be available both at the prison and at Rangiora, but if they are not, please email your hours, including travel time, to Diana.Warren@lsa.govt.nz, as she is co-ordinating things from their end. Hopefully you will all be paid in the next round for the work you have done, but obviously the Legal Services Agency is also experiencing difficulties with not being able to access its offices – Diana is doing her best but we might just have to be patient on the payments front until things settle down a bit.”