Case Studies By Service Area
Evaluation and Research
Evaluating Public Defence Service Pilot
The Scope
Consultant, Sonia Ogier and Senior Consultant, Richard Tait conducted an evaluation of the Public Defence Service Pilot for the Legal Services Agency (LSA) in 2008. The Public Defence Service Pilot was established in May 2004 as an in-house criminal legal aid service taking up to one third of the criminal legal aid caseload in the Auckland and Manukau District Courts. The pilot’s salaried staff includes the Public Defender, lawyers and support staff. The pilot introduced a mixed model of legal aid service delivery to New Zealand. The pilot will finish in May 2009. The evaluation was commissioned to assess the impact of the pilot on; the quality of legal aid services; access to justice; and other aspects of the justice system. The evaluation was also asked to assess whether the pilot represents value for money.
Our Involvement
MartinJenkins Consultant, Sonia Ogier led the evaluation and Senior Consultant Richard Tait undertook the value for money aspect of the evaluation. The evaluation was based on a review and synthesis of the body of evaluation work conducted by Victoria University of Wellington’s Crime and Justice Research Centre (CJRC). Our brief was to draw on this material to make an independent summative assessment of the pilot against the statutory evaluation criteria, to the extent possible. In addition, we were asked to review the results of a value for money assessment of the pilot undertaken by the LSA. We were not asked to undertake our own analysis of the pilot.
The Outcome
We were commissioned to undertake the evaluation within a short timeframe. We delivered the report on time and it was well received by the Legal Services Agency. The report was used to inform policy advice on the future of the pilot. The report has been tabled in Parliament and published on the LSA website and can be found at http://www.lsa.govt.nz/Currentinitiatives.php (Final Report - May 2008).
The MartinJenkins Difference
This project required our Consultants to quickly become familiar with the pilot and summarise a wide range of evaluative information to write a concise report making conclusions on the pilot. We provided the LSA with a report for a Parliamentarian audience to meet the needs of a statutory obligation.
