Duty lawyers, who often act for vulnerable and low income clients, could be paid extra to enter an early plea, under a Ministry of Justice scheme to speed up the court process.
Legal groups consulted on the design of the scheme are concerned it has "the appearance of incentivising guilty pleas" and may allow "unscrupulous lawyers to game the system".
To reduce court time, duty lawyers would receive financial incentives, including a payment of $90 when a plea is entered and a case progresses to sentencing on the same day.
Auckland District Law Society president QC Marie Dyhrberg has grave concerns about the scheme.
She told Guyon Espiner the plan could push defendants into making an early guilty plea without the time for proper consideration.
The Ministry of Justice says the incentive fees are not to encourage guilty pleas and would also be paid to lawyers when a not guilty plea was entered.
The scheme will be piloted in Hamilton District Court in early December and after six months it will be evaluated before being rolled out in Gisborne and Manukau.
The Ministry says the scheme would include extra monitoring, supervison and auditing of duty lawyers.
