Dear Grace

We acknowledge receipt of your email of 24 June requesting information under the Official Information Act 1982.

In accordance with section 15 of the Official Information Act a response to your request will be provided as soon as is reasonably practicable, and in any case within 20 working days of receipt of your request, ie by 22 July 2021.

Kind regards,

Crown Law Te Tari Ture o te Karauna
P O Box 2858 or  DX SP20208 | Level 3 Justice Centre | 19 Aitken Street | Wellington 6011
www.crownlaw.govt.nz

-----Original Message-----
From: Grace Haden <[FYI request #15894 email]>
Sent: Thursday, 24 June 2021 12:00 pm
To: OIA <[email address]>
Subject: Official Information request - Crown solicitors acting as Pro Bono Prosecutors

Dear Crown Law Office,
I refer to the interview https://nzala.org/w/interviews/ In this it states "My idea was to see if I could get some of New Zealand’s top lawyers to offer their services at no charge to help the SPCA bring animal offenders to justice. The Pro Bono Panel is a high profile collection of 40 of the nation’s greatest legal minds (Crown Solicitors, Queens Counsel and Law Firm Partners), and their purpose is to help fight the high incidence of abuse against animals in New Zealand. Each Panel member conducts prosecution cases in Court at no charge for the SPCA. Members of the Pro Bono Panel include such senior lawyers as Mr. Michael Heron QC (who was Solicitor General of New Zealand and head of the New Zealand Crown Law Office), Mr. Simon Moore QC (Auckland Crown Solicitor and now High Court Judge) and Natalie Walker (Manukau Crown Solicitor)."

I note that the CROWN SOLICITORS:TERMS OF OFFICE Last Reviewed: May 2017
located at https://www.crownlaw.govt.nz/assets/Uplo... states at point 16
"Unless granted dispensation by the Solicitor-General, for a specific case or class of cases, Crown Solicitors and lawyers in the Crown Solicitor firm may not:16.4 act for the prosecutor in any private prosecution"

1.please provide evidence of the dispensation for crown solicitors , either specifically for a crown solicitor or as a group generally to act for the prosecutor in private prosecutions for the RNZSPCA, its current and former member societies or branches

2.Further please also provide documentation which you hold which relate to the ability of crown solicitors to offer their work Pro bono for private prosecutions

3.In matters where Probono services have been provided as evidenced by the interview attached who has paid for the services provided by the crown solicitor

4.a copy of the guide lines which exist or were given where dispensation has been granted as to the information passed to the court to ensure that the prosecution is not seen by the court as a crown prosecution

Yours faithfully,

Grace Haden

-------------------------------------------------------------------

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Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FYI request #15894 email]

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Please find attached letter of today's date from Briar Charmley.

Kind regards

Crown Law Te Tari Ture o te Karauna
Ph:  +64 4 472 1719
www.crownlaw.govt.nz

-----Original Message-----
From: Grace Haden <[FYI request #15894 email]>
Sent: Thursday, 24 June 2021 12:00 pm
To: OIA <[email address]>
Subject: Official Information request - Crown solicitors acting as Pro Bono Prosecutors

Dear Crown Law Office,
I refer to the interview https://nzala.org/w/interviews/ In this it states "My idea was to see if I could get some of New Zealand’s top lawyers to offer their services at no charge to help the SPCA bring animal offenders to justice. The Pro Bono Panel is a high profile collection of 40 of the nation’s greatest legal minds (Crown Solicitors, Queens Counsel and Law Firm Partners), and their purpose is to help fight the high incidence of abuse against animals in New Zealand. Each Panel member conducts prosecution cases in Court at no charge for the SPCA. Members of the Pro Bono Panel include such senior lawyers as Mr. Michael Heron QC (who was Solicitor General of New Zealand and head of the New Zealand Crown Law Office), Mr. Simon Moore QC (Auckland Crown Solicitor and now High Court Judge) and Natalie Walker (Manukau Crown Solicitor)."

I note that the CROWN SOLICITORS:TERMS OF OFFICE Last Reviewed: May 2017
located at https://www.crownlaw.govt.nz/assets/Uplo... states at point 16
"Unless granted dispensation by the Solicitor-General, for a specific case or class of cases, Crown Solicitors and lawyers in the Crown Solicitor firm may not:16.4 act for the prosecutor in any private prosecution"

1.please provide evidence of the dispensation for crown solicitors , either specifically for a crown solicitor or as a group generally to act for the prosecutor in private prosecutions for the RNZSPCA, its current and former member societies or branches

2.Further please also provide documentation which you hold which relate to the ability of crown solicitors to offer their work Pro bono for private prosecutions

3.In matters where Probono services have been provided as evidenced by the interview attached who has paid for the services provided by the crown solicitor

4.a copy of the guide lines which exist or were given where dispensation has been granted as to the information passed to the court to ensure that the prosecution is not seen by the court as a crown prosecution

Yours faithfully,

Grace Haden

-------------------------------------------------------------------

This is an Official Information request made via the FYI website.

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FYI request #15894 email]

Is [Crown Law Office request email] the wrong address for Official Information requests to Crown Law Office? If so, please contact us using this form:
https://fyi.org.nz/change_request/new?bo...

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
https://fyi.org.nz/help/officers

If you find this service useful as an Official Information officer, please ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's OIA or LGOIMA page.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Confidentiality Notice: This email may contain information that is confidential or legally privileged. If you have received it by mistake, please:
(a) reply promptly to that effect, and remove this email and the reply from your system; (b) do not act on this email in any other way. Thank you.

hide quoted sections