Conducting prosecutions
Crown Law is a Government Department which provides legal services to the Government. The Solicitor‑General is the Chief Executive of Crown Law and is also the Junior Law Officer of the Crown and has oversight of all public prosecutions.
New Zealand has two Law Officers: the Solicitor-General and the Attorney-General. For more information about these Law Officer roles, visit the Law Officers of the Crown section of our website or see the Cabinet Manual on the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet website.
Crown Prosecutions
Crown prosecutions are for serious offences such as murder and manslaughter; and serious sexual, violent, drug and dishonesty offending as well as all prosecutions in the High Court, and all jury trials. Crown prosecutions represent about 5% of all prosecutions and are prosecuted by Crown Solicitors on behalf of the Crown.
View a full list of current Crown Solicitors on this website.
Crown Solicitors are private legal practitioners appointed on the recommendation of the Attorney-General and by warrant of the Governor-General. The Crown Solicitors are appointed for a particular district, usually in a High Court centre, and are responsible for the conduct of all Crown prosecutions in the High Court and District Court in their geographic region.
Crown Law is not a prosecuting agency itself, nor are Crown Solicitors. Neither Crown Law nor Crown Solicitors conduct investigations or commence prosecutions. If a prosecuting agency commences a prosecution which meets the criteria for becoming a Crown prosecution, the local Crown Solicitor will take over the file and conduct it independently.
This will include a review of the file and a fresh, independent, decision whether or not to continue with the prosecution (and, if continued, on what charges). The original prosecuting agency is not the “client” and no longer has a decision-making role, although obviously they will be consulted on significant decisions (along with the victim(s) of the offence, if there are any).
Crown prosecutions are funded by Crown Law by way of a fixed appropriation from the Government; Crown Solicitors are paid an annual fee for the provision of their services in respect of Crown prosecutions.
Who can prosecute
As well as there being many different prosecuting agencies, there are different types of prosecutors. Where the prosecution is not a Crown prosecution, the prosecuting agency can use its own staff as prosecutors. Staff need not be lawyers (although they may be). For example, probation officers prosecute on behalf of Corrections, and many Police prosecutors are not legally qualified.
Types of prosecutors
- Crown Solicitor: The individuals who currently hold a warrant to be a Crown Solicitor, in relation to one or more of the 17 High Court districts.
- Crown prosecutor: A lawyer employed by a Crown Solicitor to conduct the prosecutions in their region.
- Police prosecutor: A prosecutor employed in the Police Prosecution Service (PPS) by the New Zealand Police.
- Departmental prosecutor: A prosecutor employed by a Government agency.
- In-house prosecutor: A prosecutor employed by an enforcement agency. This includes Police prosecutors.
Sometimes a prosecuting agency may instruct a Crown Solicitor’s law firm to conduct a non-Crown prosecution, either because the agency does not have the resources to conduct it or because it requires specialist expertise. In this situation the prosecution does not become a Crown prosecution, the original prosecuting agency remains responsible for the prosecution and any significant decisions, and they instruct and pay the Crown Solicitor as with any other lawyer-client relationship.
Some prosecuting agencies use other private law firms to represent them in conducting prosecutions; only Government Departments are required to use Crown Solicitors if not conducting the prosecution themselves.