Justice Minister Simon Power says a bottleneck in cases waiting to be heard by District Courts is temporary, and not an indication that justice reforms have failed.
Ministry of Justice figures show the number of active jury trials in District Courts rose by just over 40% in the past year\
Law Society's criminal law committee convener, Jonathan Krebs, says the abolition of depositions hearings could be causing the backlog.
He says there are now more adjournments at trial level in order to resolve matters that would previously have been dealt with at depositions hearings.
Mr Krebs says a lot of compromises were made to achieve efficiency, with some matters now being rushed.
However the minister, Simon Power, says there is a bottleneck because cases are now getting to trial more quickly, but that will ease in the next 12 months.
