The New Zealand Law Society says the claim that lawyers routinely abuse the legal aid invoicing system is wrong.
The charge was made in defence of Christopher Comeskey, yesterday suspended from legal practice for nine months after pleading guilty to professional misconduct.
Among other things, Comeskey admitted submitting false invoices for legal aid.
His lawyer Russell Fairbrother said the billing was part of a systemic failure - his client's case was "the tip of the iceberg for lawyers throughout the country."
But today the Law Society rejected the claim outright.
President Jonathan Temm said it was disappointing to hear an "unsubstantiated allegation" of routine abuse of the legal aid invoicing system made in defence of a practitioner who had pleaded guilty.
"This has no factual basis," he said. "Unfortunately even the allegation that 16 percent of a sample of legal aid files were under or over the hours billed has been misreported, with some media mishearing and reporting it as 60 percent."
Mr Temm added that despite the allegation, the society had not received any information indicating widespread abuse of legal aid invoicing.
New Zealand had a well-established system in place to ensure that the legal profession maintained the standards of professional integrity expected by all New Zealanders.
Mr Temm said the society was charged with regulating the legal profession to ensure it operated lawfully and in the interests of clients.
While there was an excellent framework for investigating and prosecuting identified misconduct, there was also a strong focus on prevention.
"I have no doubts that New Zealand's legal profession maintains very high professional standards and integrity," he said.
"Lawyers are officers of the court and they have a duty to uphold the rule of law. All lawyers are required to act within the law and with integrity at all times."
Mr Temm said part of the system in place to regulate the legal profession made it mandatory for any lawyer with reasonable grounds to suspect another lawyer guilty of misconduct to make a confidential report to the society.
"Any such report ... of a suspicion of irregularity will be investigated by the society," he said.
NZPA