Operation of the Law Commission 25 The Governor-General can appoint up to six Commissioners, with one being the President  and  Chief  Executive.    Commissioners  are  appointed  for  three  to  five years, and can be reappointed.  There is usually a mix of full-time and part-time Commissioners.  The Ministry of Justice co-ordinates the appointment processes. 26 Each  Commissioner  leads  one  or  more  projects  in  their  area  of  expertise  and contributes to other projects.  Collectively all commissioners are responsible for the Commission’s published reports.  There are between eight and ten FTE legal research  staff,  who  are  appointed  on  fixed  term  contracts  relating  to  the  work programme,  and  there  are  currently  nine  administrative  support  staff.    The Commission has a well resourced library.  (An organisation chart is provided in Appendix Four). 27 At any time there are six or so projects underway.  Ideally each project has both a lead  and  contributing  commissioner,  and  is  usually  supported  by  2  to  3  legal researchers at various stages.  Sometimes a preliminary discussion paper seeking public   submissions   is   published;   other   projects   may   undertake   consultation through the production of research papers or the circulation of a draft final report. 28 In order to advise the Minister on the government response to a report from the Law Commission, officials need to be well informed about the project.  This has sometimes meant that they have needed to go over much of the ground already covered  by  the  Commission,  which  has  not  only  been  frustrating  for  those involved  but  a  poor  use  of  public  resources.    The  Commission  believes  it  is important  that  relevant  government  agencies  are  fully  informed  and  consulted about Commission projects while they are being undertaken, so that the extent to which  work  is  duplicated  in  the  preparation  of  the  government  response  to Commission  reports  is  kept  to  a  minimum.    To  that  end,  in  recent  years  the Commission  has  been  promoting  systematic  linkages  with  the  Ministers  and government  agencies  responsible  for  the  legislation  and  practice  to  which  each project relates.     29 In particular, it is trying to encourage the appointment of liaison staff within the relevant government agencies to allow dialogue and participation throughout the life of the project.  This encourages wider commitment and understanding of the policy approach, before completion of the project.  Officials provide better advice to Ministers when they have a good knowledge of the  issues.  While the views finally expressed by the Commission and the Government may still, at times, be different, linkages during the project should ensure there is a clear understanding of the proposals and reasons for any differences.   Funding   30 The  Commission  is  funded  from  money  allocated  in  the  budget  under  Vote: Justice, and has received the same allocation of about $3 million (without GST) since 1995/96.  The average operating expenditure for the past ten years has been in the range of $3.3 million and the deficit has been funded, with the agreement of government, from cash reserves.