Defendants in the Northern Territory's regions will lose access to legal services from January next year, a leaked internal email has confirmed.

Legal Aid NT has confirmed it will drastically strip back its services from the end of the month. By January, all criminal services in bush courts will cease completely, The Australian reports.

An email sent to a group of private lawyers in the Territory by Legal Aid NT acting director Jaqui Palavra made clear that from October 21, all new applications for help for criminal law matters "will be refused unless proceedings are brought under the Youth Justice Act".

"NT crime duty lawyer services will be limited to in-house capacity only, with no duty services being provided by contracted private practitioners," she said.

Legal aid for all matters set down for trial after January 1 will be terminated, unless the defendant is aged under 18, she said.

"From January 1 all Bush Court services will cease completely," she said.

"We acknowledge these changes will have a disproportionate impact on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people owing to their overrepresentation in the criminal justice system."

Ms Palavra blamed insufficient funding for the service cuts.

"Unfortunately, the funding we have been provided to date has not been sufficient to meet the increase in demand and will not be sufficient for us to meet in the 2024/2025 financial year," she said. "Legal Aid NT does not have confidence that additional funds will be provided at all or within a time frame which will enable us to continue to offer our current services."

The Law Council condemned the cuts as "intolerable" and "an unacceptable erosion of the right to a fair trial which is a fundamental element of our criminal justice system", The Australian reports.

The country's largest Aboriginal justice service, the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency, has also experienced chronic staff shortages, and had to halt services across regional courts for more than three months.

During that period, Legal Aid NT redirected services to youth courts, existing clients, fresh custodies and clients facing serious indictable charges. It now appears that Legal Aid NT will be unable to supplement NAAJA's services in any way.

Law Council president Greg McIntyre SC told The Australian the NT community should be "deeply concerned" about the development.

"Our democratic Australian society depends upon the rule of law and upholding the right to a fair trial. The NT community should not be shortchanged in this way," he said.

"Compromising legal assistance service delivery in this way puts in jeopardy the accused's right to a fair trial, increases the risk of a miscarriage of justice and worsens inefficiency in an over-burdened justice system.

"Unrepresented accused persons in serious criminal matters will be forced to represent themselves. Practically, this will often require an accused person to prepare their own case, while they are in detention on remand, increasing the risk that legal errors will not be identified, coerced pleas will be entered and longer custodial sentences—in circumstances where they may have limited comprehension of the trial process.

"Conversely, an accused person who receives independent legal representation may be persuaded earlier in the process to accept a negotiated outcome avoiding the costs of a trial."

On Friday, Legal Aid NT issued a media statement saying the service would "continue to seek additional funding" to restore its full capabilities.

"Whilst Legal Aid NT will make every endeavour to scale back services in the coming months in a way that causes as little disruption as possible, it acknowledges that these measures will have an impact on the justice system, including vulnerable clients and the courts.

"We appreciate the understanding and support of our community during this challenging time."