LawTalk issue 934
In the November LawTalk we celebrate the appointment of Judge Heemi Taumaunu as the new Chief District Court Judge. We also profile other members of the profession, look at legal developments, ADR, access to justice and other issues relevant to New Zealand’s legal community.
Recent legal books
A Practical Guide to Legal Issues for Older PeopleBy Vicki Ammundsen, Hugh Ammundsen, Catherine Atchison, Kathryn Dalziel, Professor Kate Diesfeld, Dr Mark Fisher and Elaine Henderson
Reviewed by Tracey Cormack
This book includes contributions from practitioners with experience in each subject area covered, offering practical advice about key stages in life.
The book...
Carbon offsetting: reducing the impact of air travel
Flying is damaging the planet. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) indicates that flights account for 3% of global carbon dioxide emissions. And according to the International Air Travel Association, every year many millions more people fly than did the year before. No wonder then that the number of...
Four cases where pianos played a part
Those new-fangled pianolasThe player piano (also called the pianola) was invented in the 1890s. Using paper scrolls with holes punched out into patterns it was able to play popular songs and old standards without a human hand on the keyboard. Player piano manufacturers refused to pay royalties for the songs...
The Equal Justice Project: 2019 at a glance
The Equal Justice Project (EJP) is a student-driven charity at the University of Auckland. Founded in 2005, it utilises the legal training and knowledge of volunteering law students to promote a culture of social equality, inclusivity and access to justice in both the local and wider community. EJP is divided...
For a fee or for free? Secondments in the current legal marketplace
Anna Lozynski
ILANZ president Sian Wingate looks at the traditional secondment model still used across New Zealand and Australia. To help her understand the value of this model from an operational perspective, she talked to Anna Lozynski, General Counsel and author.
The secondment model is neither new nor unique to the legal...
There’s no reason why you can’t bring justice closer to the people
Lord Thomas, the former Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, is a member of a relatively small group of legal professionals who can talk confidently about Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the digital revolution that is engulfing the profession.
Lord Thomas was in New Zealand recently as the Law Foundation’s 2019...
Monsters and quirky museums in the land of the rising toilet seat
Japan has given the world so many concepts, from sumo wrestling to sushi, from sake to karaoke, that it’s impossible to resist the temptation to visit an intriguing country that mixes the traditional with the very modern.
But going to Japan also offered an opportunity to seek out some of the...
Shifting the gears up: ‘new law’ firm’s new approach
Directors of Auckland ‘new law’ firm Shift Advisory, Prue Tyler and Kate Watt, are reluctant to call themselves ‘disrupters’, but Shift Advisory can be seen, at the least, as doing things differently.
Before I met the pair, I spent some time getting up to speed on ‘new law’ and Shift Advisory’s...
People in the Law
District Court should be fair system for all
The new Chief District Court Judge, Heemi Taumaunu, is the first Māori lawyer to hold the position, and has his sights set on improving the court system experience for all New Zealanders.
He is one of a number of select Māori lawyers who have risen to the highest levels in the...
Building an inclusive New Zealand: Halberg Foundation partners with Buddle Findlay
It is well-known that competition for holiday jobs in the legal profession is fierce. But what is it like job hunting when you also have a disability?
A discussion paper produced by the independent think tank Maxim Institute, Acknowledging Ability: Overcoming the barriers to employment for people living with disabilities, reports...
Retiring from practising law at 90
There would be few lawyers who aimed to practise as long as Trevor Booth, who recently retired at the age of 90.
“I cannot recall a day when I felt I was having to go to the office as I always looked forward to going to work. I never thought about...
Khylee Quince: Teaching the judges
Khylee Quince tells it how it is. The associate professor of law at Auckland University of Technology (AUT) cracks up when discussing one cohort of students she teaches.
The Innovators: Mary O'Carroll, Director, Legal Operations, Technology and Strategy at Google
LawFest organiser Andrew King continues a series of interviews with key legal professionals with their innovation and technology stories.
Update
Test case clarifies law on leave payments for employees paid on commission
Tauranga-based company GD (Tauranga) Ltd has been successful in the Employment Court, with the judgment in their test case GD (Tauranga) Ltd v Price & Others [2019] NZEmpC 101 confirming the legality of their decision to switch to paying their employees their “relevant daily pay” under the Holidays Act 2003...
Why you should care about the Dotcom proceedings
For over seven years now, the efforts of the United States to extradite Kim Dotcom and three other Megaupload executives have been a burning issue in the media. Yet, for all this publicity, comparatively little light has been shed on the intricate legal issues at stake, which have implications well...
New Incorporated Societies Act Progress report 3
In the third in a series of three articles, Mark von Dadelszen looks at the proposed reform of the law relating to incorporated societies. This involves a complete overhaul of the existing century-old legislation. Read part one and part two.
Governance of societies
Under the proposals, every incorporated society will be required...
The Zero Carbon Bill — a game changer for responsible investment in New Zealand?
Responsible investment is big business in New Zealand. Over $180 billion of assets were professionally managed in accordance with responsible investment principles in New Zealand in 2018, up from only $58 billion five years earlier (RIAA Responsible Investment Benchmark Report 2019). This represents approximately 72% of all funds under professional...
Legislation Design and Advisory Committee and its Guidelines
Are you interested in how legislation is made, how government policy becomes a bill, and then eventually becomes law?
Most government legislation is drafted by the Parliamentary Counsel Office according to instructions from the relevant government department. The exception is tax legislation, which is drafted by Inland Revenue.
Unwanted guests: Court of Appeal determines costs after trustees refuse to step aside
In Guest v Guest [2019] NZCA 64, the Court of Appeal held that the trustees of a family trust, including a trust company, were liable for costs after they did not step aside in favour of an independent trustee. The Court of Appeal also held the director of the trust...
Alternative Dispute Resolution
Reciprocation Bias and Hanlon's Razor
Reciprocation bias and Hanlon’s razor are the final two psychological strategies that play a substantial role in our cognitive processes in mediation, as we have explored in this series of articles.
"There are slavish souls who carry their appreciation for favours done them so far that they strangle themselves with the...
The arbitration paradox
When Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd, then Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, observed in his BAILII lecture in 2016 that “… the UK went too far in 1979 and again in 1996 in favouring the perceived advantages for arbitration as a means of dispute resolution in London over the...
Lawyers Complaints Service
Inadequate advice about Calderbank offer
All names used in this article are fictitious
A lawyer, Midlothian, has been censured, fined $15,000 and ordered to pay her client $25,000 compensation. Midlothian had not adequately advised her client on a Calderbank offer and had significantly overcharged him, a lawyers standards committee has found.
The compensation order is the maximum...
Fined for accidentally broadcasting client discussion
All names used in this article are fictitious
A lawyer who accidentally broadcast a discussion with his client has been fined $1,500.
The Lawyers Complaints Service received a phone call from a member of the public who advised that he had been watching a live video stream by the lawyer, Shropshire, and...
Fined for failing to transfer shares
All names used in this article are fictitious
A lawyer who failed to transfer shares to three beneficiaries of a will has been fined $5,000 by a lawyers standards committee.
Mrs Haddington appointed the lawyer, Bute, as executor of her estate in or around July 2006. In her will, Mrs Haddington made...
Lawyer failed to act competently
All names used in this article are fictitious
A lawyer who failed to act competently and who acted where there was a conflict of interest has been fined $2,500 by a lawyers standards committee.
Mrs Antrim and her granddaughter had seen the lawyer, Westmorland, about a proposed family arrangement.
This proposed that Mrs...
Conflict possible when acting for insurer and insured
All names used in this article are fictitious
The practice of lawyers giving advice on cover to the insurer when also engaged to act for the insured is a matter of concern, a lawyers standards committee has said.
The committee was considering a complaint about a lawyer, Buckinghamshire, who submitted that the...
Murray Bryce Lawes suspended from legal practice
Orewa lawyer Murray Bryce Lawes has been suspended by the New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal from practising for three months from 8 October 2019.
In a decision on liability on 19 July 2019 the Tribunal had found him guilty of two charges of misconduct. The first related to management...
Appeal by Auckland lawyer against suspensions and costs dismissed
An appeal by an Auckland lawyer against a decision of the Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal which imposed a 15 month suspension from practising law and costs has been dismissed by the High Court.
Jinyue (Paul) Young was last year found guilty of four charges by the Disciplinary Tribunal at different...
Practising Well
How to calm your stress response and have better health and wellbeing
Being a lawyer can be stressful – difficult cases, demanding clients, sudden deadlines, huge responsibility, large workloads, pedantic checking of legal documents, etc, etc.
In my work I see clients for chronic fatigue, chronic pain, anxiety, depression, bowel disorders and many more, and the leading cause of all these conditions is…...
Avoiding digital distractions
We’re a distracted workforce these days. While some types of distraction can be good for productivity, such as in creative tasks where it can make space for the more intuitive, holistic, creative right brain to rev up, typically distraction is adversely affecting our workplace productivity.
Organisations and advertisers are constantly vying...