The year ahead

Commercial and residential investment looks very positive for 2013, the Law Society’s Property Law Section chair Chris Moore says. Mr Moore, who is also the Law Society’s President-elect, says in terms of commercial property, the year has started “with a fair bit of optimism”. “And I know through talking to commercial property…

Good news for conveyancing lawyers

This year has begun with two pieces of very good news for conveyancing lawyers. The residential real estate market has begun 2013 well, continuing the trend that developed during 2012, REINZ Chief Executive Helen O’Sullivan says. Residential property sales volume during January 2013 rose to the highest level in five years for…

Automation of conveyancing

A veteran player in the automation of conveyancing says that e-dealing would realise its true potential if there was a merger between niche markets. Richard Galbraith of Fencible Law launched KeyTrack 10 years ago. He introduced it to the market as a tool which would “add value to a conveyancing transaction”. His…

Vox Pop of lawyers across the country

Four lawyers have answered the nine questions below on conveyancing in New Zealand. See what they had to say: Questions How do you find Landonline and the service it provides? Have conveyancing fees dropped, stayed the same or risen in the last year or so? How competitive is the conveyancing market? Do clients shop around…

Landonline rates very well

Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) says its latest customer satisfaction survey results for Landonline shows it is becoming a trusted and valuable tool in conveyancing. LINZ invites a sample of e-dealing users each month to complete a short survey on its services. Chris Wickham, LINZ Manager Survey and Title Operations, says that…

From the Law Society

How do lawyers gain and maintain influence? For in-house lawyers, their role often sees them operating across their organisation as strategic problem solvers as well as legal advisors. Agents of Influence is the theme for the 26th annual CLANZ Conference, which will see a stellar line-up of key in-house lawyers and…

Distinguished visiting fellow

The First President of the United Kingdom Supreme Court, Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, is visiting New Zealand this month as the New Zealand Law Foundation’s 2013 Distinguished Visiting Fellow. Nicholas Phillips was educated at King’s College, Cambridge after completing national service with the Royal Navy. He was called to the bar…

Serving NZ's farthest-flung court

New Zealand’s farthest-flung court, the Chatham Islands District Court sits four times a year, usually for just one day, unless a special sitting is required. When each sitting comes around, a District Court Judge, a court registrar, a prosecutor, defence counsel and a probation officer all catch a flight to the…

From dropout to Doctorate

A high school dropout, Dr Hickey, who grew up in Taranaki, didn’t ever consider a tertiary education – let alone gaining a doctorate. Dr Huhana Hickey can now claim to be the first Māori woman, second Māori and first disabled person to get a PhD in law from Waikato University. “I didn’t…

Survey finds pros and cons in practice outside main centres

The work-life balance offered to lawyers who practise outside New Zealand’s largest population centres is highly valued. At the same time, there is evidence that a significant proportion have seen fee income decline or remain the same over the last two years. These are two of the findings of a survey…

Pricing stock-take recommended

How to best manage pricing is a question which has no definitive answer across all industries. A vigorous discussion on legal services pricing has been going for some time around the world and looks like continuing. In New Zealand, the survey of lawyers practising outside the main population centres asked participants…

Consider nominating an in-house lawyer

Each year CLANZ presents four generous award prizes at its annual conference, thanks to the support of its award sponsors. Nominations are now open in each category and CLANZ encourages all organisations and law firms to think about nominating the in-house lawyers they work with. The three personal awards come with…

Sleep can reduce stress levels

One picture of a lawyer is staying up until all hours working. That may involve staying up night after night preparing for litigation − the cross-examination the next day, the submissions to the judge, the address to the jury. It may be working long hours on some matter, such as a…

Healthy legal foundations needed to grow economy

Lawyers could play a larger role in future-proofing small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), which far too frequently fail. Enterprises with 20 or fewer employees make up 455,907 (97%) of the country’s businesses and employ 30% of New Zealand’s workforce (581,540 staff). Law firms are in a unique position to offer more…

Law Reform Report

Recent submissionsThe Law Society recently filed submissions on: Education Amendment Bill Companies and Limited Partnerships Amendment Bill – further consultation on clause 4, criminalisation of breaches of directors duties IRD draft Interpretation Statement INS0117 – Income Tax: Residence Proposed Unit Titles Amendment Bill – consultation Criminal Procedure Legislation Bill State Sector and Public Finance Reform Bill Prisoners’…

Government’s proposed changes to Family Court will make it less accessible

The New Zealand Law Society has filed its submission on the Family Court Proceedings Reform Bill to the Justice and Electoral Select Committee. The Law Society supports the streamlining of court processes to increase efficiencies and reduce cost and delay. However, it believes that two fundamental changes introduced by the Bill –…

Heritage Bill direction supported

The New Zealand Law Society says it supports the overall direction being taken by the Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Bill. The Bill replaces the Historic Places Act 1993 and is being considered by Parliament’s Local Government and Environment Committee. Law Society Environmental Law Committee member Phil Page presented the submission to…

Law Society seeks full review of unit titles disclosure regime

The legislation and regulations covering the disclosure regime for unit titles must be completely redrafted rather than amended piecemeal, the New Zealand Law Society says. The Law Society says various serious unforeseen problems have emerged since the Unit Titles Act 2010 and the Unit Titles Regulations 2011 came into force. In…

Lawyers Complaints Service: Dismissal of proceedings application denied

The Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal has turned down four applications by a lawyer currently not listed as holding a practising certificate, L. L faces a charge of professional misconduct for continuing to act for a client when he knew there was a conflict of interest. L made interlocutory applications for dismissal…

Lawyers Complaints Service: Barry Hart loses strike off appeal

Former Auckland Lawyer Barry Hart has lost his appeal against being struck off. Mr Hart was struck off by the New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Tribunal in September 2012 ([2012] NZLCDT 26). The tribunal had found him guilty on three charges, which related to not paying a private investigator for services, obstructing…

Lawyers Complaints Service: Fined for unsatisfactory conduct

A Lawyers standards committee decision to find a lawyer, A, guilty of unsatisfactory conduct and fine him $4,000 has been upheld by the Legal Complaints Review Officer. A acted in administration of the estate of Mr RC (for whom he had acted for many years). Mr RC had appointed his four…

Lawyers Complaints Service: Censured for failing clients

Lower Hutt Lawyer Paul Logan has been censured by the New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal for failing to properly attend to the needs of clients. In this case ([2012] NZLCDT 38), the clients were elderly and relied on him, the tribunal noted. Mr Logan pleaded guilty to the two charges,…

Lawyers Complaints Service: Fined for not complying with undertakings

Auckland Lawyer Timothy Slack has been censured and fined $5,000 by the New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal for failing to comply with undertakings he had given. Discrepancies between what was said in various undertakings Mr Slack had given came to light when the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) was investigating…

The Bookshelf

Book Of The MonthBuilt For Justice: Visits to old North Island CourthousesBy Terry Carson Beautiful colour photographs of 61 old courthouses around the North Island are supplemented with an account of the history of each. Interesting anecdotes and stories place each courthouse in its social setting and show how important the…

People In The Law

Auckland District Court Judge Mark Perkins has been appointed a permanent Employment Court Judge and will take up his new position on 8 April. Judge Perkins was appointed to the District Court Bench in 1999, sitting in the general and jury jurisdictions. He was experienced in employment law before his…

Law Firm News

Theodore Doucas and Jeremy Hunter have formed a new law firm, Zone Law Limited, specialising in intellectual property and business law. Theodore is a lawyer and former Assistant Commissioner of Patents, Trade Marks, and Designs at the Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand. Theodore ran his own successful intellectual property…