A profession committed to the community

For a profession so rooted in concise arguments and reasoning, the criteria surrounding how large and small firms sponsor (often substantially) community and non-profit organisations is surprisingly vague. “The thing you will probably find is that because sponsorship is not the most productive thing or important channel [for sourcing work] for…

Going 'way over' the sponsorship budget

Law firms throughout New Zealand help the community in very many ways through sponsorship. It would be impossible for LawTalk to bring you all the stories. We chose one, from a provincial city – a firm which has a focus on supporting its own community. “We can’t help everyone,” says Hamish…

From the Law Society

The Property Law Section (PLS) is preparing for another busy year with the Rare Precedents Matchmaker the most notable project on the horizon. This new initiative will allow lawyers to advertise and sell rare property law precedents to PLS members. While non-members can advertise precedents, only PLS members will be able to…

Lawyer rides to NZ championship

First Amy Laird was a lawyer. Now she is a mountain biking champion. The 31-year-old senior solicitor with Duncan Cotterill picked up her first national downhill title in Rotorua’s Whakarewarewa Forest in February. “It’s true, mountain bikers often can’t believe I’m a lawyer, and people I’m associated with at work or clients,…

Lease situation should be clearer

The Christchurch earthquake has left a lot of uncertainty around leases and buildings. Much should become clearer over the next few years. Property Law Section deputy chair and partner at Christchurch firm Mortlock McCormack Law, Andrew Logan, says: “In the benign environment we lived in before September 2010, the general reliance…

Keep an eye out for burnout

If a colleague is struggling with their job and you can observe lack of efficacy, exhaustion or diminished interest, they may well be suffering from burnout. As a psychological concept, burnout is relatively new. Even before psychologist Herbert Freudenberger coined the term in 1974, author Graham Greene wrote about it in…

Obligation to maintain a trust account

Feedback from Law Society inspectors reveals that one of the current issues is the circumstances in which lawyers need to maintain a trust account. ElectionIf a law firm intends not to receive money or other valuable property in trust, in other words the practice wishes to operate without a trust account,…

Bill validates prison smoking ban

In LawTalk 812 (15 February 2013) Nikki Pender and I commented on the recent High Court decision Taylor v Manager of Auckland Prison [2012] NZHC 3591 saying the decision may have pulled the rug out from under the Government’s smoke-free prison policy by declaring a rule banning smoking in Auckland…

Challenges in court interpreting after Abdula

The Supreme Court decision in Abdula v Queen (Chala Sani Abdula v The Queen SC 18/2010 [2011] NZSC 130) has caused major changes to the way in which interpreting in trials is carried out in the courtroom. The judgment contains three key recommendations for best practice in cases where an interpreter…

Extremely interesting criminal law symposium

This year’s Criminal Law Symposium featured “an extremely interesting programme with uniformly excellent presenters,” the symposium chair, Justice Robert Chambers says. Just how successful it was can be judged from the conference evaluation forms. All but one found the symposium met or exceeded their expectations. “This is one of the best symposiums…

Maori legal projects win Foundation support

Several Law Foundation-backed projects are contributing to identifying important themes and collating historic information on Māori legal issues. Taken together, these studies are building a significant and valuable research base for scholars and practitioners alike. They will make key Māori legal information identifiable and accessible, leading to improvements in legal theory…

Lawyers Complaints Service: Censured for failing to lodge PR application

Christchurch lawyer Errol Parsons has been censured by a lawyers standards committee after he was instructed to lodge an application for permanent residence but failed to do so. Over a period of about four years, a Chinese national instructed Mr Parsons to act for him in a variety of immigration matters,…

Lawyers Complaints Service: Censured for opening personal letter

A former lawyer, E, has been censured and ordered to apologise by a lawyers standards committee after he retained and opened a personal letter from a deceased woman addressed to her son (the complainant). E had begun estate and trust administration for the deceased. At the time of the standards committee…

Lawyers Complaints Service: Lawyer censured, fined and named

Michael Meyrick has been censured and fined $5,000 by a lawyers standards committee after it found he had failed to take reasonable care in an appeal against sentence. Mr Meyrick had represented a client, A, in an appeal against the sentence. A had been found guilty of multiple acts of violence…

Lawyers Complaints Service: Censured for insufficient inquiry

A lawyer, D, who on purchasing another legal practice provided services to an estate and trust to assist a colleague, has been censured and ordered to apologise by a lawyers standards committee. D was censured for failing to make sufficient inquiry when adopting an estimate of $55,000 to be retained for…

Lawyers Complaints Service: Law firm fined for overcharging estate

A lawyers standards committee has fined a law firm, F, $500 and ordered it to cancel invoices in relation to an estate and replace them with invoices for lower amounts. F acted for the estate of a person who died in early 2010. A director of F, G, was also appointed…

Lawyers Complaints Service: Fined for delegating instructions

A lawyer, B, has been fined $750 by a lawyers standards committee after he delegated outside his firm instructions for which he was responsible. The issues were initially raised as a result of a routine inspection by a Law Society inspector. B formed an alliance with a property conveyancing company, operated by…

People

Judge Carrie Wainwright has been appointed the new chair of the Immigration and Protection Tribunal. She replaces Judge Bill Hastings, who will sit full-time in the District Court. Before her appointment to the bench, Judge Wainwright was a partner in Buddle Findlay. She was appointed as a Māori Land Court…

Law firm news

Petrie Mayman Clark, Barristers and Solicitors, Timaru is merging with Bradley West Limited, Barristers and Solicitors, Timaru. The new company will be called Aoraki Legal Limited and will commence trading on 1 April 2013. The new firm’s Timaru head office is at 153 Stafford Street, phone (03) 688 9749. The…