Rise of the boutique law firm

“I’m not convinced that necessarily we’re going to see the same style of disaggregation in New Zealand that we’ve seen elsewhere and there’s no real evidence that that is happening here,” says LegalBestPractice cofounder Ashley Balls. Mr Balls defines boutique law firms as “small and specialist law firms with often a…

The thrill of discomfort

"We saw a significant market opportunity and a chance to push ourselves outside our comfort zone,” says Harmos Horton Lusk partner Andrew Harmos. The firm began in the third quarter of 2002, Mr Harmos says, with two of three founders leaving a very positive environment and maintaining positive relationships with Russell…

Expansion of specialist law firm

Continued growth has seen Cullen – The Employment Law firm take on more partners, according to partner David Burton. The firm broke away from a more general firm in 1994 to specialise in employment law, and it is now made up of two partners and six lawyers. “Business is good. We have…

Growth in Charities Law

Sue Barker began her charities law firm, Sue Barker Charities Law, in March last year, specialising in charities and public tax law. Charities law is the law relating to charitable entities, which principally revolves around the Charities Act 2005. The law of trusts plays an important part, as does four centuries…

Gap in the market

"I saw a need for specialist legal advice and expertise in dealing with civil aviation regulatory issues, particularly for the smaller air operators and other participants in the New Zealand aviation industry," says AMC Legal Services Ltd director Angela Beazer. Ms Beazer started her business in September 2010. It specialises in…

From the Law Society

In this issue of LawTalk there are two major topics explored which are synonymous with boutique law firms – specialisation and disaggregation. From the perspective of more than two decades at the big end of town, there are a lot of things that the big law firms do really well, and…

Dress for admission ceremonies

The Chief High Court Judge, Justice Winkelmann, has written to the New Zealand Law Society to clarify the requirements for the required standard of dress for ceremonies for admission as a barrister and solicitor. Justice Winkelmann says concern has been raised with her regarding variable practice between registries as to the…

Getting 'bogged down' with truth

I had a written an entirely different piece for this week’s edition of LawTalk but parked it on hearing an interview with David Hislop QC, counsel for Mark Lundy on his appeal to the Privy Council. The interview on National Radio was largely uneventful save for one comment that completely grasped…

What's the deal with self-sabotage

How many times have you had your goal in sight only to find that you end up sabotaging it in some way? One classic example is getting an interview for the job of your dreams. You go out the night before, drink way too much and turn up at your dream…

Moving towards CPD

Upcoming workshop in October The CPD initiative asks lawyers to take responsibility for their ongoing learning through a tailored plan of activities to help them achieve their professional goals. At the heart CPD is the Continuing Professional Development Plan, (the CPDPR) which includes: your learning needs; an action plan; an activities…

Financial Assurance Scheme: Practice operational issues

In this article the Law Society wishes to raise awareness of several issues that have been the source of numerous recent inquiries. New anti-money laundering legislation From 30 June 2013 the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act 2009 came into effect. For all lawyers in practice there are several key…

Health and safety law an area to watch

The recent introduction of the Health and Safety (Pike River Implementation) Bill represents a significant step towards actioning the Royal Commission’s recommendations. Health and safety is an area particularly susceptible to public sentiment and the public consciousness has been irreversibly altered by Pike River and the Christchurch earthquakes. The omnibus bill…

Stop criminals misusing legal services

Although affecting only a relatively small proportion of transactions, new laws may unintentionally have made legal services and trust accounts more attractive to criminal activity, and made it more difficult for lawyers to avoid being implicated; but there are pragmatic ways to protect your business. Ten issues facing most law firms From…

Guidance on disciplinary processes

The Court of Appeal has delivered an important judgment dealing with the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006 (LCA) and the disciplinary processes that are administered by the Lawyers Complaints Service. Orlov v New Zealand Law Society [2013] NZCA 230 was an appeal and cross appeal against decisions Justice Heath made in…

Jury out on jury verdicts

A Waikato University PhD student is tackling the philosophical side of jury decision-making, looking in-depth at how juries arrive at their verdicts. Barrister Fraser King will be interviewing individual jurors from a number of jury trials, trying to determine their reasoning behind their decisions in the verdict process. “My aim for this…

Unconscionable conduct

The last attempt to introduce legislation to prohibit unconscionable conduct stalled. The Ministry of Consumer Affairs published a discussion paper in 2009, reviewing the consumer laws in New Zealand. The result was the amendment of six statutes, and the repeal of four. In its 2009 discussion paper, the ministry proposed the introduction…

Lawyers Complaints Service: Sufficient inquiry is required to advise properly

When lawyers are preparing a will and there is a question around property ownership, the importance of checking the property title to determine the actual manner in which the property was owned (for example, joint tenancy or tenants in common), even when the client says not to, was highlighted in…

Lawyers Complaints Service: Fined for refusing to act on instructions

A lawyer, A, who refused to act on instructions to call witnesses has been fined $500 by a lawyers standards committee. The complaint was that A refused to act on his client, Mr B’s, instructions to call specific witnesses. “Mr [B] is clear that he wanted [A] to call a number of…

Lawyers Complaints Service: Fined for acting in conflict situation

Christchurch lawyer Jong Sun Lim has been censured and fined after he was found guilty of unsatisfactory conduct for acting where there was a conflict of interest, arising from events from 2005 to 2007. After he was censured by a lawyers standards committee, Mr Lim appealed to the Legal Complaints Review…

Lawyers Complaints Service: Leave to appeal strike off denied

The High Court has dismissed Barry John Hart’s leave to appeal his strike off to the Court of Appeal ([2012] NZHC 1331). The Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal ordered Mr Hart be struck off after it found him guilty on three charges (see LawTalk 805, 12 October 2012, p28). Mr Hart…

News points

Shift 17-year-olds to youth justice system Justice lobby group JustSpeak is calling for 17-year-old offenders to be dealt with by the youth justice system rather than adult criminal courts. The call came inan open letter to Prime Minister John Key and justice sector ministers Judith Collins, Anne Tolley and Chester Borrows. The letter…

People

New Plymouth lawyer John Auld has been appointed chair of the Real Estate Agents Authority (REAA). Mr Auld, who will take up the position for a one-year term from 6 August, succeeds Kristy McDonald QC, who has served in the position since 2009. The REAA is an independent Crown entity…

Law firm news

The long-established practices of Miriam Menzies & Co and Gillespie Young Watson have merged with effect from 25 March 2013. The merged firm has maintained the existing offices of Miriam Menzies & Co in Upper Hutt under the style “Miriam Menzies & Co HomeLegal” a division of Gillespie Young Watson.…