Flexible families seek employment solutions

When Tim Richards took time off from his job with a large New Zealand consultancy firm to look after his first born son, Jack, in 2003, the parental leave policy needed to be rewritten. “I was the first guy to take off 3.5 months [parental leave]. The policy was written…

From part-time lawyer to part-time employer

Rachael Dewar’s first child was born 20 years ago when there was no paid parental leave. However, she did naively expect to be able to return to work part-time, at an agreed point after the birth. “I hadn’t appreciated that this would be difficult to negotiate. It just made sense to…

Working from home - Technology & family life

A 2012 survey by Virgin Media Business found that over half of the United Kingdom’s mobile workers (54%) could shorten their working day, but didn’t believe it would improve their work-life balance. The idea that technology and remote working alone improves standards of living or quality of life appears to be…

10 Top Tips for Successful Teleworking

Telework week 2012 released a pdf outlining tips for organisations wanting to implement a strategy. These are paraphrased below: 1. Not all roles are suitable for teleworking. Identify which are and which aren’t and manage expectations. 2. Normalise teleworking within your business to encourage take up. 3. To be successful people, leaders and…

From the Law Society

When thinking about the hours that lawyers work, a fairly common view among lawyers (at least historically) would be Monday to Friday, 7am to 6pm, with a “flexible employer” being one that lets staff choose which weekend day they worked. Although it might be premature to say that it is now…

Mitigate risks for business advantage

The article in the last issue of LawTalk highlighted new and emerging issues facing most law firms. Although affecting 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…

How to beat the winter blues

Yes it is that time of year again, when we are faced with the shorter days and colder nights of winter. After enjoying what seemed a long summer, we were plunged into winter, and the colder nights do leave many of us feeling low in mood. The winter blues are very…

Using the airwaves to promote legal services

New Zealand lawyers have been free to advertise their services for just under 30 years. After a period of cautious investigation and debate, the Law Society’s Council approved new ethical rules in November 1984. These allowed lawyers to advertise in a number of classes of printed publications “and not elsewhere”.…

Email scams of the month

Foreign criminals keep on trying to steal money from New Zealand lawyers by pretending to be potential clients with an easily solvable legal problem. Unfortunately some lawyers are still being caught. Current popular scams feature people using the names Christine Freitag, Brian Smith and Zaila Haruyo. While the scammers change names regularly,…

Learn Property Law on site

But don’t look at the scenery... Most Australian states operate an accredited points system for their Continuing Professional Development (CPD) requirements for lawyers. The New Zealand Law Society’s new CPD initiative has taken a different route and focuses on individual ownership and assessment of CPD needs. Because it’s Australia, each state…

Constitutional review

The New Zealand Law Society recommends consideration of a three-year limit on legislation which is enacted in spite of a report under s7 of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990. Section 7 requires the Attorney-General to notify Parliament of any provision in an introduced bill which appears to…

Cost of powers of attorney an impediment

Amendments made in 2007 to the law relating to enduring powers of attorney have made completion of powers of attorney documents considerably more expensive for clients, the New Zealand Law Society says. It estimates that in some circumstances the cost has risen by at least 250%, with a power of attorney…

Minister urged to call for submissions on SOP

The New Zealand Law Society has advised Commerce Minister Craig Foss that a Supplementary Order Paper (SOP) amending a bill which provides for criminalisation of directors’ duties has serious shortcomings and should be referred to Parliament’s Commerce Committee for public submissions. In a letter to the Minister about SOP 249 released…

Law Reform report

Current law reform consultation The Law Society is currently preparing submissions on numerous bills and government discussion documents. Members are welcome to contribute comments to the Law Reform Committee, specialist committees and sections preparing the submissions. For a full list of upcoming submission deadlines and information about how to participate, visit my.lawsociety.org.nz/law-reform/work-in-progress. For…

US$25m damages in competition law case

The recent Federal Court of Australia decision in Norcast v Bradken Limited1 demonstrates the potential exposure of tenderers for substantial liability under trade practices law when collaborating with other parties in making tenders. The Federal Court held Bradken Ltd and two of its directors liable for damages of US$22.4m, prejudgment interest…

Guide to Competition Law

Reviewed by John Land The purpose of Lindsay Hampton’s book is to provide an up-to-date text on competition law. The book certainly does that in a detailed and helpful way. It takes the author’s competition law commentary in Commercial Law in New Zealand (online and looseleaf editions), updates it and adds a…

Content marketing and publishing strategies for law firms

Reviewed by Ashley Balls For those of us who like contents of the tin to be clearly indicated by the label, this book starts with a disadvantage. Whilst the authors and marketing professionals clearly know and work with this terminology, law firm owners (partners) and in-house counsel don’t. However, the purpose of…

Recalibrating Behaviour - Smarter Regulation in a Global World

Edited by Susy Frankel and Deborah Ryder Reviewed by Matthew Smith “If we desire respect for the law”, Louis D Brandeis once wrote, “we must first make the law respectable”. The New Zealand Law Foundation’s Regulatory Reform Project can be seen in this light. It has involved leading practitioners and academics in…

The bookshelf

Book of the month: Nevill’s Trusts Drafting Handbook By Bruce Douglas, Nicky Richardson & Sarah Parsons A companion to Nevill’s Wills Drafting Handbook, this assumes the reader is familiar with the law relating to trusts. Two introductory chapters outline matters to be considered when interviewing settlors and the remainder of the book…

Changes to coronial system needed

Many coroners’ recommendations are not fulfilling their potential to identify and promote avoidable death prevention measures, a Law Foundation-funded study of New Zealand coroners’ recommendations has found. Preliminary findings of the ground-breaking University of Otago study indicate that some coroners’ recommendations are contributing to positive health and safety outcomes, but many…

Lawyers Complaints Service: Not to be employed

Toe Sega of Auckland is not to be employed by any practitioner or incorporated firm in connection with their practice, the New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Tribunal has ordered ([2013] NZLCDT 31). Ms Sega has pleaded guilty to and been sentenced in the District Court on six dishonesty offences. The dishonesty…

Lawyers Complaints Service: Cancelling retainer without good cause led to conflict of interest

Sarah Saunderson-Warner was censured by the New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal for cancelling a retainer without good cause. Her subsequent actions to deal with a conflict of interest situation were found to be inappropriate. An employee of Ms Saunderson-Warner’s firm, A, acted for a client couple, B, to assist…

Lawyers Complaints Service: Suspended for persistent incompetence

Repeated instances of negligence or incompetence in criminal proceedings have resulted in suspension of a lawyer, B, by the New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal ([2013] NZLCDT 28). Particulars in the charge of negligence or incompetence admitted by B noted her: persistent failure to properly prepare in representing clients in criminal…

Lawyers Complaints Service: Fined for ongoing non-compliance with e-dealing requirements

A lawyers standards committee conducted an own-motion investigation into a lawyer, D’s, conduct after the Registrar General of Land wrote to the Lawyers Complaints Service advising that Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) had recently undertaken a compliance review of D’s firm. D and his firm had a history of Land…