The profession has coped brilliantly

The number of lawyers in Christchurch is back to pre-quake levels with younger practitioners moving to the city from other centres to help reshape the profession, according to the Law Society’s Canterbury-Westland branch manager Malcolm Ellis. He says the profession is running at about 1,200 Christchurch lawyers. “Some have [returned] but a…

Justice and Emergency precinct could regenerate collegiality

The Justice and Emergency precinct could regenerate lost collegiality within the profession in Christchurch and create a unique multi-functional facility, says the Law Society’s Canterbury-Westland branch President Rachel Dunningham. With firms being scattered throughout the city, bumping into a fellow lawyer between court cases and then grabbing a coffee together is…

The legal job market

The legal job market appears to be continuing to quietly gain momentum, and Christchurch is no exception, according to Venator Legal senior consultant Jane Wellik. “It is, however, a gradual process and there’s little evidence of any significant expansion within firms in the main centres. “Some firms are going through periods of…

Leases ill-equipped to handle unforseen issues

Anecdotal evidence suggests standard commercial leases used in Christchurch were ill-equipped to handle the unforeseen issues that landlords and tenants faced after the February earthquake, says a Canterbury University law researcher. PhD student Toni Collins is looking at whether reform of the law would clarify and improve the law relating to…

University researching legal issues arising from quakes

The legal problems that arose as a result of both the September and February earthquakes are being analysed by two Canterbury University professors. Professors Jeremy Finn and Elizabeth Toomey have conducted research into the legal issues that arise in the event of natural disasters. The project is funded by the New…

Christchurch is the place to be

The Canterbury University law school will be the conduit of all things law within the next five years, according to Law Dean Chris Gallavin. “And what I mean by that is not empire building, but we can facilitate the community coming together.” Associate Professor Gallavin is leading the charge in a new…

From the Law Society

It is sometimes hard to believe what Cantabrians have had to endure in the last three years. It is sometimes hard to comprehend all of the consequences that the earthquakes have visited on us in what was our comfortable corner of the world. So what have lawyers here learned in the…

Mentoring has helped both mentees and his law practice

Auckland barrister Chris Patterson became involved in business mentoring because he wanted to give something back to the community. For the past six months now he has been helping mentees, all of whom are start-up businesses. And in the process, he has gained learnings that have helped enhance his own…

You've got email

It’s been around a long time now and is often the focal point of the working day. Back in 2010 technology market research firm Radicati Group estimated that around 294 billion emails were sent each day. The recent publicity on a number of privacy breaches by email in New Zealand…

Effective practice

That nearly $3 billion industry Statistics New Zealand’s latest Annual Enterprise Survey shows that total legal services income in the year to 30 June 2012 was $2.815 billion. This was up 2.7% from the year to 30 June 2011 (total income of $2.741 billion). The provisional figures show that total legal…

Do you have linkrot?

Email aside, the emergence of the internet as the dominant source and repository of all information has been a boon for access to legal information. Paid or unpaid, there is now an enormous body of legislation, judgments, legal articles and other information on the internet. Many of these helpfully contain…

Welcome to CPD

The Rules for the Law Society’s Continuing Professional Development (CPD) initiative came into force on 1 October 2013. This was the beginning of a six-month transitional period which ends on 31 March 2014. During the transitional period lawyers may count up to five hours of activities towards their first full…

Subordinate Legislation in New Zealand

Reviewed by Sir Geoffrey Palmer QC A significant segment of New Zealand public law revolves around subordinate legislation. Whether the particular instruments are regulations, “deemed regulations”, orders-in-council or by-laws, their legal effect can be vital to the interests of clients and a source of difficulty for their legal advisers. Such instruments…

Company and Securities Law in New Zealand, 2nd Edition

Reviewed by Shirley Quo The Financial Markets Conduct Bill (FMC Bill) passed its third reading on 28 August 2013 as a result of a comprehensive review of securities law. It replaces several acts, including the Securities Act 1978 and the Securities Markets Act. The implementation dates for the changes will be…

Karpal Singh - Tiger of Jelutong

Reviewed by Geoff Adlam The cover picture on Tim Donoghue’s biography of Malaysian lawyer Karpal Singh is well chosen. He faces the camera with a proud confidence, still ready to take on any battle in the courts or in his country’s parliament. Karpal is now aged 73. Many of the challenges he…

Law Society points to need for certainty on benefits of SKYCITY Convention Centre Bill

Close legal analysis of the New Zealand International Convention Centre Bill indicates that it is an unusual piece of legislation and Parliament should be sure that the benefits to New Zealand will outweigh the costs created by the Bill. This is the view of the New Zealand Law Society, which presented…

Revision of draft NZ National UPR report recommended

The New Zealand Law Society has recommended that the draft New Zealand National Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Report be revised to address a number of challenges it has identified. The draft National UPR Report has been made available for comment and the Law Society has released its comments on the…

Law Society recommends clarification to avoid unnecessary litigation

The New Zealand Law Society has recommended clarification of proposed changes to clauses in the Employment Relations Amendment Bill. In its submission to the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee the Law Society said proposed changes to clauses 7, 8 and 9 will remove the “duty of good faith” requirements that parties…

Law Reform Report

The Law Society recently filed submissions on: New Zealand’s draft National Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Report to the United Nations; Research and Development Tax Losses Proposal, Officials Issues Paper; Income Tax (QWB00129) – Depreciation roll-over relief for Canterbury; and Activity classifications under the EEZ Act: Offshore Activities, discussion…

New positive duty for directors in health and safety

Currently directors in New Zealand do not owe positive duties in relation to ensuring the health and safety of workers in their organisation. This is set to change with the Government’s commitment to enacting new health and safety laws modelled on Australian Model Law (AML). This commitment is seen in Working…

Lawyers Complaints Service: Lawyer suspended after admitting shop lifting and drug abuse

Emily Jane Sarah Toner has been suspended for three years by the New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal after she admitted stealing grocery items valued at $199.10 from a supermarket. During the course of the hearing she also admitted a relapse in drug abuse about which she had not…

Lawyers Complaints Service: Fined for breaching Court Order

A lawyer, R, was fined $5,000 by a lawyers’ standards committee for arranging the taking of her client’s furniture from the former family home which was occupied by the client’s former spouse, in breach of a Court Order. R was also fined $5,000 for writing a letter which was misleading…

Lawyers Complaints Service: High Court suspends former Bridgecorp chair

Former Bridgecorp chair Bruce Nelson Davidson has lost his High Court appeal against an adverse disciplinary finding made by the New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal. And the Court, in [2013] NZHC 2315, also modified the tribunal’s penalty decision by adding a nine-month suspension. In a decision dated 4 April 2013,…

Lawyers Complaints Service: Struck off on third misconduct finding

After failing to file a claim as instructed and lying to his client about it, Gregory Bryden Clarke of Dargaville has been struck off by the New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal. Mr Clarke was struck off at a hearing on 22 August and the tribunal issued its penalty decision…

Lawyers Complaints Service: Public interest favours refusal of interim relief

An application for interim relief, which sought a stay of a hearing already begun by the New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal pending the hearing of a judicial review of the decision to refer the matter to the tribunal, has been dismissed by Justice Mark Woolford in the High…

Inaugural FWB Reynolds scholar

James Ruddell, Auckland University Law School’s top undergraduate, has been named the inaugural winner of the FWB Reynolds Scholarship which assists a New Zealander to study for the Bachelor of Civil Law degree at Oxford. The scholarship was initiated by Professor Peter Watts and is named in honour of Professor…

People

Brigadier Kevin Riordan has been appointed Deputy Judge Advocate General of the Armed Forces. After graduating with an LLB in 1982 Brigadier Riordan gained an LLM from Cornell University, New York in 1997. He commenced service in the Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment (Territorial Force) in 1977 before transferring to…

Stark differences in sentencing identified

Massive differences in the severity of sentences imposed by District Courts for aggravated drink driving have been identified in a PhD research project. Wayne Goodall, who is currently completing his criminology PhD thesis, conducted the research, which compared the consistency of sentencing between District Court circuits. Analysis of the data Mr Goodall…