Phone access to confidential information

Imagine walking out of a café and accidentally leaving your Samsung Galaxy S4 on the table as you head off to another appointment – unlocked and containing access to your work email. You don’t have a password locking your phone, so the person who finds it will also find all…

Cyber criminals target law firms

“Law firms are attractive targets for cyber criminals,” says Ken McCallum, head of cyber security at the United Kingdom Department for Business, Innovation and Skills in an article for the Law Society Gazette, journal of the Law Society of England and Wales. “They hold business-critical information on client companies, from the…

Common types of attacks

Phishing Hackers sending fake emails pretending to be legitimate businesses or organisations. Most phishing emails want the recipient to click on a link to update credit card information or other private information. Malware Malicious software installed without informed user consent covering a range of software programs designed to attack or prevent the intended…

Examples of firms attacked

January 2010 A US law firm representing a company in a $2.2 billion suit against the Chinese government and several global computer makers claimed phishing emails were sent to its lawyers disguised as emails from other members of the firm. September 2010 Chinese hackers suspected of breaching networks of seven different Canadian law…

Ten steps to cyber security

One of the more comprehensive cyber security guidelines is the United Kingdom Government’s 10 Steps to Cyber Security which was released last year. That year 93% of large corporations and 87% of small businesses reported a cyber breach with the financial cost estimated between £450,000 to £850,000 for large businesses…

From the Law Society

A partner of A J Park, Matt has a Masters in Computer Science. I started my career in the legal profession twenty years ago. Back then “cyber security” and “cyber crime” were things we read about only in science fiction novels. Today they are things we read about every day in…

Law student's winning app

Law and commerce student Hannah Duder has won a competition for an app that will help businesses seeking suggestions from customers. The Canterbury University student won the apps challenge section in the annual $75,000 entré business competition. Entré is a student-founded club which runs events at Canterbury University that see young…

New top Defence lawyer

Colonel Justin Emerson has been promoted to the top job in the New Zealand Defence Force legal team – Director of Defence Legal Services and Director of Military Prosecutions. Officially signing his statutory warrant as the Director of Military Prosecutions was the man who served as Colonel Emerson’s first Commanding Officer,…

Why are so few women in the senior levels of law

A research project being undertaken by the Auckland Women Lawyers’ Association (AWLA) is looking at the same question LawTalk asked in its feature in issue 828 – why are so few women in the senior levels of law? Following publication of the feature, AWLA contacted LawTalk, saying it has launched an…

From the recipe book to the platter

Better mental wellbeing remains elusive for many. Typically we are caught in a “comfort trap” knowing it is a good idea and yet failing to action it. What stops us? Fear mostly. All the other “stoppers” are largely rooted in fear – fear of shifting from a known and perceived more comfortable…

Pleadings, judicial intervention and the rule of unintended consequences

In August I had the pleasure of attending the conference of the New Zealand Bar Association in Queenstown. The weekend was thoroughly enjoyable with a range of presentations that were both stimulating and challenging. Procedure was a particular theme of the conference with a mix of judicial and practitioner insights,…

New guidelines relevant to joint ventures and franchises

The Commerce Commission issued draft Competitor Collaboration Guidelines on 1 October. These guidelines explain the new cartel prohibition introduced by the Commerce (Cartels and Other Matters) Amendment Bill (the Cartel Bill). Secondly, they explain three exemptions to the cartel prohibition and, in particular, the new exemption for collaborative activities. Finally, they…

Extreme Danger: 4pm approaching

While litigators regard Friday afternoon as a casual preamble to the weekend, if not part of the weekend itself, for many property lawyers it is a time of real peril. As 4pm looms, the interests of purchaser, vendor, bank and lawyer can collide in a jumble of instructions, undertakings, settlement…

Review of the District Court Rules 2009 Update

The sub-committee reviewing the District Court Rules 2009 has prepared a draft set of rules which will shortly be available for consultation. The draft rules have been developed in conjunction with co-opted members of the profession and the Rules Committee has approved them for consultation purposes. As previously indicated, the best…

Gaining a competitive advantage

An increasing number of New Zealand law firms are gaining a competitive advantage through the effective use of technology to meet their eDiscovery needs. In a LawTalk article last year (LawTalk 807, 26 October 2012), I outlined the considerations for Finding the right e-discovery software. Since this time there has been…

Working with CPD

The CPD transitional period is now under way, and runs from 1 October 2013 to 31 March 2014. During this time lawyers may collect up to five hours of CPD activities to count towards the first full CPD year beginning on 1 April 2014. While you do not need a…

Foundation-backed study helps patients

Law Foundation-funded research on improving the regulation of doctors to better inform and protect the public is making an impact in New Zealand and overseas. New Zealand Medical Council Chief Executive Philip Pigou credits Auckland Law Professor Ron Paterson’s 2012 book The Good Doctor – What Patients Want for helping the…

Lawyers visiting clients in prison

Procedures around lawyers visiting prisons were highlighted again recently during an incident where a lawyer objected to carrying their belongings in a clear plastic bag, as required by the prison management. The Corrections Act 2004 defines lawyers visiting clients in prison as visitors, a Corrections Department spokesperson told LawTalk. They are…

Lawyers Complaints Service: Delay in acting leads to $2000 fine and $4500 compensation

After finding that a lawyer, C, did not follow instructions in a timely manner, a lawyers standards committee has found C guilty of unsatisfactory conduct and fined him $2,000. A client instructed C to act in relationship property matters in mid-2008. The parties had separated in April 2008. Among the assets…

Lawyers Complaints Service: Fined for failing to attend to matter

A lawyer, A, who admitted that she unreasonably failed to attend to an employment law matter, has been fined $1,000, with $500 for costs, after a lawyers standards committee found unsatisfactory conduct on her part. The complainant instructed A in August 2009 and showed her a copy of a letter commencing…

Lawyers Complaints Service: Fined for failing to deal with complaint

A lawyer, B, has been fined $1,000 by a lawyers standards committee for failing to properly deal with a complaint about a junior lawyer in his firm, C. The client complained about C in relation to a paternity claim which he wished to defend. B, who was also acting for the…

Lawyers Complaints Service: Inappropriately tried to collect fees from unrelated entity

A lawyer, D, who inappropriately tried to collect his fees on a particular matter from a family trust instead of his clients, who were a liquidated company and a bankrupt individual, has been fined $1,500 by a lawyers standards committee. At different times, D had acted for the complainant and his…

Lawyers Complaints Service: Punctual communication fundamental to conveyancing

Failure by a conveyancing lawyer to communicate with the other party’s lawyer within a reasonable time before settlement, including not notifying e-dealing numbers, and ignoring communications received, constituted unsatisfactory conduct, a lawyers standards committee has found. The committee fined A, the lawyer concerned, $1,500. B, the complainant, acted for the vendor in…