Law Society initiative to support retention of women in the profession

The New Zealand Law Society has launched a project to support the retention of women in the legal profession. A portal on the new project is a new Women in the Legal Profession section on the Law Society’s website. This page, at www.lawsociety.org.nz/about-nzls/women-in-the-legal-profession is now live. In this section you will find…

Gender diverse law firms have significant competitive advantage

Law firms that “get it right” in terms of having a good number of women partners are going to have a “significant competitive advantage”. This is the view of Mary Cranston, who has been named one of the two “best law firm leaders in the United States” by Of Counsel…

Gender diversity lifts bottom line

Gender diversity is clearly and consistently associated with better financial performance. This has been shown in a number of studies. Two of these are: Adler, R (2001) Women in the Executive Suite Correlate to High Profits, Brussels: European Project on Equal Pay. McKinsey & Company (2010) Women Matter: Gender diversity, a…

Women face significant discrimination, research shows

Women lawyers face “a very high level of discrimination and harassment at work,” a new study commissioned by the Law Council of Australia has found. “One in two women and more than one in three men, have been bullied or intimidated in their current workplace,” was one of the key findings…

How to balance the scales

For a gender diversity programme to be effective, firms must both recognise the goal and campaign to reach it, according to the Law Council of Australia’s National Attrition and Re-engagement Study. Research suggests the goal and campaign must be underpinned by four critical enablers. Visible commitment by senior management It is critical for…

From the Law Society

In 1998 at a partners meeting where I was the only woman partner, the observation was made to me “You (plural) are wired differently”. In an edition of LawTalk when the focus is on gender diversity, these words resonate from distant memories. We are, of course, all uniquely wired but statistics…

To link or not to link - that is the question

One of the central features of the internet is the ability for one website to be linked to another with a click of a button, thus creating a hyperlink: a virtual trail of related information. The European Copyright Society described the importance of hyperlinks in the following words: “Although hyperlinking takes…

Two opportunities to help others

Practising well is frequently a two-way street. It is about helping ourselves, but it is often about helping others also. Lawyers currently have two opportunities to help an organisation dedicated to helping us with our mental health – the Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand. The Foundation is surveying men to find…

Looking after your clients

A well-known marketing maxim is that it’s cheaper and easier to keep a customer than it is to attract a new one. Keeping clients, then, should be high on the agenda of every law firm and sole practitioner. There are a number of strategies that lawyers can use to keep clients. Good…

Tax pooling can help lawyers manage cash flow

When your income fluctuates, it’s hard to estimate what your provisional tax payments should be. Whether you overpay or underpay your provisional tax, the IRD’s use of money interest and penalties are frustrating. But a clever solution called tax pooling helps taxpayers reduce the cost of interest and penalties on…

Operating Trust Accounts

This article covers several issues that have been the source of recent inquiries. Trust account reconciliationsA law firm operating a trust account must ensure that either the Trust Account Supervisor (TAS) or a staff member, in a trust account administrator role, regularly reconciles the trust account. The frequency of reconciliation is…

Holidays Act needs changing

The Holidays Act 2003 should be repealed and replaced with a new “plain English” statute, a recent survey suggests. Law firm Simpson Grierson conducted the survey on common key issues and areas of concern about the Act that the firm has heard about. It surveyed human resources specialists on its database,…

New perils in providing information to the Commerce Commission

On 27 November 2013, the Commerce Commission announced new guidelines explaining how the commission deals with requests for compulsorily acquired information or investigative assistance from overseas regulators.1 The guidelines relate to requests from overseas regulators with whom the commission is a party to a co-operation agreement. Amendments to the Commerce Act…

Government rethinks post-sentence treatment of high risk offenders

A critical analysis of the Government’s proposed new post-sentence detention orders, backed by the Law Foundation, may have helped bring about a change in the Government’s thinking. The Public Safety (Public Protection Orders) Bill would enable the High Court to order someone to remain detained following the end of their prison…

Holding financial markets participants accountable

2014 marks the start of a new era for New Zealand’s financial markets – an ambitious and exciting period of change for market participants and investors. This is the fifth article in a series by the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) outlining the key changes, the impact they will have on…

Criminal Rules Sub-Committee

In 2013 the Rules Committee approved the creation of a new sub-committee known as the Criminal Rules Sub-Committee. The need for the sub-committee arose upon the introduction of the Criminal Procedure Rules 2012, as part of the Criminal Procedure Act 2011 reforms. The members of the sub-committee are: Justice Winkelmann, Justice…

New Marlborough branch President

Simon Gaines is the new President of the Law Society’s Marlborough branch, after he was elected unopposed at the branch’s annual meeting on 12 March. He succeeds Blenheim barrister Bryony Millar. Mr Gaines is a sole practitioner and principal of Gaines Law, established in 2011. He works in the areas of…

New Gisborne branch President

Tiana Epati is the new Gisborne branch President after she was elected unopposed at the branch’s annual meeting on 13 March. She succeeds Alistair Clark, who served as branch President for three years. A criminal defence lawyer, Ms Epati graduated from Auckland University in 2000 with a BA in philosophy and…

Our Profession, Our People

Legal exec gains 100% in exam For the first time since computer records of results have been held, a student has gained 100% in one of the legal executive examinations. Stephanie Waterhouse gained this perfect pass in the Introduction to Law Office Practice paper towards the New Zealand Law Society Legal…

People in the Law

Auckland and New Plymouth barrister Tony Lendrum has been appointed an acting District Court Judge with general and family warrants for a period of two years. Judge Lendrum will be sworn in on 11 April in Auckland and will be based in the Hawke’s Bay. Mr Lendrum was admitted in…

Lawyers Complaints Service: Leave to appeal strike off declined

The High Court has declined Therese Anne Sisson’s leave to appeal her strike off to the Court of Appeal. The Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal struck off Ms Sisson in 2011 after she took money from a client while acting on legal aid. Two charges of professional misconduct were laid before the…

Lawyers Complaints Service: Mutuality of interest, rather than conflict

A charge that Donna Marie Tai Tokerau Durie Hall had been negligent or incompetent in her professional capacity has been dismissed by the New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal. In [2014] NZLCDT 1, a lawyers standards committee alleged that Mrs Hall had acted for multiple parties (the vendor, the purchaser,…