Being Tonga's Chief Justice one of many highlights

Nigel Hampton QC is more than one of New Zealand’s leading barristers. As well as being a trial lawyer, he has significant judicial and quasi-judicial experience, including serving as Chief Justice of the Kingdom of Tonga. Mr Hampton’s promise was evident while still at Canterbury University, most notably when he won…

Directing the PDS a 'fascinating role'

Brendan Horsley is the newly appointed Deputy Solicitor-General (Criminal), having started in April 2014. He moved to this role from being the first National Director of the Public Defence Service (PDS). The whole concept of the PDS, its expansion, the timing of its expansion and other changes in legal aid made…

A life of legal advocacy

Robert Ludbrook launches into a story (despite admitting it is against his interests to do so). It details how as a young lawyer, fresh off the boat from New Zealand in 1961, he got a job with a suburban law firm in London. “On the first week I was there they…

Sailing sets platform for legal career

Navigating the ocean on a sail board helped prepare new graduate Antonio Cozzolino for a career in law. “In sport you have to deal with external pressures,” the former New Zealand windsurfing (also known as board sailing) representative says. “In a way being a litigation lawyer and an athlete are quite similar…

Advising iwi entities and Maori businesses

Auckland lawyer Te Aopare Dewes was appointed as a senior associate for Chapman Tripp earlier this month. Graduating in 2007 with an LLB and BSC in Biology at Auckland University, Ms Dewes became a law clerk for Minter Ellison Rudd Watts. After three years in the corporate team working largely on…

From the Law Society

This week is National Volunteer Week, which began on 15 June and runs to 21 June. I want to say a very warm “thank you” on behalf of the New Zealand Law Society to the thousands of lawyers who make a substantial contribution to the New Zealand community. Lawyers provide an enormous…

Nerissa Barber returns to Wellington branch Presidency

Nerissa Barber has been elected unopposed as the next Wellington branch President, and will take up the role at the branch’s annual meeting on 25 June. Until recently the Law Society’s Wellington Vice-President, Ms Barber is a Past President of the branch, serving in that role from 2010 to 2012. Chief Legal…

People in the Law

Queen’s Birthday Honours The following members and former members of the legal profession were awarded honours in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list. Justice Susan Glazebrook, of Wellington, was made a Dame of the New Zealand Order of merit for services to the judiciary. Justice Lowell Goddard QC, of Wellington, was made a Dame…

Law firm news

A new law practice, Denham Bramwell Lawyers, has opened for business in Manukau. Denham Bramwell Lawyers will practise from offices at Level 2, 3 Osterley Way. These offices were previously occupied by Brookfields Manukau. The new firm will offer property, estates and trusts, commercial and civil litigation and family and…

Our Profession, Our People

Collaborative Advocacy NZ launched Collaborative Advocacy NZ launched its new name and website, www.collaborativelaw.org.nz, in Auckland on 22 May. Collaborative practice, or collaborative law, has an increasing following worldwide, as well as in New Zealand. It began overseas in the 1990s. It provides families with a dispute resolution process based around a series…

Young law graduates: what they earn and employment rates

Research released by the Ministry of Education has found that LLB (Hons) graduates and LLB graduates who complete a legal professionals course have high initial employment rates. Tertiary students with an LLB have a much lower employment rate in the first year after graduating, but this rises quickly – probably after…

Life in the law

Welsh lawyer Graham Jones has failed in an application to review being turned down for appointment for a permanent role as district judge. The proceedings revealed that he missed out because he had seven penalty points on his driving licence. The points came for speeding in 2010 (four points and…

The art of judgment writing

“[34]… as I understand the Crown to acknowledge, its role is not as an adversary party but, rather, as a ‘minister of justice’ with the obligation of disclosing all relevant information to the accused. Disclosure issues must always be considered on the basis that information in the possession or control…

That was the law

Criminal Justice Act 1954 as amended by s17 of the Criminal Justice Amendment Act 1975: “45B. Prohibition against publication of names of persons accused of offences unless Court otherwise orders – (1) Unless the Court by order otherwise permits, no person shall publish, in any report relating to any proceedings commenced…

The most

It is quite likely that the longest-running litigation in the world is a court case about a piece of land in Doshipura, Varanasi in India – now 136 years and counting. The case, which involves a disagreement between Shias and Sunnis over the rights to eight plots of land and…

Scambusters

Kind-hearted lawyers who receive an emailed call for help from Jeanne Fortuyn should suppress any altruistic urges. Ms “Fortuyn”, who has variously given her age as 62 and 80 (and probably lives in Nigeria), has been trying to scam lawyers for several years. The latest attempt is headed “Help” and…

Resolving conflict positively

Conflict is inevitable in any relationship and even more so in the workplace where we often have to work with others who have differing viewpoints to us. We cannot expect that everyone has the same needs, opinions and expectations as us all of the time. So how do we deal with…

Why should you care about Web 3.0?

For many people, the technology and capabilities of the internet are considered too daunting and confusing to begin wrapping their heads around. I mean, why bother trying to understand what the next online trends and experiences may be when all you look at is email and news sites? The reason is…

Law Reform Report

Some problems with MBIE uninvited direct sale exemption proposals Limiting exemptions from uninvited direct sales to only some of the financial products which are subject to the compliance regime for financial advisers could place an uneven burden on some market participants, the New Zealand Law Society says. The Law Society has provided comments…

Lawyers' duty to co-operate

In 2012 we published an article by Paul Collins entitled 'The duty to play ball'. This continues to be a topical issue and there have been a number of developments since then. This article should be of interest to all lawyers. Lawyers have a duty to co-operate with the complaints, investigative…

The Bookshelf

Honourable Rex Mason Prize for legal writing revived Authors of legal articles which were published between 1 January 2011 and 31 December 2013 are eligible for one of three legal writing prizes. Although the Honourable Rex Mason Prize for Excellence in Legal Writing is awarded annually, no award has been made…

Judicial Review - A New Zealand Perspective, 3rd edition

Through his scholarship and in his legal practice Graham Taylor has made a significant contribution to the development of our “significantly indigenous” body of administrative law (Budget Rent A Car Ltd [1985] 2 NZLR 414, 418 (CA) per Lord Cooke) and, within it, to the law and practice of judicial…

Paperless jury trial - perhaps not yet

The article by Nathan Speir (Paperless jury trial, LawTalk 821, 21 June 2013) about the paperless jury trial came at a time when I was preparing for a murder trial. I was intrigued by the article, and it gave me some confidence to go some way down the track. By way…

Mooting contests develop 'invaluable' skills

Law Foundation support for mooting has again helped New Zealand teams achieve excellent results at the world’s leading competitions. The Auckland University Law School team reached the last 32 in the world’s premier event, the Jessup Moot, held in April. Another Auckland Law School team reached the semi-finals of the prestigious Brown-Mosten…

Best least annoying barrister

By Marcus Elliott It’s an exciting time to be a lawyer. Opportunities abound to receive the recognition you so richly deserve: the Chambers Asia Pacific Awards, the Who’s Who Legal Awards and the Legal 500 Asia Pacific to name only a few. NZ Lawyer recently published a “Hot List” featuring, “the 38…

Your best tool is 'influence'

In-house lawyers need to be reliable, be enablers for their organisation, and their best tool will be their ability to influence, delegates to the 27th annual CLANZ Conference learned. Held in Dunedin, the theme of the conference was Back to School. ANZ Group General Counsel Bob Santamaria, from Australia, spoke of…

Lawyers Complaints Service: Former Police prosecutor struck off

Former Police prosecutor Timothy John Russell Sarah has been struck off following his conviction on four drugs charges and a charge of dishonestly accessing the Police computer system. In [2014] NZLCDT 26, Mr Sarah faced a charge before the Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal that his conviction for an imprisonable offence…

Lawyers Complaints Service: Interim suspension

The NZ Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal issued an interim suspension order against Miriam Hollins of Auckland on 22 May 2014, pursuant to s245 of the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006. The interim suspension order was made because, in the tribunal’s view, there was an immediate need for protection of the…