Oversupply of lawyers an 'opportunity'

There’s no question an oversupply of lawyers in New Zealand exists but it should be viewed as an opportunity and not a threat, according to Legal Best Practice Director Ashley Balls. Statistics New Zealand figures show that employment of lawyers grew from 2012 to 2013 but that vacancies for legal jobs…

Law degree useful for any job

Otago University Dean of Law Professor Mark Henaghan doesn’t agree that an alleged oversupply of lawyers in New Zealand is due to universities “pumping out too many law graduates”. He recalls the “same old tale being barked” while he was studying at university. “In 1978 everyone screamed bloody murder. It’s not a…

A lawyer's skill is not limited to law

Many law graduates end up in another career. LawTalk journalist Sasha Borissenko talked with one, Carlos Chambers. Tell us about yourself. I’m 27 years old and was born in Hawke’s Bay, on the East Coast of New Zealand. I now call Wellington home. I attended school in Havelock North before a “gap…

From the Law Society

Complaints and discipline – what’s happening? A headline in the Law Gazette (published by the England and Wales Law Society) caught my eye recently: “Number of disbarred and suspended barristers soars”. It reports that the number of UK barristers disbarred or suspended had almost doubled in the past year, according to…

People in the Law

Retired Supreme Court Judge Sir Andrew Tipping has been appointed an acting Supreme Court Judge from 1 October 2014 to 30 September 2016. Sir Andrew was appointed to the High Court bench in 1986. He was appointed to the Court of Appeal in 1997 and became a member of the…

Māori Law Society Co-Presidents

Hamilton lawyers Aidan Warren and Rachel Hall have been elected Co-Presidents of Te Hunga Rōia Māori o Aotearoa (New Zealand Māori Law Society). Mr Warren – who has tribal connections to Ngāti Kahungunu, Rangitāne and Ngāi Tahu – has been in private practice since 2000. He graduated from Waikato University with…

NZ Lawyer joins fight against Ebola

Lawyer Kim Lovegrove, who practises in both New Zealand and Australia, has put together a coalition of experts to draft a model building standard for the construction and use of Ebola healthcare facilities. The aim of the initiative, which he is undertaking pro bono, is to generate an international standard to…

Thinking of starting a law firm?

Lawyers who are considering starting a new firm or sole practice may well benefit from an initiative of Business Mentors New Zealand, one of the Law Society’s partners in the Practising Well programme. Business Mentors launched its Start-up Business Mentoring Programme on 15 October. People joining the programme are provided six…

Taking the industry's temperature

How well is the business of selling legal advice going? New Zealand’s 1,850-odd law firms and 1,300 or so barristers are a diverse group. They range from large businesses with over 400 staff and earning $100 million a year to one-person enterprises. They offer a vastly different range of services…

The bookshelf

Employment Law in New Zealand By Gordon Anderson with John Hughes This is the first treatise on New Zealand employment law since 1989. Victoria University law professor Gordon Anderson says this has been helped with employment law having become “as stable as anything in New Zealand”. He says the book is primarily…

The Dwarf Who Moved

Reviewed by Geoff Adlam Peter Williams is a wonderful story-teller. This is perhaps not all that surprising given his long career as a leading defence lawyer. Sub-titled “And other remarkable tales from a life in the law”, the book presents 36 well-crafted tales from the legal life of one of New…

The importance of a talent management strategy

Do you know that employees contribute to around 50% of total operating budget/overheads costs in most organisations but business leaders admit they spend only 10% of their time finding ways to enhance the effectiveness of their workers? These statistics illustrate the way in which companies and firms are not focusing…

Headline advertising messages and the Fair Trading Act

The Court of Appeal recently laid down specific principles on how to assess whether headline representations in an advertisement can be said to be in breach of the Fair Trading Act 1986. The Court’s decision is important as these principles will be of general application to any cases where advertisements make…

Recommended standard clauses

Real estate agents selling residential property are being recommended to include a set of standard clauses in their standard terms and conditions, to clarify the sometimes uncertain situation when an owner wishes to change agencies. The Real Estate Agents Authority and the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ) have worked…

Trustees must provide ID

Lawyers acting as trustees or as company owners will need to provide identification to a financial institution when the trust or company opens an account, borrows money or places a deposit with the institution, says the Financial Services Federation (FSF) Executive Director Lyn McMorran. This is because the financial institutions are…

Copyright discourse 'hair-rendingly dismal'

The digital era is bringing us a convergence of the functions of library and of publisher, according to the 2014 New Zealand Law Foundation Distinguished Visiting Fellow, Professor Ruth Ginsberg. “The blurring of their roles has prompted some to panic that Google has gained an unfair advantage in the digital book…

Lawyers Complaints Service: Fined for failing to follow standard post-earthquake conveyancing practice

A Christchurch lawyer, C, acted for a purchaser of a residential property in 2013. The client, Mrs D, complained that C had confirmed the sale and purchase agreement as unconditional without advising her on, or adequately dealing with, an earthquake insurance clause in the sale and purchase agreement. As a…

Lawyers Complaints Service: Lawyer censured in sad and unusual case

Ian Mellet has been censured by the New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal in what it describes as a “sad and somewhat unusual case”. In [2014] NZLCDT 46, Mr Mellet faced six charges. They related to a period when he was suffering from an undiagnosed illness. Charge one related to Mr…