Snapshot of the Profession

Download Snapshot of the Profession 2015 (PDF) The information in the 2015 Snapshot has been prepared from a number of sources, including practising certificates issued by the New Zealand Law Society and held as at 1 February 2015. The intention is to give a picture of the make-up of New Zealand’s…

From the Law Society

Women barristers: please apply to be QCs Just as it did last year, the New Zealand Law Society is encouraging women barristers to apply for appointment as Queen’s Counsel. Applications for appointment as a QC opened on 13 February and will be open for another two weeks, closing on 13 March. This issue…

People in the law

John Marshall QC is stepping down as Chief Commissioner of the Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) once he has completed his term in March. “I would like to thank John for his significant contribution to the transport sector over the past five years, particularly towards improving transport safety for the…

Fighting for victory

“I thought ‘what have I got to lose aside from some teeth’?” Nelson-based Duncan Cotterill lawyer Michelle Byczkow says about her decision to enter the boxing ring for charity. The event, Fight for Victory, is scheduled for 4 April, with all money raised going towards Victory Boxing which is a local…

Our Profession, Our People

Rex Mason prizewinners The New Zealand Law Society Wellington branch has announced the 2011, 2012 and 2013 winners of New Zealand’s longest-established legal writing award, the Honourable Rex Mason Prize for Excellence in Legal Writing. Wellington-based Family Court research counsel Zoe Lawton won the 2013 prize for her article “Non-Consensual Artificial Paternity”,…

Successful debtor management

One of my longest-standing friends, James*, managed a business for the company’s board of directors for just over two years. During his time at the helm he almost quadrupled the firm’s turnover and lifted its profits by just over 280% (not annually, but over the time he was manager). Another highly significant…

New books

Law Alive: The New Zealand Legal System in Context, 3rd Edition By Grant Morris Grant Morris is a senior lecturer in law at Victoria University. He aims to move beyond the focus on key legal skills and to provide a wider vision of New Zealand’s legal system, the way it reflects modern…

Elder Law in New Zealand

General Editors Kate Diesfeld and Ian McIntosh Reviewed by Jennifer Moore The image of the elder flower on the front cover of Elder Law in New Zealand is appropriate and clever. The white flowers optimistically suggest hope, and a promising future for New Zealand’s elderly population. The image evokes the book’s central…

Reading the Riot Act - A 200-year History of Justices of the Peace in New Zealand

Reviewed by Geoff Adlam New Zealand’s first Justice of the Peace stepped ashore in the Bay of Islands on 14 June 1814. Thomas Kendall was a missionary and his appointment was made by the New South Wales Governor. He was sacked in 1823 by Samuel Marsden but the groundwork had been…

Rihanna, topshop and the t-shirt

Topshop is, as the name suggests, one of the top fashion retailers in the United Kingdom. In 2012 Topshop released a t-shirt with a photograph of Rihanna on it. The photograph was from a video shoot from a single “We Found Love” from the album “Talk That Talk”. Rihanna complained. The…

About those resolutions

Q: Is February too late for New Year’s resolutions? A: Not when you’re a ‘Lunisolarist’. I struggled with not being despondent when on 10 January 2015 I was still behaving as badly as I had been on 31 December 2014. It was a bumpy road that first week or so. Initially I justified…

Law Foundation projects make waves

The results of four recently-completed Law Foundation projects are attracting public interest and generating debate among experts in their respective fields. The diverse studies cover family group conferences, coroners’ findings, intellectual disability and post-sentence detention. Each has involved substantial research and ground-breaking conclusions with potential for positive change. Family Group Conferences New…

Lawyers Complaints Service: Fined for delays in dealing with Official Assignee

A lawyer, M, has been censured and fined $5,000 for serious delays in dealing with an estate and communicating with the Official Assignee (OA). M was administering a deceased estate. A beneficiary and daughter of the deceased was bankrupt, and the OA’s office wrote to M advising that the bankrupt daughter’s…

Lawyers Complaints Service: Order not to employ

Linda Nalder is not to be employed by a practitioner or incorporated law firm in connection with their practice for 18 months from the time she resigned as a law firm employee, the New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal has ordered. Ms Nalder resigned on 13 November 2013. The Tribunal found…

Lawyers Complaints Service: Lawyers must comply with Trust Account Regulations

A lawyer, B, has been fined $1,000 by a lawyers standards committee for charging a fixed “non-refundable” fee, which should have been paid into his trust account until he was lawfully entitled to the use of the client’s money to pay his invoice. The Legal Complaints Review Officer, in LCRO 266/2012…

Lawyers Complaints Service: Fined for lack of diligence and care

A Wellington lawyer, Brendan McDonnell, has been found guilty of unsatisfactory conduct and censured by a lawyers standards committee. Mr McDonnell was the subject of an own motion investigation by the standards committee following a judgment against him personally. The judgment related to the lodging of a caveat without reasonable grounds. In…

Lawyers Complaints Service: Don't contact conveyancers' clients

Lawyers should “respect the relationship between a conveyancing practitioner and his or her clients and acknowledge there should be no direct communication with the clients of a conveyancing practitioner,” The Legal Complaints Review Officer says. “For that reason, I do not intend to make a finding of unsatisfactory conduct against [the…