Taking down the shingle

Brent Stanaway, Crown Solicitor Brent Stanaway, the Crown Solicitor for Canterbury and Westland, is on the path to retirement. Mr Stanaway, who turns 61 in June, will be leaving the partnership of Raymond Donnelly on 30 October after 36 years with the firm. At the same time, he will relinquish the Crown Warrant…

What to keep in mind when closing or selling

For some lawyers who are in sole practice, retiring will mean closing or selling the practice. In this case, it won’t be a matter of just shutting the door and leaving. A series of regulatory, practical and procedural steps need to be taken. It pays to plan the process carefully…

From the Law Society

Don’t forget to plan for retirement I was speaking to John Marshall QC recently. He had just stepped down as Chair of the Transport Accident Investigation Commission. John will never retire but he has slowed down due to a serious illness diagnosed in July last year. John is currently writing his…

Our Profession, Our People

Justice Helen Winkelmann, the Chief High Court Judge, has been appointed a Judge of the Court of Appeal and Justice Geoffrey Venning has been appointed Chief High Court Judge. Justice Winkelmann graduated from Auckland University in 1984 and was a partner with Phillips Fox for a number of years. She…

A taste of reality TV

Born and bred in Southland, 24-year-old Nikki Sim is a commercial and rural lawyer for Preston Russell Law, the Crown Solicitor’s Office for Invercargill. She recently featured on the reality dating television show, The Bachelor New Zealand, although her time was short lived, she says. Nikki explains her reasons for…

Marlborough branch President re-elected

Simon Gaines was re-elected President of the New Zealand Law Society’s Marlborough branch at the branch’s annual meeting on 26 March. First elected Marlborough branch President at last year’s branch annual meeting, Mr Gaines was re-elected unopposed. He is a sole practitioner and principal of Gaines Law, established in 2011. He works…

That Seven Year Increase: charge-out rates

The average charge-out rate for employed lawyers in private practice is $270 per hour (exclusive of GST and disbursements), according to a New Zealand Law Society survey carried out in February 2015. The data indicates that while charge-out rates increase steadily as lawyers gain more post-qualification experience (PQE), there is a…

Facts, truth and inferences

In this column I have previously spoken of the litigator as a story teller. I have also written on the influence of truth on the creation of narratives. Here, I would like to discuss the tools with which instructive and persuasive stories are built – whether they be in fact,…

United Nations Women's Empowerment Principles

In 2013 the New Zealand Law Society publicly invited New Zealand law firms to show their commitment to gender equality by signing up to the United Nations Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs). Today, two years later, only five law firms from across the whole of New Zealand have confirmed their commitment…

What to do about burnout

Much has been written over the years about the high incidence of depression among lawyers. Another condition that does not receive the same exposure, yet has a high incidence in the profession, is burnout. In fact, some of the characteristics that have been identified as contributing to clinical depression in lawyers…

Virtues of plain language for lawyers

I am of the generation who had their secondary schooling and, later, law school, in the sixties. I was lucky enough at secondary school to have, in the then sixth form, an inspirational English teacher called Terry McNamara who really inspired a love of the language in me. I have always…

Attorney-General preferred extradition central authority

The New Zealand Law Society says the Attorney-General is its preference as a central authority for extradition. In its comments on the Law Commission’s issues paper Extradition and Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters, the Law Society says the paper is a comprehensive and clear analysis of a challenging area of law. It…

Is sport charitable any more?

In 2008 Swimming NZ was a registered charity under the Charities Act 2005. By October 2014 it was not.1 After six years as a fully compliant registered charity, the Charities Registration Board decided that it no longer had charitable purposes and deregistered it. This decision has raised the eyebrows of sports…

Expert determination of value - a specialist's view

Over recent years expert determination has becoming increasingly popular as an effective way to resolve valuation disputes. But how does it work in practice? Is it an approach worth pursuing, and how can it help lawyers to achieve better results for their clients? Jay Shaw, partner at Forensic Advisory Services,…

NZ not "walking the talk" on human rights

New Zealand’s impressive international image as a human rights leader is not matched by its implementation record at home, a major Law Foundation-backed study has found. The study, led by Auckland University of Technology Professor Judy McGregor, finds that New Zealand falls short in promoting and monitoring our international human rights…

Letters to the Editor

District Court Rules I read Ben Nevells’s letter in LawTalk 860 with interest. Well done Ben! I suffered the same fate as Ben with some of my filing, and spent the better part of January trying to get my conventionally intituled documents accepted by the Central Processing Unit. I was unsuccessful. I wrote…

Lawyers Complaints Service: Censured for estate administration failures

Hamilton lawyer John Campion has been censured for unsatisfactory conduct by the New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal in [2014] NZLCDT 85. Mr Campion had provided various legal services to a husband and wife, Mr and Mrs D. Mr D died just over three years after his wife. Mr Campion…

Lawyers Complaints Service: Censured for not apologising when ordered to

Christchurch barrister Christopher Bradleigh Persson has been censured by the New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal for failing to provide an apology to a prosecutor, as ordered by a lawyers standards committee. The Police Prosecutions Service complained that Mr Persson had repeatedly interrupted a prosecutor’s attempt to review facts and…

Lawyers Complaints Service: Suspension avoided by fine margin

Jonathan Charles Heaphy has been censured by the New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal after he failed to exercise judgement when making an investment. In [2014] NZLCDT 61, the Tribunal found Mr Heaphy guilty of two charges of misconduct. The charges arose after one of Mr Heaphy’s clients, Mr F,…