Legal aid & access to justice

In 2009 Dame Margaret Bazley’s controversial report Transforming the Legal Aid System sought to completely overhaul what was described as a system that was “open to abuse by lawyers and defendants”. Six years later and changes include a new eligibility test for those wishing to acquire legal aid, a new rotation…

From the Law Society

Lawyers’ massive access to justice contribution Many of the access to justice initiatives that we take for granted were instigated by the legal profession itself and could not survive without the generosity of lawyers. In addition to the more usual role of being retained for a professional fee, or for those in-house…

Being in-house was more 'me'

“There’s always a lot happening at the Transport Agency, which makes it such a cool place to work,” New Zealand Transport Agency Chief Legal Counsel Dave Whiteridge says. Mr Whiteridge says he and his legal team are tantalisingly close to a highly political transfer of ownership of a toll road to…

Our Profession, Our People

Christchurch Queen’s Counsel Nicholas Davidson has been appointed a High Court Judge and will sit in Christchurch. Justice Davidson graduated with an LLB (Hons) from Canterbury University in 1971 and joined Duncan Cotterill & Co in Christchurch. In 1974 he left that firm to join Young Hunter & Co, becoming…

New Otago branch President

Frazer Barton is the new President of the New Zealand Law Society’s Otago branch. Elected the branch’s Vice-President last year, Mr Barton is chair of the Anderson Lloyd board and the head of the firm’s Dunedin litigation team. He has always been a litigation specialist and specialises in court work and enjoys…

Corporate Challenge entries open

Lawyers show their class in many ways, including sporting prowess, as evidenced by the results of the Fidelity Life Corporate Challenge 5km run and walk. An event which is all about participation, registrations for the 2015 event opened on 1 July (see www.corporatechallenge.co.nz). This annual five-kilometre road race will take place in…

AMINZ conference lays down the law

The Arbitrators’ and Mediators’ Institute of New Zealand (AMINZ) didn’t set out to tailor this year’s conference to those who practise law – although it might just as well have. Lawyers, jurists and legal experts are well represented in the 40-plus presenters scheduled to appear at the three-day gathering in Wellington…

Gender: How does New Zealand's legal profession compare

At the current rate of entries to and exits from the legal profession, women will outnumber men some time in 2018. Possibly sooner. Every year over 60% of new lawyers are female while 98% of lawyers who have been in practice for 41 years or more are male. A mid-year check…

Breaking the busy habit

I’m always in meetings… The pace here is frantic, it’s hard to slow it down... If we can just get through this next busy patch… How many of these comments sound familiar? We hear them often. Even the best and most effective time management and smart working strategies get wiped out when…

Juries: do we trust them enough or too much?

I often wonder whether the law of evidence has developed in the way it has purely because of the adversarial nature of common law litigation or perhaps as a result of our use or abuse of juries. It is easy to say that the very nature of an adversarial system necessitates…

Law Society identifies problem with health and safety regulations

The New Zealand Law Society has identified a potential problem with an aspect of the draft Health and Safety at Work (Infringement Offences and Fees) Regulations 2015. In comments to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment on an exposure draft of the regulations, the Law Society says its key concern…

Have your say on law reform

For lawyers who are keen to make a real contribution to law reform in New Zealand, now is an opportunity to get involved. The New Zealand Law Society is now calling for applications from members and associate members interested in serving as convenors and members of the Law Society’s Law Reform…

No cause for complacency on rule of law

The 2015 Rule of Law Index was publicly released on 9 June 2015 and the results for New Zealand show no cause for complacency, I suggest. I have been a “contributing expert” to this Index for a number of years now (noting that some 65 or so other New Zealanders…

Conveyancing practitioners and settling by bank cheque

How do you proceed if you are acting in a property transaction and the conveyancing practitioner acting for the vendor will not accept the “reverse undertaking” procedure? The New Zealand Law Society’s Property Law Section (PLS) is reporting that this has become an issue in property transactions where a conveyancing…

Is recreation charitable?

Maria Clarke’s thoughtful article, Is sport charitable any more? (LawTalk 862, 10 April 2015) addresses issues for sporting bodies arising from the deregistration of Swimming New Zealand as a charity under the Charities Act 2005. Maria Clarke does not (as she might) directly criticise the deregistration decision in her article, but…

Letters to the Editor

The cost of safety I refer to the article by Rebecca Holm on the cost of safety (LawTalk 865, 22 May 2015, p 32) and the relationship between legal aid and protection orders. Reading the article I felt I needed to clarify how legal aid actually manages domestic violence protection order…

Lawyers Complaints Service: Charges against lawyer dismissed

The New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal has not upheld charges brought against a lawyer, B, in relation to the administration of an estate. One of B’s clients, Mr C, appointed him the sole executor and trustee of the estate. Before Mr C died, he had been the sole director…

Lawyers Complaints Service: Tribunal needs to consider alternative charge

After it dismissed a charge of misconduct, the New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal then erred in failing to consider an alternative charge, the High Court has found. In [2015] NZHC 492, Justice Andrews was considering an application by Francisc Catalin Deliu for judicial review of The Tribunal’s decision that…