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LawTalk issue 903

LawTalk issue 903

LawTalk issue 903

02 February 2017

LawTalk’s first monthly issue introduces a new design and a number of new sections, including updates on developments in the law, technology, legal practice, litigation, in-house practice and women in the law.

Download LawTalk issue 903 (PDF file, 14.2 MB) View as a flip-book ISSUU.COM

Advisers engaged in mediation often confuse the alternatives a party has with possible options for resolution. An alternative to a negotiated agreement is an action a party can implement without the consent of the other. Parties negotiate to try to secure an outcome that offers more value than their best alternative.…

Dear Editor, I have advised settlors and trustees throughout my career and in recent years I have taken on quite a few trusteeships where independent trustees are required to act. Through this work I have often faced difficult decisions about disclosure of trust information to particular beneficiaries. There has been an…

21st century justice: The UK’s herculean efforts to modernise its court system

“We are but a slender moment away from the time when you will never again have to go to a courthouse, but instead dressed, perhaps, in a fine silk dressing gown or your rabbit-eared onesie … you will open your laptop from your kitchen table and give your evidence via…

Earthquakes and Litigation: An EQC perspective on managing legal risk after natural disasters

Following the recent earthquakes, it is timely to consider the managing liability and litigation risk in relation to natural disasters. This article considers a framework that an organisation may use to approach any legal risk. The Earthquake Commission (EQC) was established in 1945 and provides insurance for residential land, buildings and…

Focus on legal practice in Hastings

Buying a nice family home for less than half a million dollars and spending only a few minutes on your daily commute might seem like a pipe dream, but many lawyers in Hastings are living that dream. Lawyers in the Hawke’s Bay city wax lyrical about the lifestyle on offer, citing…

Climbing mountains in faraway countries has been as big a part of a Dunedin barrister’s life as practising law. On the very day Alison Douglass was due to graduate with her law degree at the University of Canterbury in 1985 she flew to South America to climb a mountain. “I went on…

The Statutes Amendment Bill containing amendments to the Protection of Personal and Property Rights Act 1988 (PPPR Act) passed its third reading on 14 December 2016 and has received Royal Assent. The amendments to the PPPR Act will come into force on 16 March. Amended regulations including new plain language forms…

“When people think about law firms that specialise in advising Māori clients they think that we spend all of our time in the Waitangi Tribunal and the Māori Land Court, but we have a much more diverse practice than that,” says partner Matanuku Mahuika. Kahui Legal has some big clients. It…

Jessica Churchman spent her early years in West Yorkshire, England. But in 1999 her family, toured New Zealand as part of a year-long world tour. “We fell in love with New Zealand through the course of our travels and emigrated in 2004.” The family settled in New Plymouth, where she attended…

Update

The owner of an insured iPhone has the device stolen and, out of caution and to facilitate the insurance claim, they fabricate a receipt and submit that to insurers. The claim is genuine and is no more than the owner is entitled to. Should the consequences of this dishonesty be…

Judgments give a superficial insight to disputes and the influences on the protagonists – for example, NZX Ltd v Ralec Commodities Ltd and others [2016] NZHC 2742. There were some harsh lessons here. This article will introduce some of those lessons, briefly state the relevant facts and then discuss one…

Intellectual property law reform is never high on a government’s to do list, so November 2016 was exceptional. Four IP-related Acts and one Order were passed. On one day, 15 November, three IP bills in a row were debated in Parliament. Agricultural Compounds and Veterinary Medicines Amendment Act 2016 (“Ag Compounds”)Most…

AML legislation coming down the track

Tax crimes, fraud, embezzlement, drugs, theft, bribery and corruption. No lawyer can risk their name being linked with any suggestion of these activities. As lawyers, we are vulnerable to attempts by criminals to use us for money laundering and terrorist financing. New Zealand has a positive “clean, green” image;, it…

Lawyer Complaints Service

Lawyer Jennifer Elizabeth McDonnell has been censured and fined $10,000 by a lawyers standards committee for failing to deal with an estate in a competent and timely manner. The committee noted that there were a series of delays, which had arisen because of incompetent drafting of the wills. “This created a…

A lawyer, C, who sent a woman’s will to her husband without the woman’s consent, has been reprimanded by a lawyers standards committee and ordered to pay the woman $5,000 compensation. The LCRO increased this to $6,000 on review and confirmed the committee’s decision to reprimand C. Mr and Mrs B decided…

Technology

The Cloud

Ironically, what we know as the cloud, the shared pool of resources online, is not very cloud-like. It comprises hundreds of tonnes of computers in data centres around the world. If you look up at a cloud like that above you then you’d better run. The cloud is a concept rather…

Whether you created your website to provide clients with your contact details and staff biographies, to express your opinions, or to announce the arrival of your new firm, you need to be aware of how effective it is. That’s because no matter how simplistic your site is, it is a…

The Law Foundation’s new, dedicated $2 million fund for information law and policy research has kick-started some exciting new projects that will better prepare New Zealand for the challenges of the information age. Already, four significant projects are under way since the Foundation announced the Information Law and Policy Project (ILAPP)…