New Zealand Law Society - LawTalk issue 907

LawTalk issue 907

LawTalk issue 907

The latest LawTalk looks at the many sides of practising law in New Zealand, including recent developments in the law, working with technology, practice management, the NZX in-house team and new lawyers.

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Focus On legal practice in Blenheim

The thriving wine industry has seen the sunny South Island town of Blenheim evolve into a settlement with an international flavour. “This is a small town, but with a depth of demographic not found in other quarters of New Zealand, and that is largely attributable to the wine industry,” says Simon…

Funding the regulation of legal practice

The Minister of Justice has approved the fees and levies payable by anyone who practises law in the year to 30 June 2018. For the 2017/18 practising year there will be a reduction in the amount which lawyers pay. This is clearly good news. Law is a well regulated profession, and…

Once upon a career change

Former Auckland lawyer Nalini Singh gave up her day job to pursue a writing career – with spectacular results. She’s gone from toiling away on resource management cases to writing international bestsellers about sexy vampires and angels, hitting the New York Times bestsellers list on the way. Writing was always Nalini’s…

Former Russell McVeagh solicitor, full-time windsurfer

Born in Auckland to a French mother and an Italian father, Antonio Cozzolino spent about half of his life in growing up in Europe. In New Zealand, Antonio attended Sacred Heart College in Auckland. He’s now taken a break from his legal career to devote himself full-time to being selected to…

Pathways in the Law: Khan & Associates, a multicultural approach to practising law

Khan & Associates founder, Mohammed Faiyam Khan, with his two daughters, partners Farah Khan and Serish Khan.Khan & Associates’ founder, Mohammed Faiyam Khan, was practising law before Ronald Reagan became President of the United States. He was admitted as a barrister in 1980 after qualifying from the famous Lincoln’s Inn, London. It’s…

Negotiation styles: which one are you

Your negotiation style is both personal and general. Your personal style is you: how you interact and communicate with people, your personality. Imitation is suicide when you are under pressure during negotiations, so you need to decide on what works for you and how best to develop your personal competencies. There…

All the feelings you have as a new lawyer

“Examine the lives of the best and most fruitful people and peoples and ask yourselves whether a tree that is supposed to grow to a proud height can dispense with bad weather and storms; whether misfortune and external resistance, some kinds of hatred, jealousy, stubbornness, mistrust, hardness, avarice, and violence…

How healthy are New Zealand lawyers?

The stresses and strains of being a lawyer have been well documented. International research suggests that people working in the legal industry experience higher rates of depression, anxiety and stress compared to other industries. The New Zealand Law Society has developed Practising Well – a set of tools and support…

Studying law in the capital

Based a short walk from Parliament and the Supreme Court in the building which used to house almost every government department, Victoria University of Wellington’s Faculty of Law has been an important part of the capital since Professor Richard Maclaurin delivered the first law lectures in 1899. LawTalk asked Professor Mark…

NZX Lawyers in a technology-driven market that never really sleeps

Long before the internet, laptops, cellphones or the digital age, the sharemarket was a much more boisterous and manual operation. But while the floor noise level may have receded through the introduction and use of technology; that same technology has ensured the sharemarket is always awake. NZX’s regulation team, which is based…

Update

Rejection of media merger on public benefit grounds

Rejection of media merger on public benefit grounds

The Commerce Commission has declined to approve a merger of the New Zealand operations of NZME and Fairfax: NZME Ltd and Fairfax New Zealand Ltd [2017] NZCC 8. The Commission has the jurisdiction to grant authorisation of an anti-competitive merger where the merger will result in such public benefit that it…
An alternative to prosecution

An alternative to prosecution

One of the most novel changes under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (HSWA) is the introduction of enforceable undertakings. An enforceable undertaking is essentially an alternative to prosecution whereby the applicant agrees to do certain things in exchange for (usually) the regulator not filing charges. Enforceable undertakings have…
The Structure(s) of Property Law

The Structure(s) of Property Law

Most property lawyers are pragmatists – we aim to get things done. But property law, as a structure, is not entirely driven by pragmatism. The numerus clausus principle suggests there are fixed categories of “property”. While contract law can give rise to all sorts of agreements and arrangements, property law…

The loss of anonymity in relationship property proceedings

Traditionally, fictitious names or initials have been used to anonymise the names of parties to Family Court proceedings. This meant that cases could be published setting out the legal issues, while still protecting the identities of parties in proceedings that are always intensely personal. However, there has been a recent shift…

A following sea?

Parliament recently passed the Te Awa Tupua (Whanganui River Claims Settlement) Act 2017, which declares the Whanganui River to be a legal person with all the rights, powers, duties and liabilities that attach to such status. In this article we provide a brief overview of the background to the Act, we…

One step forward and two steps back for pay equity

Maria Dew recently wrote about the outcome of litigation taken under the Equal Pay Act (EPA) (LawTalk 904, March 2017). To recap, on 22 August 2013, a full bench of the Employment Court issued a landmark judgment which interpreted the Equal Pay Act 1972 as it applies to female-dominated work…

Technology

Five questions with Spark’s Rod Morris on digital disruption in the legal profession

Five questions with Spark’s Rod Morris on digital disruption in the legal profession

Rod Morris, Assistant General Counsel at Spark New Zealand, leads a team of senior lawyers who provide legal services to Spark’s technology and network businesses. He was the opening speaker at LawFest, the annual innovation and technology in law conference which was held in Auckland on 17 May. He outlines…
Bitcoin at a glance

Bitcoin at a glance

Most of us have heard of Bitcoin and know that it’s some kind of digital currency, but for many of us that’s as far as our knowledge of it goes. The Law Foundation’s ILAPP project is examining the regulation of digital currencies such as Bitcoin (see issues 898 and 903…

Will automation put lawyers out of work

When lawyers hear the word automation we immediately feel fear. We’re scared that clever software and robots will take our jobs. The result is lawyers becoming clockblockers – ignoring the wave of change hitting the industry and not using automation. The good news is that automation won’t put lawyers out…

Lawyers Complaints Service

Failure to comply with Standards Committee directions

A lawyer has been fined $2,500 for repeated failure to comply with written directions of a standards committee. The lawyer, D, failed to comply with the committee’s mandatory directions in three consecutive instances. D’s compliance was only secured when the committee appointed a New Zealand Law Society inspector as an investigator. The…

Breach of confidentiality of Standards Committee decisions

Lawyers who attached two lawyers standards committee decisions to a memorandum filed in court breached the confidentiality of the decisions, a standards committee has found. It would be prudent for a lawyer faced with a similar situation to raise the issue of confidentiality directly with the court, the committee said. A party…

LINZ certification - censure

Richard Geoffrey Warren Austin has been censured and fined $3,000 by the New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal. In [2016] NZLCDT 33, Mr Austin admitted a charge of unsatisfactory conduct. The charges arose in relation to a complex administration of an estate. This required transmissions of land to new trustees and…

Practice

Tips for more efficient trust account management

Reviewing lawyers’ trust accounts is one of the main tasks carried out by the NZLS inspectors. As part of the Law Society’s regulatory team, the inspectors carry out reviews with three main aims: Protecting client funds held in a trust account; Protecting the public at large – not just people who have funds…
Strategic planning for law firms – a practical guide

Strategic planning for law firms – a practical guide

Many lawyers tell me that their firm does not have, or has never had, a strategic plan. Law firms with up-to-date, carefully drafted strategic plans that inform their day to day and long-term decision making are, sadly, few and far between. Why is this? Perhaps it is because drafting a strategic…

How to give feedback

Giving staff feedback or critiquing their work can be a delicate task, but putting in place processes and frameworks can make it easier for everyone. “You’re dealing with people’s reputations and the way they view themselves and their careers. Most of all I think people get very anxious, especially junior people,…

Pro-bono

Turning pro bono willingness into action

There’s no shortage of Lawyers willing to do pro bono work – the problem is matching them up to clients whose unmet legal needs deserve attention. That’s the view of Darryn Aitchison, of the Auckland Community Law Centre, who is setting up a Law Foundation-backed pilot project that aims to better-connect…

‘If it feels good, we do it’: Russell McVeagh’s commitment to pro bono work

Russell McVeagh pumps well over $1 million and 600 hours annually into pro bono work, an investment it says works both for itself and the “pretty obvious causes” it supports. The firm provides the pro bono work for a number of community and non-profit groups, and gives a large number of…

Letters to the Editor

New Enduring Power of Attorney forms

The new forms which we have been toiling with since mid-March, are not user friendly. They are unpopular with secretarial staff and practitioners. They are far too long. Since EPAs were originally introduced they have ballooned out from one to 14 pages. They are very hard to plough through to get…

LCRO complaints procedure flawed

I note with interest that NZLS President, Kathryn Beck, recently praised the courage of lawyers around the world in January for standing up for the rights of their clients. It would be marvellous if the lawyers in New Zealand could perhaps stand up for their own rights in New Zealand and…

Help Rachel fight MS

I’m writing this letter in support of my friend Rachel Fernando who is battling an aggressive form of Multiple Sclerosis. I met Rachel 17 years ago at high school in Christchurch. A friendly and gorgeous girl, Rachel had no shortage of admirers or friends. Rachel was a ballet dancer, a representative…
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