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New Zealand Law Society - LawTalk issue 924

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LawTalk issue 924

LawTalk issue 924

LawTalk issue 924

30 November 2018

December's LawTalk includes a number of articles which look at aspects of the justice system in New Zealand. The focus of the magazine continues to be on providing a wide range of commentary and information related to practising law in New Zealand and working as a member of the legal profession. This includes updates in various areas of the law, developments in working towards healthy, safe, respectful and inclusive legal workplaces, aspects of legal practice, Practising Well and news and reviews on legal information.

Download LawTalk issue 924 (PDF file, 15.24 MB) View as a flip-book ISSUU.COM

Well done – to get this far you have identified the opportunity for consensus building, got the key stakeholders on board and identified the main issues. But now your first meeting is about to commence, and you are concerned about how you are going to hold all of this together. Adopting…

Gross legal aid payments have risen to their highest level in over eight years. The average gross payment made to each provider has also been moving up steadily, with an increase of 32% since 2013. In the same time, the number of providers who received a payment has fallen by…

At the beach at Whangamata

Whangamata, a delightful and popular holiday town on the east side of the Coromandel peninsula, was once the centre of a major test for the Resource Management Act. Local interests had spent years and nearly a million dollars developing a case for a marina at the top end of the town,…

You’ve got to be careful. Things may not be what they seem. Fake lawyers are not all that uncommon, it turns out. Here are some (mostly) recent examples: New ZealandWith irregular communications and uncertain constitutional arrangements, the qualifications of early lawyers were sometimes suspect. The first Chief Justice, Sir William Martin,…

People

Chris Finlayson standing outside an imposing buildingHaving been a “lawyer in politics”, former Attorney-General Chris Finlayson QC says he will find the transition back to law an easy one. Mr Finlayson was Attorney-General throughout the nine years of the National-led Government, as well as being Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations…

Karen Venables LawFest organiser Andrew King continues a series of interviews with key legal professionals with their innovation and technology stories. What does legal innovation mean to you? Innovation for us has been around looking at our services from a clients’ perspective and designing the way we practise around what they want or…

Update

On 1 July 2018 many lawyers became reporting entities under the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Act 2009. Reporting entities are those who undertake ‘captured activities’ which includes activities listed in the definition of “designated non-financial business or profession” in section 5 of the Act. If you are…

Proposals for a register of beneficial ownership in New Zealand

On 19 June 2018, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) published a Discussion Document proposing the introduction of beneficial ownership registers for New Zealand companies and limited partnerships (termed “corporate entities”). The proposals are driven by recent high-profile cases of alleged criminal wrongdoing involving the use of New Zealand-registered…

In my article in LawTalk 912 (November 2017), I explored the topic of whether or not there is an implied obligation of good faith in a franchise agreement. In this article, part one of a two-part series, I delve in more detail into what is meant by good faith, specifically…

New Zealand can’t be complacent about potential future terrorism threats: terrorism is constantly evolving, and we need to be prepared for the next wave, whatever form it comes in. That’s the view of Professor Alexander Gillespie of the University of Waikato, who has co-written a Law Foundation-funded study of New Zealand’s…

The Court of Appeal’s recent decision in Pratley v Courteney [2018] NZCA 436 concerns the costs incurred by a trustee in defending a claim against trust assets. The issue for the court to determine was whether the trustee was entitled to an indemnity from the trust fund. The case provides…

Creating A Just Culture

At the recent Women in Law Summit in Auckland in September, Ann Brennan chaired a panel with Steph Dyhrberg, Fionnghuala Cuncannon, Dr Maria Pozza and Helen Mackay, speaking on the topic ‘Why is there is an exodus of women from the legal profession and how can we retain our female…

I have questions about job application health questions. But first, let me clarify that even though I recently attended my first employment law conference, I do not have delusions of grandeur about my employment law expertise – I am not a specialist employment lawyer. However, I am a new employer of…

Lawyers Complaints Service

The Court of Appeal has declined Wellington lawyer Papali’i Toti Lagolago leave to appeal a High Court decision in relation to costs. Ms Lagolago had faced charges in the New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal in relation to her role in representing clients in litigation proceedings which ultimately failed. The Tribunal…

Names used in this article are fictitious A lawyer who acted for clients when he was conflicted has been censured and fined $5,000 by a lawyers standards committee. Mr Jingle and Ms Mannette instructed the lawyer, Peggotty, to act for them on the purchase of a residential property. Peggotty informed Mr Jingle…

Auckland lawyer Brian Robert Ellis has been struck off the roll of barristers and solicitors of the High Court by the New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal. The tribunal had found Mr Ellis guilty of misconduct. In June 2018 in another matter it found he had acted for a client…

Practice

Agile is the IT industry buzzword du jour. In fact, it’s so popular that it’s transcended the IT industry and has entered the general business lexicon. In fact, so potent is it that Spark famously declared that they are ‘going agile’ and told their employees that they either need to drink…

When the heat affects your work: safety in the workplace when summer peaks

If this summer is anything like last year’s, then offices and other indoor venues could again turn into ovens. NIWA says the nationwide average temperature for the 2017-18 summer was 18.8 degrees, 0.3 degrees above the previous record set in the hot months of 1934-35. So when is it too hot to…

Responsible briefing: Reversing the lens

In the October issue of LawTalk, ILANZ offered its collective thoughts on practical ways in which in-house counsel can be model clients when instructing their external legal providers. This month, we continue to gather in practical advice, but in reverse. ILANZ applied a user experience mind-set to test the practical suggestions…

Focus on Timaru: House prices and schooling major drawcards to Riviera of the South

It is hard to attract experienced young lawyers to Timaru, and to make matters worse, the pool isn’t great for someone looking for a soulmate to keep them in the South Canterbury centre. While recent law graduates will grab anything going, finding lawyers with two or three years’ experience is difficult,…

Otago has a strong Independent Bar. It is a work style that particularly suits lawyers who are managing the demands of practising law in sync with other commitments such as being involved with Otago University, being a member of various boards or writing books. That is, perhaps, the appeal of not…

For retired lawyers to peruse LawTalk is a glimpse of a new and structured world. The very nature of law firms has changed beyond recognition from the memories we have of the friendly muddle which surrounded our own practices. Law firms were smaller and more personal; they did not carry…

Fuelled by the #MeToo movement, the Dame Margaret Bazley report, the Justice Kavanaugh confirmation hearings and other events, there is a lot of talk about culture change in the legal profession. Lawyers ask me “What is culture change, does it matter and how does it happen?” Culture and culture change…

Practising Well

Talking about mental health: More supportive and resilient workplaces

This article is the third in a series co-ordinated by Sarah Taylor which focuses on mental health issues in the legal profession. Victoria Hallum, the Chief International Advisor at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, writes about concrete steps we can take to make our workplaces more supportive and…

The importance of doing nothing

With the holidays around the corner, we’re being asked more and more often, “what are you doing this summer?” And it seems we’re expected to answer in a way that shows how busy, popular and filled with doing-ness we are. Our society is so action-orientated (or action-obsessed) that we expect to…

In praise of a post-Christmas zoom out

And lo, it was Christmas time again. That time of jingly bells and clinking glasses and frantic end runs at work, followed by frantic grocery runs at home. It’s a busy time, but I hope for you it is busy in that nice joyful way where even amidst the stress…

The Justice System

Chief District Court Judge Jan-Marie Doogue Improving diversity among judges is vital if, as a people’s court, the District Court is to remain relevant to the diverse communities it serves, explains Chief District Court Judge Jan-Marie Doogue. The criminal justice system has been a topic of intense debate in 2018. The discussion, brain…

Andrew Bridgman Andrew Bridgman has been Secretary for Justice and Chief Executive of the Ministry of Justice since 2011. He will leave this role on 31 January 2019 to move to the Ministry of Defence as Secretary of Defence and Chief Executive (from 1 July 2019). LawTalk talked to Mr Bridgman…

Society tends to offer little sympathy to drug addicts and alcoholics who commit crime to feed their addiction. After all, many end up on an endless cycle of prison lags only to use drugs inside where they learn new ways of committing crime through hardened career criminals. But what if addiction…

Te Pae Oranga is the new name for Iwi Community Panels, which were launched in 2010 to reduce the load on the court system and prevent minor offending leading to serious crime and imprisonment. Te Pae Oranga is a lawful alternative to prosecution for some low-level offending, run by the…

The review of the 2014 family justice reforms is currently underway, and the Independent Panel has much to consider – as befits the importance of the subject and the political attention their deliberations will receive. Justice Minister Andrew Little has said that he is concerned that families and children are losing…

On 27 September 2018 Justice Minister Andrew Little introduced a bill to establish the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC). Its purpose is to review convictions and sentences and decide whether to refer them to the appeal court. The bill will replace the current referral power exercised by the Governor-General under section…

Legal Information

The Complete Guide to Persuasive Advocacy, 2nd Edition, 2018 (Reprint) By Professor George Hampel AM QC, Justice Ann Ainslie-Wallace, Elizabeth Brimer and Randall Kune Reviewed by Garry Williams As Murray Gleeson AC QC (Chief Justice of Australia 1998-2008) says in the foreword to the first edition of the Advocacy Manual – The Complete…

Arbitration, 2nd editionBy Anthony Willy and Terry Sissons A lot has changed in the world of arbitration since retired District Court Judge Anthony Willy brought out the first edition in 2010. He has been joined by barrister and arbitrator Terry Sissons. Aimed at practitioners and students, the book contains 19 chapters…