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New Zealand Law Society - LawTalk issue 927

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LawTalk issue 927

LawTalk issue 927

LawTalk issue 927

05 April 2019

The April issue of LawTalk backgrounds the transition in our justice system and the legal profession through the appointments of a new Chief Justice and President of the New Zealand Law Society. This issue also profiles members of the profession, provides updates on legal developments and looks at aspects of ADR, legal research, access to justice, Practising Well, law practice, and legal information.

Download LawTalk issue 927 (PDF file, 13.17 MB) View as a flip-book ISSUU.COM

This semi-comical television series, a joint Irish-British production, was as much about class and servitude as it was about the serving of justice. The R.M. in the title refers to the Resident Magistrates which the United Kingdom (which at the time included all of Ireland) sent out to the colonies to…

The Law Society says it continues to support the limited class exemption for barristers sole from the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Funding of Terrorism Act 2009 which is sought by the New Zealand Bar Association. The Law Society has made a second submission on a second Ministry of Justice consultation…

The editors say they provide a comprehensive and critical analysis of legal principles and rules governing New Zealand companies, with a key focus being the rules within the Companies Act 1993 regulating the rights, powers, duties and obligations of companies and their directors, shareholders and creditors. The text also addresses…

A judgment from Heaven

Continuing our tales from long ago theme… The author of this does not want to be identified. It’s not in the latest New Zealand Law Dictionary, but “beak” was once slang for a magistrate. About 40 years ago a new young “beak” arrived in a prosperous regional city. He held a…

Building a legacy of understanding and aroha

I first met Dr Mustafa Farouk at the Hamilton Mosque in 2004. I was a newly minted lawyer, having recently relocated to Hamilton after two years as a Christian missionary in Japan. A chance meeting with a client, Ali Issa, had led to an invitation to attend the Mosque and participate…

On 14 March as our new Chief Justice was sworn in, New Zealand had a permanent judiciary of 237. They had been members of the judiciary for an average of 10 years and 6 months and 65% were men. The following table shows the judiciary in each of the courts at…

Undergraduate teaching of law and practice around new information technologies may become mainstreamed due to a major new Law Foundation-funded research project. The $332,000 Technology in Legal Education project intends to create an online toolkit enabling law lecturers to integrate legal technology subjects within core curriculum papers. This could allow second…

New Zealand Law Society

A significant reduction in delay in the Family Court could be achieved by implementing a number of measures, the New Zealand Law Society says. Details of the measures are provided by the Law Society in additional feedback to the Independent Panel examining the impact of the 2014 family justice reforms. The…

A standards committee specialising in fee-related complaints has been granted permanent status by the Board of the New Zealand Law Society. Standards committees are independent statutory committees that determine complaints against lawyers under the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006. Committees are made up of experienced lawyers and members of the public.…

Kathryn BeckWhat stands out for you over the three years you have been Law Society President? The people. Throughout the last few years I have been consistently heartened by the quality of the people we have in our profession. I have come across extraordinary generosity of spirit. People who give of…

Tiana EpatiWhat are the issues which are facing New Zealand’s legal profession? The issues affecting the profession are considerable but also extremely varied. Currently, we face the pressing need for fundamental culture change, major advances in artificial intelligence and technology, increase in regulation, and access to justice for many in our…

People in the Law

As Attorney-General in Helen Clark’s third and final government, David Parker was the logical choice to take on the role in the Coalition government that was formed in October 2017. This time round, the former Dunedin lawyer and co-founder of the Community Law Centre has several meaty roles in the government:…

Jo Wickcliffe An Auckland barrister, a homeless advocate and a District Court Judge are driving the development of a new night shelter for homeless people, due to open before the winter. Queen Street in the central city is often dotted with people begging and sleeping rough all year round. Many of them…

LawFest organiser Andrew King continues a series of interviews with key legal professionals with their innovation and technology stories.

Update

A highly-regarded blind Canadian lawyer says New Zealand needs a new disability access law to tackle the lack of access for the estimated one million people with a disability. David Lepofsky was invited by the Blind Foundation to visit New Zealand to share his experiences and expertise on developing accessibility legislation…

How do you enforce New Zealand consumer law against the operator of an international website? The Commerce Commission claims ticket buyers are being seriously misled by Swiss-based Viagogo. However, it has failed in its attempt to obtain an interim injunction because Viagogo has refused to accept formal service except in…

The Harmful Digital Communications Act 2015 (HDCA) was intended, among other things, to protect minors from the harm arising from cyberbullying. However, gaps in the process may expose minors to further harm in the course of dealing with a complaint. This article is primarily concerned with the situation where both…

2018 was a year of many ‘immigration-related’ headlines shedding light on a range of issues from migrant exploitation, through to the crisis many employers faced in recruiting suitably qualified staff from the local labour market. News of severe shortages in specific industries and the regions were frequent, with many employers turning…

In late February and early March, the Australian College of Strata Lawyers (ACSL) held its conference in Auckland. New Zealand’s Unit Titles Acts (both 1972 and 2010) have drawn heavily on Australian models, and there is much to be learned from cross-jurisdictional study. This short article editorialises on some key…

Alternative Dispute Resolution

Dispute prevention: using mediation as a business tool

In Part 2 we will look at some practical examples of this concept at work. I would recommend reading “Tailored Commercial Mediation Options: What are they, and how can a sceptical market be encouraged to try them?”, a paper presented to the 2015 AMINZ annual conference by barrister and commercial…

Most lawyers, and some clients, get the potential benefits of mediation. Cost/time saving, stress reduction, relationship preservation, confidentiality, blah blah blah. But once the decision has been made to go to mediation, how to find a mediator? And not just any mediator – the right one for that dispute? What follows…

Legal Research

It is with a heavy heart I write this month’s article. As the old saying goes, sometimes in life one needs to try and find the silver lining in the dark clouds. This article feels a bit like that. Recently the Law Foundation has had to make the tough but necessary…

The Borrin Foundation: Making a difference to New Zealand, through the law

“We believe law is essential to a flourishing society – one that is just, inclusive, tolerant and free. Our vision is of an Aotearoa New Zealand where everyone understands the role and value of the law, and everyone enjoys the protection and opportunity that it provides.” – the Michael and…

Access to justice

McDonalds workers protesting on a picket line “There is power in a factory, power in the land, power in the hands of a worker, but it all amounts to nothing if together we don’t stand, there is power in a union” – Billy Bragg, There Is Power In A Union (1986) Union…

So where do those unions without in-house counsel go for legal assistance? Among the small group of firms that represent unions is Wellington-based McBride Davenport James. They also represent a range of employers, but not both sides at the same time naturally.

Practising Well

Talking about mental health

It’s OK to ask for help: This article discusses mental health issues and suicide, which may be an upsetting or sensitive topic for some people. Three years ago, after losing a close workmate to suicide, Grant Pritchard embarked on a journey to improve mental health in the workplace. The result is…

Proactive rather than reactive: Reading the signs and acting on them

An accomplished journalist, lawyer, law lecturer and author, Jerome Doraisamy also has first-hand experience with something many lawyers and law students are familiar with: mental illness. A high pressure, highly competitive and sometimes high-profile profession, the pressures of being a lawyer, and studying law, can sometimes lead to mental collapse. Burnout is…

Practice

In April 2018, the New Zealand Law Society launched its Gender Equality Charter (Tūtohinga Ira Tangata Ōrite). The Charter is a set of commitments around gender equality aimed at improving the retention and advancement of women in the legal profession.

Over 35,000 people have been admitted as lawyers in New Zealand since the beginning of the 20th century. In that time just 317 members of the profession have been appointed Queen’s Counsel. It’s a rare honour. The profession has just completed a round of ceremonies in which 10 new QCs were…

Complaints decision summaries

A lawyer, Lightwood, who drafted a trust deed under which she was a beneficiary should have required her parents to take independent legal advice, a lawyers standards committee has said. Lightwood’s parents established a trust to protect the proceeds of the intended sale of a property they owned.

If a lawyer is prohibited from retaining the passport of a New Zealand citizen on the basis of an unpaid fee, a foreign client should be treated no differently. This was stated by a lawyers standards committee when considering an own motion investigation into a lawyer, Orlick, who claimed a lien…

A lawyer who paid KiwiSaver funds directly to her clients, despite giving an undertaking that they would be used as part of a property purchase, was guilty of unsatisfactory conduct, a lawyers standards committee has found.

Allegations that a lawyer failed to meet her discovery obligations were not supported by evidence on the balance of probabilities, the Legal Complaints Review Officer (LCRO) has found.