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New Zealand Law Society - LawTalk issue 928

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LawTalk issue 928

LawTalk issue 928

LawTalk issue 928

10 May 2019

The 928^th issue of the New Zealand Law Society’s magazine LawTalk looks at a range of topics related to practising law in New Zealand. This includes people in the profession, legal developments in arbitration, competition law, contracts, franchising, property and alternative dispute resolution, and health and wellbeing.

Download LawTalk issue 928 (PDF file, 10.25 MB) View as a flip-book ISSUU.COM

Cognitive biases: challenging the way we think

We may think we are rational, open-minded thinkers making ethical decisions in an objective, non-biased fashion. However, this is almost impossible. No matter how intelligent we believe we are, we are all susceptible to a swarm of cognitive biases. Our decisions are often shaped by emotional attachments, misleading memories or…

Geoff Adlam’s otherwise excellent article on Queen’s Counsel in LawTalk 927, April 2019 contains an error at p73, in his list of longest-serving Queen’s Counsel still in practice. He states that Alan Galbraith QC who was appointed in April 1987, is followed in this respect by Nigel Hampton QC, appointed in…

Recently after the Christchurch shooting, there have been changes to the searching of people entering the court. Now lawyers must also be searched. In no possible logic, can lawyers suddenly become a terrorist risk at court, because some lunatic shot a particular religious group in Christchurch. The Law Society needs to stand up…

People in the Law

The walls of Tania Sharkey’s office are bare. The empty picture hooks and stark white palette are noticeably different to the busy reception area of Friendship Chambers in Manukau. When I ask about the lack of artwork, save for one out-of-place painting left over from the previous occupant, Ms Sharkey smiles and…

Titus Rahiri 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? Legal innovation has become a popular phrase in today’s legal ecosystem. Clayton Christensen, Harvard Business School professor and author of The Innovator’s Dilemma, defined it…

Coming from a family of teachers, Sydney-based lawyer Jessie Porteus has always had a passion, and great respect, for education as well as an unbridled enthusiasm for the law. A lawyer with a rare combination of legal experiences and a developed practice ranging from corporate and commercial law, to IP, competition…

Update

The Arbitration Amendment Act 2019: Further refinement

Since the UNCITRAL Model Law was adopted in New Zealand in the Arbitration Act 1996, few amendments have been necessary. We have a unified Act, which applies to both domestic and international arbitrations, and it has performed well, free of the complications in Australia, with its potentially competing state legislation…

Competition law issues beneath the surface with mergers

Two recent court decisions show that mergers raise competition law risks well beyond the obvious risks arising from the merger itself being considered to substantially lessen competition. Section 47 of the Commerce Act 1986 prohibits a merger that substantially lessens competition in a market. However, additional serious competition law issues can…

As a sequel to the article entitled “A tale of two earn-outs” (LawTalk 922, October 2018, page 22) this article considers The Malthouse Ltd v Rangatira Ltd [2018] NZCA 621 in which the Court of Appeal overturned the High Court ruling ([2018] NZHC 816). Although the High Court was prepared to…

Throughout its existence, the Law Foundation has supported projects that have demonstrably improved access to justice for disadvantaged social groups. We have recently approved grants for two further projects that I am confident will improve the lives of people with disabilities, a group especially deserving of support. A new accessibility systemNew Zealand…

Restraint of trade clauses are a common commercial tool by which franchisors protect their brand, goodwill and system, following the termination of the franchise agreement. If franchises did not have the control of a restraint of trade clause, ex-franchisees could readily take and use all know-how and goodwill gleaned from…

The impact of risk and compliance to a franchisor looking to expand and sell their brand/franchise overseas is seen in two ways: A franchisor looking to expand into a foreign territory must conduct significant and thorough risk and compliance assessments. A franchisor cannot import the system they have into another country…

Property lawyers can be slow adopters of technology: exhibit A has for some time been the ADLS/REINZ agreement, which sees security or efficiency (or something) in settlement by fax machine, rather than by a nominated email address. Crystal ball gazing about technology is difficult and dangerous. It is very easy to…

In my article on the Arbitration Amendment Act 2019 in the May 2019 issue of LawTalk ("The Arbitration Amendment Act 2019 - Further refinement", pages 28-31), I referred to the transfer of various provisions in relation to arbitrating trust disputes from the Arbitration Amendment Bill to the Trusts Bill. A logical…

Practising Well

The benefits of working flexibly for mental health and wellbeing

When Sarah Taylor asked whether I would be interested in writing an article as part of a series aimed at destigmatising mental health in the legal profession, I jumped at the opportunity. At some point in our lives we will all have a friend, family member, colleague or our own…

Manage your energy

We’re often told to manage our time effectively to get things done – make to-do lists and block out time in the day for specific tasks. As demands on our time and energy continually increase, and we find ourselves stretched both in the workplace and in other areas of our lives,…

Please make terrible art

It is easy to think, as we advance in life, that we know far more and are definitely better than our younger selves. This is mostly true, but it is not totally true, and I have brought with me today my younger self to make my point. She will also…

Access to Justice

Does pro bono work done by New Zealand’s lawyers get to the people who are often denied legal assistance due to their financial position? Could more be done by the legal profession here to ensure that the right lawyers are matched with the right people? Craig Stephen asks some movers…

Aotearoa's future courts: should online courts be our future?

Modern technology has pushed legal jurisdictions to consider other ways of administering justice. Increasingly, there is a trend to deliver justice in an online space, rather than in a physical courtroom. Tentative steps towards online justice have already been taken in New Zealand (eg, audio-visual links) but internationally, a more…

A driving programme changing lives with an 80% success rateOver a decade ago, a former school teacher, John Finch, started a programme in Auckland designed to address driving offences committed by young people and recidivist drink drivers in a rehabilitative way. The Right Track has, as its name suggests, put the…

Just over three-quarters of the cases in District and High Courts where adult prosecutions had an outcome resulted in conviction during 2018. Around the country there were some noticeable variations in conviction rate when analysed by ethnicity, gender, age, sentencing court and the type of offence. Statistics New Zealand has released…

Lawyers Complaints Service

The New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal suspended three lawyers from legal practice for periods ranging from three months to 12 months. The suspensions were the result of three separate sets of proceedings. Simon Nicholas ClaverSimon Nicholas Claver has been suspended from practising as a lawyer for 12 months from…

All names used in this article are fictitious A lawyer who made a “counter complaint” appeared to demonstrate a lack of insight into his own professional conduct and the role of the Lawyers Complaints Service, a lawyers standards committee said. The counter complaint was made on behalf of Langdale about another lawyer,…

All names used in this article are fictitious A lawyer who made a threat for an improper purpose has been censured and fined $5,000 by a lawyers standards committee. The lawyer, Maylie, was engaged by Traddles, in relation to a personal grievance she had raised against her former employer and Nupkins, a…

Practice

Survival of the healthiest

It’s a tough world out there now in the legal marketplace. Increasing fee and economic pressures, strong competition to hire the most capable young lawyers, baby boomers retiring without adequate succession plans in place, changing technology, artificial intelligence, culture change, and disruptive legal service provision offerings put enormous pressure on…

Lawyers missing opportunity to be thought leaders

Law is one profession where there are major opportunities for lawyers to become recognised thought leaders in their areas of expertise. This allows them to stand above their competition when it comes to reputations and visibility. But very few take advantage of this, leaving the door open to the few who…

Retiring from practice

It’s a journey for which you have a one-way ticket. At the beginning you strive to get professional qualifications, a job, perhaps a practice. And once on board it is a continuum of events, places and people, all of whom seem important. The stops are usually brief and intermittent, but…