A time for giving

What are members of the legal profession doing to support their communities during Christmas? A number of lawyers and law firms are involved in initiatives to help people this Christmas. LawTalk spoke to four firms and one barrister about their contributions. Rainey Collins Lawyers This Christmas Rainey Collins Lawyers is sponsoring a Christmas…

The many follies of Christmas parties gone wrong

As the year draws to a close, annual Christmas parties will be a relief and jovial time for some and disaster for others. Colleagues and alcohol mightn’t be the best combination for some, so LawTalk journalist Sasha Borissenko decided to canvass the issues that might arise as a result of…

From the Law Society

An Issue for the Profession as a Whole We are rapidly approaching the end of another year and this is the last LawTalk for 2014. I would like to comment on three issues that have emerged as we move into 2015 and one major matter we completed this year. 2014 saw the…

People in the Law

Bill Holland has been elected chair of the Tauranga Energy Consumer Trust. A partner of Holland Beckett Lawyers, he specialises in trust law and in commercial and property transactions. Bill serves as a trustee on a number of community-based trusts, including being chair of the Acorn Foundation. He has also…

Our Profession, Our People

Counsel in Concert returns A massed choir and orchestra of lawyers will perform a festive programme at St Andrew’s on the Terrace, Wellington, on Tuesday 16 December. This is the fifth time Counsel in Concert has presented a performance on this scale. There will be two performances, at 12:15 and 5:30pm.…

Profession must be active in promoting access to justice

The legal profession must take an active part in understanding the nature of the problem of access to justice and in striving for the solution. Justice Helen Winkelmann stated this when delivering the 2014 New Zealand Law Foundation Ethel Benjamin Commemorative Address on 7 November. Unless there is better access to justice,…

The Roll of Honour

Hokitika, Matamata, Christchurch, Masterton, Auckland, Timaru … They came from all over New Zealand. Some were single. Some were married. Some were fathers. Their lifespans ranged from 22 to 56 years. What they all had in common was that they were members of the legal profession and they died while…

To Switch Off or Not to Switch Off - The Movie

This is a story set in a law firm in the early part of the 21st Century. All characters are holograms, and all names are spelt correctly. If you feel that you know any of these characters and that they may not be fictitious, this is not because they exist,…

The Christmas Lawyer

Christmas Eve. A sliver of tinsel skips along the gutter as a taxi turns into Queen Street. All the street frontages in the Blacketts Building are dark except one, narrow as a child’s bedroom, beside Johnstons of Elgin. Inside, a man sits at his desk, his face lit by the…

New legal books

Accident Compensation Act: Key Sections and Commentary By Ben Thompson This analyses the provisions of the Accident Compensation Act 2001 and associated rules and regulations which are most commonly dealt with in practice. LexisNexis NZ Ltd, November 2014, 978-1-927227-96-1, 200 pages, paperback, $120 (GST included, p&h excluded). Dobbie’s Probate and Administration Practice, 6th Edition By…

Prendergast: Legal Villain?

Reviewed by Sir Geoffrey Palmer Dr Grant Morris, a senior lecturer in law at the Victoria University of Wellington, has written an intriguing account of the legal career of Sir James Prendergast. Prendergast was Attorney-General of New Zealand for 10 years, Chief Justice for 24 years before retiring in 1899 and…

Framing the Commons: Cross-Cutting Issues in Regulation

Reviewed By Matthew Smith Framing the Commons: Cross-Cutting Issues in Regulation is the third and final instalment of the New Zealand Law Foundation’s pioneering study of regulatory reform in New Zealand. “It is,” quoting from the Foreword at p7, “the culmination of a body of work that also includes the Regulatory…

Unravelling the cardigan: Serving with style in our fair isles

“Forget what you know about cardy-wearers who clock out at 4:30pm” says Mike Hargreaves, Chief Legal Advisor Work Safe New Zealand, in relation to the role of the government lawyer. “Dispel all preconceived notions and be alive to opportunities.” With over 800 lawyers in central government, the public sector is the…

Recent developments in commercial mediation

Mediation has been part of the commercial dispute resolution landscape in New Zealand for a long time now. Most commercial litigators are well familiar with whiteboards, caucusing, and phrases like: “I’m just wonderin …” But commercial mediation continues to grow and evolve, as recent developments show. Growth Firstly, on growth. There are no…

Law Society urges Parliament to rethink parole reform

The New Zealand Law Society says it agrees with the Attorney-General that the proposed expansion of the Parole Act’s Extended Supervision Orders (ESO) regime is inconsistent with the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990. In a submission to Parliament’s Law and Order select committee, the Law Society expresses concern about…

Lawyers Complaints Service: Suspended for trust account breaches

Miriam Hollins has been censured by the New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal and suspended for 12 months from 1 March 2014. The practitioner had voluntarily ceased practice in early March this year, the Tribunal noted in its 14 November decision ([2014] NZLCDT 66). Ms Hollins admitted on behalf of herself…

Lawyers Complaints Service: Suspended for wilful trust account breaches

Mahendra Patel has been suspended for three years from 11 November 2014 for recklessly and wilfully breaching his obligations in operating a trust account. In making the suspension order, the New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal said that the “proven misconduct of the practitioner has come very close to the…

Lawyers Complaints Service: High Court reduces suspension

The High Court has reduced the suspension of Boon Gunn Hong from 10 months to four months. In [2014] NZHC 2871, Mr Hong appealed against an order of the New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal suspending him for 10 months. The Tribunal, in [2014] NZLCDT 41, suspended Mr Hong for failing…

Lawyers Complaints Service: Fined for misleading and deceptive statements

A client selling his gold prospecting licence was dissatisfied with the results of the sale negotiated by his lawyers (Firm A). The client instructed a new lawyer, N, to take proceedings against Firm A. The client later complained about N’s handling of the litigation, and the manner in which N dealt…

Lawyers Complaints Service: Censured and fined for a series of breaches

A lawyer, E, who was acting for a family in the sale of the family’s business has been censured and fined $7,500 for a series of breaches of the rules of conduct and client care, including acting while conflicted. The managing director of the family company died unexpectedly, and without a…

Lawyers Complaints Service: Fined for delay and not receipting money

A lawyers standards committee has censured and fined a barrister, C, $1,500 for failing to act promptly and for accepting payment in cash, rather than the payment being made into the instructing solicitor’s trust account. C acted for Mrs D in two matters arising out of the death of her son.…