Finding a Lawyer

Today’s legal consumer is price-wary and has access to an unlimited amount information via the internet when searching for an appropriate lawyer or law firm. Consumer behaviour experts and organisations related to the profession say prospective clients (or consumers), see a lawyer as an expert in anything legal and are…

From the Law Society

How clients find us How our clients find us is an important part of ensuring that we have the wherewithal to continue in our calling. The days when lawyers could not advertise are long gone. Back then, our main promotional tool was the shingle we hung outside our office, or the name…

Our Profession, Our People

Paul Rishworth QC will chair the Government's new Legislation Design and Advisory Committee. The establishment of the committee was announced by the Attorney-General, Christopher Finlayson on 29 June. "The new committee is similar to the former Legislation Advisory Committee but will provide advice to government agencies about the design and…

Lawyering is a great door opener

Auckland lawyer Raewyn Lovett's strong connection with netball did not grow out of her being a player. When she was young, she did play the game "as all mid-Canterbury girls do", she says. Her memory, however, is that she "played netball badly". Her major contribution to the sport, rather than coming out…

Auckland branch President re-elected

Tim Jones has is now serving his third term as the Law Society's Auckland branch President after he was re-elected unopposed to the position. A partner of Glaister Ennor, Mr Jones has extensive Law Society service. He is a former member of the Law Society's Property Law Section (PLS) executive. He…

Choosing the right track

I’m a family lawyer and I’ve hired a train. Sometimes I have to say it out loud just to believe it’s true (the train, not the family lawyer bit). But yes – on 14 October – we’ll be heading to Dunedin with a cargo of legal professionals. The idea of chartering…

Nerissa Barber re-elected to Wellington branch Presidency

Nerissa Barber began her fourth term as the New Zealand Law Society's Wellington branch President at the branch's annual meeting on 24 June. Ms Barber was first elected the branch's President in 2010 and served in that role for two terms until June 2012. In April 2012 Ms Barber was appointed…

Work in so you can work out

We all know that working out is good for you. From increasing energy, improving mood and controlling weight, there’s dozens of reasons to work out and many of us do it regularly. But like anything else, it’s all about balance and sometimes you may find that you’re working out too much…

Recently published

Environmental Law in New Zealand Peter Salmon and David Grinlinton General Editors A team of 13 authors provides commentary on the law and policy behind the different aspects of the law covering the management and preservation of New Zealand’s environment. The book is organised to move from general principles and how these…

Judge Harvey wins JF Northey Book Award

Judge David J Harvey has won the JF Northey Memorial Book Award for the best legal book published in 2014 by a New Zealand-based author(s). His book, The Law Emprynted and Englysshed, was published by English publisher Hart Publishing. Established in 1982, the award is presented by the Auckland-based Legal Research…

Stepping into employment's great unknown

Becoming a lawyer is a process that truly starts to unfurl post-university, as graduates seek to reap what has been sown in academia. University is a time when the seeds of one’s career are planted, a time when the new shoots that begin to grow need water, sunlight, a functioning compost…

When two breaches don't make a right

Motueka High School found itself in the media recently with a dispute over the students’ right to wear puffer jackets in the wintery weather conflicting with the school’s right to enforce a uniform code that did not permit these jackets. This was the latest in a series of arguments about school…

Deep seabed mining regulation in the Pacific

Deep seabed mining is increasingly seen as commercially feasible within the Pacific region. This is because it has vast seabed mineral deposits located outside sovereign territory.1 Despite advances in seabed mining technology, scientific knowledge concerning the unique biophysical character of the deep sea environment remains sparse. This means there is relatively…

Lack of harm and 'industry standards' relevance examined in appeal

Sentencing approaches under the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992 (HSEA) were recently considered in Jones v WorkSafe New Zealand [2015] NZHC 781. This appeal involved a challenge to sentences imposed in the District Court for HSEA offences – essentially for operating quad bikes at workplaces without wearing helmets. In…

Luxury small ship Island Passage's stunning cruise experience

Journalist Jock Anderson catches up on what luxury small cruise ship Island Passage has to offer from a stunning boutique itinerary and interviews himself about pampered shipboard life. When previously Japan-based international shipping manager Peter Bissett sold his car-export shipping business to Norwegian interests in 2002, his plan was to return…

Voting in a superdiverse society

New Zealand is among the world’s most “superdiverse” societies – and that poses both challenges and opportunities for our public policy makers. Superdiversity is a reasonably new social science term, referring to an area with a very high proportion of immigrants and people of different ethnicities. As high-profile lawyer Mai Chen explains,…

Top five priorities in running a law firm

With the future in mind, what should law firms (or sole practitioners) be doing now? LawTalk posed this question to Simon McCrum, a commercial litigator by background who has given up client work to focus on law firm management, marketing and business development. He is managing partner at United Kingdom firm Darbys,…

Letters to the Editor

Is professional courtesy Dead? This is a selfish reply of sorts to the issue raised by Tristram Lock in June (LawTalk 867, 19 June 2015, p 36). I am going to blow off some steam and really gripe about the newest issue I’m encountering whilst trying to do my job every day…

Lawyers Complaints Service: Censure for involvement in fraud scheme

A lawyer, B, who participated in a scheme which defrauded Inland Revenue has been censured by the New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal. B neither devised the scheme, nor had actual knowledge of participation in it, but did have constructive knowledge of it. In [2014] NZLCDT 58, B was found guilty…

Lawyers Complaints Service: Fined for breaching rules governing client funds

Gang Chen, also known as Richard Chen, has been censured and fined $5,000 after he accepted money from a client and did not pay it into a trust account for some months. In [2015] NZLCDT 2, the Tribunal also gave Mr Chen a “final warning” that if further conduct of the…

Lawyers Complaints Service: Strike off for submitting false documents

Rohineet Sharma of Auckland has been struck off by the New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal after he submitted a false solicitor’s certificate and filed a false discharge of mortgage certificate with Landonline. In [2015] NZLCDT 12, Mr Sharma admitted one charge of misconduct and the facts giving rise to…