From the Law Society | Te Kāhui Ture

In my previous column for LawTalk in June this year I wrote about the massive disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and the effect it was having on our personal and professional lives. New Zealand has since emerged as one of the few countries to have controlled the transmission of the…

Focus on Levin: Very few places have the same opportunities

Levin is growing, and that growth looks likely to continue, if not accelerate. LawTalk takes a look at why that is, and what it’s like lawyering in Levin. Levin clocktower “Levin seems to be growing at a rate of knots,” says Cooper Campbell Law principal Kelvin Campbell. “People are moving north.” As…

Margaret Casey QC

It takes a while to coax Margaret Casey, QC, into an interview. “I’m not sure if you can tell, but I hate talking about myself,” she says when we eventually connect. Unassuming and direct, the Auckland barrister’s path to law school, and through the workforce, is its own tale of determination.

Early times in the Land Transfer Office

I enjoyed the legal history article by Sir lan Barker (LawTalk June 2020). As a law clerk I, too, braved the slope up Courthouse Lane to the church-designed building to search titles, register documents, seek guidance and, if delayed until 4:35pm, witness the loud thundering of the metal blinds built like…

New Family Law Section Chair

Napier barrister Caroline Hickman is the new Chair of the Family Law Section, succeeding Auckland family law barrister Kirsty Swadling. While she grew up and studied in Wellington, Ms Hickman has been a family lawyer in Hawke’s Bay since 1993. She became a barrister sole in 2001 and trained as a mediator…

The Innovators: Sophie Gladwell and Sally Scovell

Directors | Scovell & CoLawFest organiser Andrew King continues a series of interviews with key legal professionals with their innovation and technology stories. Tell us about yourselfWe are co-founders of Scovell & Co, New Zealand’s first law firm specialising in workplace investigations and reviews. Workplace investigations generally involve complaints relating to…

Explaining complex law issues to young people

Sarah Butterfield – YouthLaw practitionerSarah Butterfield works for the Auckland-based charity YouthLaw Aotearoa, a community law centre providing free legal help to those aged under 25 who cannot access legal help elsewhere. Working with often quite young people can have its challenges, she admits, particularly around work and jobs. Sarah…

New commission fields dozens of applications of claimed miscarriages of justice

"It’s not that there is anything fundamentally wrong with the judicial system, but mistakes do happen and you need a process to correct those mistakes." — Colin Carruthers QC Three weeks after its launch, the new Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) had already received 30 applications for cases to be reviewed. Speaking to…

When three becomes a crowd

How dispute resolution can help when the courts can’tThere appears to be a gradual change from so-called “vanilla” relationships to throuples or polyamorous relationships. These are not only causing a stir in society but a challenge as to how disputes over property rights may be resolved. The recent High Court case…

Keeping abreast of AML commitments

The impending annual reporting deadline for Phase 2 of the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Financing of Terrorism Act 2009 (AML/CFT) entities at the end of August, on top of completing the first round of independent auditing, is shadowed with a sense of trepidation within many in the legal profession. To achieve…

What to do when a legal problem becomes a lobbying problem

When considering impacting the legislative and regulatory environment, there are a number of things lawyers need to consider to ensure they get the ear of government. Here are the 10 essentials. 1. Stakeholder mappingThis is not court. The most finely crafted letters, beautifully written submissions or brilliant oral submissions are unlikely to…

Less art, more science

Bringing data analysis into the courtroomIn recent years, data analysis has been applied in almost every facet of our societies, from science, technology and business, to health and government. But the legal profession remains an exception. A common belief shared among judges and legal scholars is that the law is an…

Reputation critical to professional success

What value is a great reputation?Ask Grant Dalton. Referring to the recent furore over a possible fraud on Team New Zealand he described it as “intentional reputational damage 101” and decried the negative impact on the team. The distraction of having to focus on minimising reputational harm rather than the…

Origins of our social conflict

This series of articles will look at the issue of social conflict and the role of lawyers as peacemakers. By necessity, much of the conversation will be generalised and won’t apply to every pocket of society. The intention is to highlight the key areas or issues that, in my view,…

Wellington District Court getting $20 million upgrade

When Justice Minister Geoffrey Palmer hopped onto a digger to be photographed looking very enthusiastic about the construction of the Wellington District Court back in 1989 he was no doubt envisioning a modern courthouse fit for the future. Fast forward 30 years and the current Justice Minister is being shown around…

Flourishing: A different perspective on mental well-being

Sociologist Charles Wright Mills’ idea that: “we cannot see what is ‘out there’ merely by looking around” sums up an important reality. What we see and what we don’t see depends entirely on the lenses through which we view the world. By putting on a different lens, we are able to take new…

Lawyers, wellness and high trust professional relationships

The ability as a lawyer to develop high trust professional relationships quickly and reliably may not be a topic you have thought about much. It’s something we take for granted. Presumably, when we were young, we learned to get along with other people. Nevertheless, a not inconsiderable amount of my work with…

The ‘new normal’ for in-house legal functions

In 2017 one of my colleagues at Lawyers on Demand (LOD), Sarah Taylor, investigated flexible working in the legal profession after receiving a scholarship from the In-house Lawyers Association of New Zealand (ILANZ). Sarah found that while there were some in-house lawyers working flexibly, many in-house functions were slow to offer…

Recent legal books

Reviewed by Frank Neill Law of Charity – 2nd editionBy Juliet Chevalier-Watts Just as charity is an important part of society, so this book is an important resource for those involved in charity and charitable trusts. A leading scholar on the subject, Juliet Chevalier-Watts provides a detailed and authoritative commentary on New…

Law on the Telly: Bungay On Crime

Barrister and Queen’s Counsel Mike Bungay’s experience on the country’s leading crime cases meant he was a natural fit to present a television series that shone a light on some of New Zealand’s most intriguing cases. In the 10-part TVNZ series, broadcast during 1992, Bungay offered his perspective on nine of…

Boon Gunn Hong struck off

Auckland lawyer Boon Gunn Hong has been struck off the Roll of Barristers and Solicitors by the Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal after transferring clients’ property into his own name without the clients’ knowledge. At the time of being struck off Mr Hong had already been suspended for three months in…

Lindsay Gribben struck off

Lindsay Boyd Gribben has been struck off the Roll of Barristers and Solicitors by the New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal. Mr Gribben had admitted misappropriating funds to the total of almost $900,000 during September 2008 and November 2018. Aggravating the offending was the fact that some of the clients…

Struck off for pattern of incompetent practice

Auckland defence lawyer Arlan Arman has been struck off by the New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal following a “pattern of incompetent practice”. Mr Arman faced one charge of misconduct arising from his representation of a client in criminal proceedings. During those proceedings Mr Arman had advised his client to plead…

Censured for misconduct

Auckland lawyer Brett Dean Ravelich has been censured and ordered to pay $28,000 in costs at a penalty hearing for “conduct that fell below the standards expected”. The New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal had previously found that misconduct had been established in respect of Mr Ravelich’s dealings in personal…

Auckland lawyer suspended for breach of prior order

Timothy Burcher has been suspended by the New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal for two months commencing 1 August. Auckland-based Mr Burcher had previously been found guilty of misconduct in relation to his breach of a previous suspension order of nine months from 18 December 2015. Mr Burcher had denied that…