NZBA Council 2021 - 2023 PAUL RADICH QC President (Wellington) Paul served as a Council member from 2015 to 2018 and re-joined the Council in 2019 as President Elect, before taking over the presidency in October 2020. Paul has been active in the access to justice field. Together with Maria Dew QC and Felix Geiringer, he has been advocating for legal aid reforms including increasing rates for counsel to make undertaking this work feasible. Paul has been working actively with Council members to build an understanding of Te Ao Māori into our activities, so that members can prepare for the changes we are already experiencing. A considerable portion of his time, however, has been spent with the Courts and the Ministry of Justice in trying to develop better pathways in civil and criminal justice. This work has become critical during the recent Covid 19 lockdowns. Paul led the initiative to gain an exemption for barristers under the AML/CFT regime, which was obtained successfully earlier this year. He is focused on the regular scheduling of educational and collegial events for members so that issues for members, and the bar as a whole, can be discussed actively and so that camaraderie at the bar can be enhanced.
VICTORIA CASEY QC (Wellington) Victoria was elected as a Wellington representative in September 2021. She has previously served as the Chair of the Law Society’s Human Rights Committee, presented on numerous aspects of public and administrative law, and provided pro bono representation on matters of public interest. Victoria recognises the importance of the Bar Association providing collegial support as well as professional leadership, and has a special interest in supporting junior members of the Bar to progress in ways that work best for them. She believes that acknowledging the value of non-traditional career paths will help improve the diversity of the profession. She also wants to focus on the Association’s support of our colleagues across the South Pacific as they work to strengthen respect for human rights and the rule of law.
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PHILLIP CORNEGÉ (Waikato/Bay of Plenty) Phillip is in his second term on Council. Phillip has been a member of the NZBA Education Committee for some time, as well as serving on its Technology Committee. He conducts training for the Association on running paperless hearings and helped with the redrafting of the Senior Courts revised 2019 Electronic Document Protocol. Aside from his interest in technology, Phillip had been working alongside former Treasurer David O’Neill on finance matters. The Association has been working on strengthening its financial procedures and ensuring that they meet best standards. Phillip has a particular interest in the reform of Legal Aid, and is acting for the Association (with Felix Geiringer) as intervener on an appeal about the scope of legal aid payments.
MARIA DEW QC President-Elect (Auckland) We welcome back Maria back to the Council, this time as our President-Elect. Maria will take over the presidency on 1 October 2022. She was last a member of the NZBA Council in 2018. Maria is well known to members, not just through her expertise in employment law and inquiry work, but also through the mahi she does in championing access to justice issues. Although Maria took a brief break from the Council, she has continued to work with NZBA over the last two years as the current co-chair of the Advocacy Committee and the former Access to Justice Working Group. Maria returns to the Council with the aim to assist the Bar Association as it continues its important work supporting barristers’ independence, specialist skills and growing the diversity of the bar. “The rule of law and access to justice issues that can challenge all lawyers are often seen first-hand by barristers, so we do have a collective knowledge that we can use to seek reform and to support each other in practise through NZBA”.
SEPTEMBER 2021
