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From the President
Maria Dew KC*
For this issue of At the Bar, we have reproduced the President’s Report from our Annual Report. This report was presented to the Annual General Meeting which was held on 11 August 2023. It will give members an overview of the Association’s activities across a full year. A copy of the Report is available to members on our website
Tēnā koutou katoa.
This is my first Annual Report as President of the New Zealand Bar Association | Ngā Ahorangi Motuhake o Te Ture. This year’s Report highlights the enormously valuable contributions of all our Council, Committee Members, and others at the bar and the Secretariat.
I particularly wish to pay tribute to these contributions. Busy barristers have given their time to this Association because they believe in the objectives of the Bar Association. Across Aotearoa New Zealand, we have an important community both in chambers, and for some, home offices. The strength and support that comes from having an Association that can speak up on your behalf and for the values of the independent bar is as important as ever. So, thank you for your continued support.
I took over as President on 1 October 2022, from Past President Paul Radich KC, as he was then. I want to acknowledge Justice Radich again formally in this Annual Report. I recognised then and now that he has left the Association, both financially and organisationally, in great heart as I continue my term as President through until October 2024.
This report covers the period from 1 October 2022 to 31 July 2023. It has been a busy period for the profession. We are post-Covid-19 but will never return to “normal”.
We are learning to take the best from what we have and what we have learned. I am enormously grateful to our hardworking Council, Committee members, other barristers, and our Secretariat for their contributions that fill the pages of this report.
2022 Members Survey and work since
In August 2022, we conducted our first survey of the Bar Association membership to find out what you found the most valuable aspects of being part of the Bar Association. We presented these back to the membership in October last year.
Since then, we have aimed our efforts as a Council and Secretariat to those aspects of membership you reported as most valuable to you. Many pointed to the member benefits, including the insurance scheme, the LexisNexis e-library scheme, the commercial discounts, and our training programme, which offers free CPD webinars. These tangible benefits allow members to more than recover the cost of their membership.
We have also focused on the other social and collegial initiatives that members told us they value. We have run our social “After Five” programme for nearly three years now, and in that time, attendances have grown. I want to thank all the chambers across Aotearoa New Zealand, who volunteered their premises as the venue for these events.
The survey showed that our members remain committed to supporting the independent bar and value our advocacy for barristers and our communications about matters that affect the independent bar.
Our Strategy
Following the survey, the Council took the next step to design a strategy for the next three years, 2022 to 2025, to deliver what our members considered to be the top priorities:
• Promote and encourage a strong and independent bar
• Upskilling members with relevant training/CPD
• Collegiality
• Advocating for members on regulatory matters
• Speaking out on the rule of law and law reform issues
• Technology issues in practice and the courts
• Well-being
• Increasing diversity and inclusion at the bar
• Expanding the range of member benefits offered
• Assisting young lawyers entering the field
There is more information about our Strategy and the work ahead for us on pages 26 and 27 of the Annual Report.
Law Society Independent Review
As President of the Bar Association, I have been representing our Association at the Law Society Council meetings that have taken place. At each of these meetings, a significant topic for discussion has been the presentation of the Independent Review and then, latterly, the Law Society’s response to the Review.
I have been informed by our members and Council of feedback before responding at these meetings. We know that key to the bar’s concerns is that we do not risk undermining the importance of the legal profession’s independence, particularly the bar, in any revision of the regulatory environment for lawyers. We also know that in broad terms, most barristers were comfortable with the proposal to separate the regulatory and representative functions of the Law Society. However, the devil remains in the details of any reform, which we have yet to see.
In June 2023, the Bar Association presented its own feedback document to the Law Society, responding to the Independent Review recommendations. We are pleased to say that the Law Society has taken on board this and other feedback and has taken a cautious approach to developing the Response Document to be delivered to the Minister of Justice in August. We expect to be able to report back more fully once that Response has been given to the Minister. Legislative change will not be possible this year and will likely require much more consideration of the options next year.
Re-establishing connections with the Australian Bar
The Council has been keen to reconnect with the Australian Bar since Covid-19 stopped our travelling. In June 2023, I travelled to the Australian Bar Association Conference dinner and visited with the ABA Council to learn more about their regulatory regime. I also visited with the President of the NSW Bar to discuss issues common to both bars.
The ABA President, Peter Dunning KC, will attend our Conference in 2023 and chair our Panel discussion on Regulatory Reform.
I am also delighted to announce that we have agreed in principle to host a joint Conference with the Australian Bar Association in or about August 2024 in Queenstown. This event will allow the Bar Association members to hear about issues common to both bars and to establish relationships with those at the bar in Australia in our specialist areas of practice. The Conference will aim to present on Trans-Tasman themes in civil, criminal, and other specialist interest areas of law where we can compare developments.
Te Au Reka | Heads of Bench and Profession, Liaison Meetings
The Heads of Bench monthly meetings with the profession have continued post-Covid-19. The Heads of Bench and the profession recognise that this is a valuable means for direct and immediate feedback between bench and bar. I continue to attend these meetings monthly. Chief High Court Judge, Justice Thomas, and Chief District Court Judge Taumaunu chair the meetings. Frequently Judges from the specialist Courts join the meetings, along with liaison judges where necessary. The Ministry of Justice, Public Defence Service, the Crown, Corrections, Police and Legal Services also attend. As a result, we can raise immediate issues of concern for the bench and profession for discussion and solutions.
On 22 June, one of these meetings was used to raise urgent well-being concerns for the criminal bar particularly, but also the civil bar. The result was an initiative the Heads of Bench took to issue the open letter to all judges in late July 2023, highlighting the need to consider well-being concerns for the profession and counsel when setting trial dates and other timetables. There are now also discussions underway, including with the Legal Services Commissioner, who will consider appointing second counsel more frequently on legal aid matters. I am pleased to say that the Bar Association’s voice at these meetings, and the feedback you give us, is listened to.
Advocacy
A significant part of our Strategy is ensuring we advocate for members on issues of importance to the bar. The Bar Association seeks to be measured and careful in analysing matters. We have not favoured media campaigns but work hard behind the scenes to encourage a resolution.
We are currently working with the Law Society and Te Ara Ture on Access to Justice issues.
We equally identify intervention issues which further our objectives. We currently have two interventions before the Courts. In both cases, we are sharing counsel with the Law Society. One of the cases involves an appeal concerning legal aid payments, and the other is about name suppression. The latter is in front of the full bench of the Employment Court.
Annual Conference 2023
Our Conference will be held this year in Ōtautahi | Christchurch at the Doubletree Hilton Château on the Park Hotel. We have a great lineup of speakers, optional activities and social events.
The Bar Association Conference programme is designed to stimulate discussions across practice areas and between the bench and bar about how we can do things differently. It is also an opportunity to learn what is happening in other areas of law that we might take back to our own. For this reason, I have always found this Conference so valuable each year. It is not designed to replace our own specialist practice areas conferences. Instead, it complements and stimulates cross-pollination of ideas and discusses common issues relevant to the independent bar. I hope you find the same this year.
King’s Counsel Appointments
In 2023, we had the opportunity to celebrate the 2022 King’s Counsel appointments with ceremonies and dinners in Auckland and Christchurch. Our newest King’s Counsel represent the very best of the bar and the increasing recognition of the diverse pathways we can expect future King’s Counsel to come from. Congratulations to you all. There are pictures from the call to the inner bar ceremonies in the Annual Report on page 19.
The Attorney-General has informed us that, given the election in 2023, he has determined there will not be a King’s Counsel round this year. While this is unfortunate, we will ask for the 2024 appointment process to commence as early as possible in 2024.
Secretariat
Our incredibly committed Secretariat team handles an enormous volume of work. I am pleased this year to welcome Vanessa Deeney, as our new part-time Administrator, and I know she will help lighten the load.
Election 2023
At the time of writing, an election is underway to appoint a President-Elect and four new Council members. The first order of business at this AGM will be to announce the results of that election. 1
I want to thank all those who put their names forward as candidates. It has been heartening to see the strong interest in the Bar Association through this election.
Welcome on board to the successful candidates. I am very much looking forward to working with you all. I especially welcome the new President-Elect, Paul David KC.
I also wish to pay tribute to those Council Members who have elected not to stand for nomination, having given such valuable service. I will name and thank these members in our next issue of At the Bar
Ngā manaakitanga
