From the President Paul Radich QC*
Kia ora koutou, Together with the leaves on our trees, our traffic light has changed to orange. And so the freedoms we cherish are returning. We are venturing once more beyond our suburbs, into our towns and cities, across our country, and across the world. We are appearing in courts in person more regularly. Junior and intermediate barristers who have for the last year or two been deferring their overseas work experience are making plans to go. Others are making plans to return. The market and the ways in which we practice have changed markedly. We are perhaps more broadminded now, more versatile in the ways in which we practice. In some ways, the restraints on our freedoms have, as they are unwound, left us freer in the ways in which we think about, and go about, our work. Before reflecting on the ways in which our increased freedoms are assisting with our activities at the New Zealand Bar Association|Ngā Ahorangi Motuhake o te Ture, it is worth pausing to look beyond our borders, in order to put our own experiences here into perspective. It goes without saying that the conditions faced by Ukrainians are the most distressing one could imagine. We join with the International Bar Association Human Rights Institute’s support for the recent decision of the United Nations Human Rights Council to establish an independent international commission of inquiry, mandated to investigate all alleged violations of human rights and of international humanitarian law in Ukraine; to collect and analyse evidence of violations and abuses for the purpose of future legal proceedings. Other UN Human Rights Council resolutions over recent weeks might be observed. Recently, the Council extended the mandate of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights Examination on Belarus. The Examination is tasked with collecting and preserving evidence of human rights violations. The Council adopted a resolution on Myanmar with enhanced monitoring and reporting on the ongoing crisis, and with robust calls for suspension of arms transfers. It condemned the arbitrary detention and ill-treatment of lawyers and human rights defenders in Iran, Venezuela and Turkey. It recorded ongoing concern about the independence of lawyers in Afghanistan, particularly after the Taliban gained access
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to the Bar’s database containing the addresses and records of 2500 lawyers. Freedoms have been constrained for other reasons in Peru which has introduced a state of emergency and curfews to quell violent protests about rising food and fertiliser prices. In Sri Lanka, a state of emergency has been imposed and the country’s president, Mr Rajapasaka, has dismissed most of his cabinet, following protests in response to dwindling fuel supplies and food shortages. On the positive side of the ledger, the main sides in Yemen’s civil war agreed to a truce on 2 April, the first day of the fasting month of Ramadan, in the hope of renewing negotiations for a durable peace. And, as a more general point of interest, three Republican senators joined the Democrats to seal the appointment to the US Supreme Court of Kentaji Brown Jackson who had served recently as a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. The new judge has a diversity of legal experience, including as a public defender for Guantanamo Bay residents. She replaces Justice Stephen Breyer, a fellow liberal judge for whom she once clerked. There is much that is positive to report upon in the Bar Association’s world, too.
The Council The members of the Bar Council and I are delighted to announce that Kingi Snelgar from Bankside Chambers in Auckland has joined our Council as a co-opted member. Kingi is of Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Whakaue, Te Whakatōhea and Ngāi Tahu. He is an experienced litigator who has appeared at all levels of our courts. Kingi began his career in criminal prosecution at Meredith Connell, before completing an LLM at Harvard Law School as a Fulbright Scholar. He then joined the bar, practising in Manukau as a Youth Advocate and defence lawyer. Kingi was appointed an inaugural Commissioner on Te Kāhui Tātari Ture, Criminal Cases Review Commission. He is counsel to assist the Royal Commission into Abuse in State Care. In addition, Kingi is well known for his work with te Hunga Rōia Māori o Aotearoa, where he chaired the criminal committee. Kingi‘s practice encompasses regulatory investigations, civil and commercial litigation and dispute resolution, and Inquiries.
APRIL / MAY 2022
