13 minute read
Committee News
Barbara Relph*
Employment Law & Privacy Committee
With an increasing cohort of barristers working in the niche speciality of employment law and privacy, it seemed timely for the NZBA to set up a bespoke special interest committee. One objective of the Employment Law & Privacy Committee is to provide a voice for this group of practitioners and ensure a broad appeal of topics in terms of both CLE and in the annual Conference Programme.
Committee members Rachel Burt (Chair) and Maria Austen note that in recent years workplace investigations and reviews have become a focus area for specialist barristers. Law firms engage these specialists to work on employment law projects because they value their independence, experience and expertise. Independence and specialist expertise are key components for workplace investigations which are inherently confidential, and there is also significant focus on privacy law and how it applies in this area.
Along with practical tips and tricks for remote hearings, and a Q&A with the Acting Privacy Commissioner, workplace investigations is an area this new Committee will be addressing through online NZBA presentations and masterclass type sessions.
The Employment Law & Privacy Committee also aims to engage with the NZLS and ADLS employment law committees and the Employment Law Institute of New Zealand (ELINZ) to address regulation of advocates, an increasing area of concern and believes having the NZBA as a supporting body to campaign on the issue will be helpful. “Linking with other employment law committees assists in coordinating efforts; ensuring we are not reinventing the wheel,” says Burt.
Aspiring to greater diversity at the Bar, the Committee is looking to develop a mentoring programme and is focused on raising practitioners’ self-awareness (including understanding unconscious bias).
Combined with more general NZBA aspirations of improving access to justice, raising awareness of probono initiatives, and enabling greater networking and attendance at NZBA events, the Employment Law & Privacy Committee is a welcome addition to the Bar Association and encourages greater collaboration and inclusion of speciality bar counsel.
Committee members
Rachel Burt, Chair
Rachel is an employment and human rights barrister who has over 20 years specialist experience, including ten years at Dentons Kensington Swan. Rachel is an experienced and AWI qualified workplace investigator who has acted for numerous state sector and private organisations conducting investigations and reviews over the past five years. Rachel also acts as an independent facilitator and mediator in employment disputes. Rachel says it is a pleasure to have the opportunity of helping to develop a collegial and supportive specialist bar that can focus on the key issues affecting employment barristers.’
Rachel Burt
Maria Austen
Maria is an experienced employment lawyer. Her practice is focussed on advocacy and privacy work for public and private sector employers in all areas of employment. Maria also undertakes independent investigations and reviews. Following experience obtained working at a large commercial firm, Maria joined the independent bar as a barrister specialising in Employment law in 2012. Maria is a member of the New Zealand Law Society Employment Law Committee’s Wellington branch and the Australasian Association of Workplace Investigators (AAWI). Maria holds the AWI-CH distinction for investigators having qualified at the training institute in Monterey CA in 2017.
Maria Austen
Kathryn Dalziel
Kathryn is a barrister at Walker Street Chambers. She has practiced in privacy and employment law for over 30 years. Kathryn teaches at the University of Canterbury in employment law and privacy and has contributed to publications, seminars and conferences on these topics.
Kathryn Dalziel
Geoff Davenport
Geoff has been a specialist employment lawyer for over 28 years. He has worked in New Zealand and overseas, including for the United Nations. He has a Master's Degree in Law, focusing on issues of good faith. He acts for public and private sector employers, unions and employees throughout the country, and commenced at the bar in May 2019.
Geoff Davenport
Maria Dew QC
Maria has a focus on all areas of employment law. She is currently the President Elect of the New Zealand Bar Association | Ngā Ahorangi Motuhake o te Ture. Maria also serves as a Deputy Chair of the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal and an expert panel member on several legal panels. In recent years, she has gained a strong reputation for leading independent investigations and reviews on public matters. Maria has a strong commitment to furthering access to justice by improving access to legal aid and supporting the work of pro bono organisations.
Maria Dew QC
Tanya Kennedy
Tanya is an employment law specialist at Lambton Chambers. She has over 20 years’ experience in employment law, and also privacy law as part of her employment and education law practice. She joined the independent bar in 2019, and acts for employees, employers, and Unions. Tanya has experience in the full range of employment law matters.
Tanya Kennedy
Andrew Marsh
Andrew is a Christchurch barrister who has acted for both employers and employees throughout his 25+ years career. He was a partner in Saunders Robinson Brown from 2006 until he commence practice as a barrister in May 2018, dealing with a wide range of commercial litigation matters, but with specialist knowledge in employment law.
Andrew Marsh
Karen Radich
Karen is a member of Clifton Chambers in Wellington. She has practiced as a specialist employment lawyer since the mid-90s, including nine years as partner in a large firm. Karen provides the full range of employment law services to both employers and individuals, from advice and representation (in all forums) through to conducting employment investigations. Karen has been involved in NZLS employment law committees for many years, including as convenor, and is delighted at the advent of a committee for barristers who are practicing in this space – particularly after the challenges brought about by Covid-19, which has had a significant impact on both employers and employees, and around which case law is still developing.
Karen Radich
Rachael Schmidt McCleave
A member of Kate Sheppard Chambers and based in Wellington, Rachael has worked in public and private practice in NZ and the UK since admission in 1996. She joined the Independent Bar from Minter Ellison Rudd Watts in 2014. Rachael has extensive expertise in professional discipline, medicolegal and public law as a result of almost a decade at the Crown Law Office. Rachael is an Associate of the Arbitrators and Mediators Institute of NZ and is experienced in statutory and other investigations (including employment investigations, statutory reviews and Commissions of Inquiry) and in mediation. She is the author texts on civil procedure and health and safety. She is the President of the Film and Literature Board of Review, a Deputy Chair of the Teachers Disciplinary Tribunal, and Deputy Lawyer Member of the Mental Health Review Tribunal.
Rachael Schmidt McCleave
Philip Skelton QC
Philip is a member of Bankside Chambers in Auckland. He specialises in commercial litigation, employment law, shareholder disputes and public inquiries. His inquiry experience includes litigation experience includes numerous employment related investigations whether on behalf of employers, employees or in the role of independent investigator. Philip was admitted to the Bar in 1983 and commenced practice as a barrister sole in 2006 after 14 years as a Russell McVeagh partner. He was made a QC in 2013.
Philip Skelton QC
Jenni-Maree Trotman
Jenni-Maree has over 20 years advocacy experience. She was a Member of the Employment Relations Authority from March 2017 until her resignation and return to the bar in September 2020. Following Jenni-Maree’s return to private practice, she has continued to provide civil, commercial and employment advocacy, as well as undertaking workplace investigations, mediations and arbitrations. She has also been providing weekly training to the lawyers at the Auckland Community Law Centre to enable greater access to justice.
Jenni-Maree Trotman
Steve Wragg
Steve has recently joined Clifton Chambers in Wellington. He has 20+ years’ experience specialising in employment law in the UK and New Zealand, acting for a range of public and private sector clients. Before moving to the bar, Steve led the in-house employment law team at Te Herenga Waka – Victoria University of Wellington for more than five years, dealing with a wide range of employment law and privacy issues. He is experienced in conducting and supervising complex workplace investigations and has a particular interest in dispute resolution, including the use of restorative processes, as an alternative to employment litigation in appropriate cases.
Steve Wragg
Since this article was written, Juliet Philpott has joined the committee. We will provide a bio of Juliet in our next issue.
Family Law Committee
Creating community for family law barristers
Three meetings in, and the new Family Law Committee is finding its niche. Chaired by Christchurch barrister Stephanie Marsden, the Committee is considering the strengths of the NZBA and finding ways to use those to promote and assist family law barristers.
Education is a core aspect of the NZBA, and the Committee hopes to extend this framework to meet the needs of those family law barristers stepping up to practice in the High Court but whose experience is limited to the Family Court sphere. The skill set required is different, and the Committee is dedicated to helping practitioners to acquire those skills.
Focusing on supporting family lawyers through Covid-19, Marsden plans to reach out to local NZBA members and the handful of non-member practitioners in Christchurch to offer that support and collegiality, demonstrating this important component of barristerial practice and raising awareness of this new committee’s focus on the wider practice of family law, not just the specialty of relationship property law.
Marsden says that one matter the Committee hopes to consider is the way in which courts are operating under the Covid-19 framework and any implications for fair hearing rights or limitations on access to justice. The Committee will consider the impacts of various practices such as wearing masks and the use of AVL in hearings, and whether these activities may result in missed clues. The Committee will report to the Bar Council on these issues, so that it can consider this advice alongside the feedback it is receiving from other committees and Bar Association members.
Acknowledging existing strong interest groups such as the Family Law Section of the NZLS, the Family Law Committee aims to support family law members of the NZBA but in a different way. “Collegiality is an important aspect of being a barrister and being a member of the NZBA makes you part of something bigger,” says Marsden. “At the core you are attaining excellence in advocacy and best practice, and we aim to raise the practice of family barristers up by being included in this wider community.”
Committee members
Stephanie Marsden, Chair
Stephanie Marsden joined the independent bar in 2011 and is a member of Canterbury Chambers where she values the professional support, wisdom, and friendship of her colleagues in Chambers. She enjoys her work resolving relationship property/trust disputes immensely. Her cases often involve complex asset ownership structures and interesting matters of law, set against all the drama and human interest that is part of the practice of family law. She hopes to bring barristers practising family law into active membership of the Bar Association, to be more a part of this distinct branch of legal practice.
Stephanie Marsden
Dr Deb Inder
Admitted to the Bar in 1998, Deb Inder is a Barrister and Accredited Mediator. She conducts both FDR and private mediations as well as regularly appearing in the Family Court as Court Appointed Lawyer for the Child and on behalf of clients. Deb has a Post Graduate Diploma in Child Centred Practice (with Distinction) and a PhD in Law, her Thesis topic being Children’s Participation Rights within the Context of the New Zealand Family Justice System.
Dr Deb Inder
As a result of her research, she has appeared in London to speak at the International Centre for Family Law Policy and Practice Conference and in Wellington at the New Zealand Law Society Family Law Conference.
An accredited NZ Law Society Family Specialist Mediator and a member of the New Zealand Family Law Section, Deb is also a committee member of the Children’s Rights Alliance Aotearoa New Zealand (CRAANZ) an alliance that reports directly to the UN Committee of the Child on the New Zealand Government’s implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).
Stephen McCarthy QC
Stephen McCarthy has practised as a barrister since 2006. For 20 years or so before that he was partner in a small firm in Manukau. He was appointed QC in 2021.
Family law matters comprise about half of Stephen’s current practice. He specialises in disputes over relationship property, wills, trusts and estates. He is regularly appointed by the Family Court as counsel in PPPR Act matters and has been occasionally appointed as counsel to assist in other Family Court proceedings.
Stephen has presented numerous seminars/webinars and conference papers for the NZLS and ADLS on family law and other topics. He was the convenor of the ADLS Mental Health and Disability Law Committee 1991-1995 and the ADLS Family Law Committee 2001-2003 and has been a member of the Family Law Section since its inception.
Stephen McCarthy QC
Joanna (Jodi) Ryan
Jodi Ryan has specialised in family law since 2005 and joined the bar in 2015. Shelley Stevenson, Frances Williams and Jodi established Kumutoto Chambers in Wellington in 2020. She has previously served on the Family Law Section executive and as the Hutt Valley FLS regional representative. Her practice is predominantly made up of lawyer for child, Care of Children/OT and P(R)A work, rounded out with some Family Violence, PPPR and Family Protection matters. Like many others, Jodi juggles her mahi with being a partner and a parent and is grateful for the flexibility being at the bar allows (at least most of the time!).
Jodi Ryan
Barbara Relph is a writer, editor and proof-reader. www.barbararelph.com
