9 minute read
A Profile of the President: Paul David KC
Barbara Relph*
Paul David KC took over as President of the Bar Association on 1 October 2024. While many think of Paul as a commercial litigator, he has a broad-based background and has worked in most areas of the law, as this profile of him explains.
Working life
After a degree in modern and medieval languages, Paul studied law and was called to the Bar of England and Wales. He practised for seven years, before moving to Aotearoa New Zealand and joining Russell McVeagh, where he became a partner in 1993. In 2002 Paul jointly founded specialist litigation firm Wilson Harle before moving to the independent bar and joining Stuart Grieve KC and Peter Andrew (now Justice Andrew) at Eldon Chambers in 2006. Paul was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2014.
In his long career, Paul has worked in most areas of the law in civil, commercial and criminal proceedings. He maintains a broad practice, although his work now generally centres on commercial cases. Throughout his career he has developed two specialist practice areas - maritime law and sports law - and Paul has written leading texts in both areas. They are similar as they involve applying general principles of law (particularly contract law), interpreting the agreements and rules that regulate commercial or sporting activity, and using the analysis - often in urgent circumstances. Paul says that from his first days in practice he has enjoyed problems that have to be addressed urgently and often in a practical manner, if law is to play a meaningful role.
While Paul’s main focus has always been on working in the law, he achieved a reasonable level of proficiency in amateur sport in his youth. His interest in the role of law in sport developed from this. In the mid-1980s he wrote an article for the England and Wales Bar magazine on a case involving a claim for negligence for an on-field football injury. Such cases and articles were rare then.
From this time his interest has continued in an area of law which has rapidly developed with specialist practices and tribunals. As in many other areas in New Zealand, accessing legal advice can be a problem. “This area of law has a strong connection with access to justice: many athletes and some sports organisations simply don’t have the funds to pursue their objectives.”
Paul’s interest in maritime law first arose from the study of contract law where many leading cases come from shipping and trade disputes. After finishing legal study, he worked for some months at a specialist maritime firm before starting in chambers. Although his work at the Bar was that of a junior barrister learning the trade in civil and criminal courts, Paul was also instructed in maritime proceedings and arbitrations.
When Paul started at Russell McVeagh, shipping law specialist Brad Giles saw the opportunity to ask him to help with maritime and trade disputes. He greatly enjoyed working with Brad who became a mentor and friend. “He was my kind of lawyer. Direct. Get to the answer, help the client as effectively and quickly as possible.” Paul’s work in this area has seen him handle some significant claims, as well as appearances in courts in several overseas jurisdictions and various arbitral and international tribunals.
The system: what’s wrong, what’s right, and what can be done about it?
Paul is a great believer in the adversarial system and its ability to produce reasoned and just outcomes. But he thinks that there would be little argument from any party working in the justice system in New Zealand today –administrators, barristers, solicitors, judges – that it is currently overloaded across the board; and that it is at best struggling in the civil jurisdiction to deliver access to justice at a reasonable price within reasonable time frames.
"Justice will always be too slow for some - the topic of law's delays is as old as the law itself - but we do need to provide justice faster; rule changes can help with cultural change, but what is needed is a more fundamental change in approach."
“The functioning of any modern economy depends on contractual rights being capable of being enforced reasonably quickly at reasonable cost if needs be, and we’re not doing this well enough. Contract claims by individuals and businesses are important and the resolution of those claims must be at the heart of the system. If these cases are delayed, clients suffer through increased costs and the wheels of commerce turn more slowly. We are all conscious of this and the challenge is to agree on and make the necessary changes to get the system moving as it should.”
Everyone has an interest in this work. Paul notes that the Minister of Justice and the Ministry are keen to find solutions, but it is not an easy fix. “The Bar Association wants to play its part, and I think that it is important that we continue to work in this area – to improve access to justice through our members presenting cases in a way that assists the courts to make decisions. We need to work to avoid the inevitable problems that can arise in society when people simply can’t afford to use the court system to settle their disputes and may regard it as a waste of time and money.”
The solution, Paul says, can only come from combined effort across the system with every actor playing their part. “It is bit of a cliché, and the analogy is far from perfect, but the justice system is like an orchestra, made up of diverse players, a wide variety of instruments, each player trained and able to follow the score. Each member of the orchestra is important. If they don’t all play together, the result is, well, discord.”
To achieve harmony, we need to work together, with all trained to play their parts efficiently. “Justice will always be too slow for some – the topic of law’s delays is as old as the law itself – but we do need to provide justice faster; rule changes can help with cultural change, but what is needed is a more fundamental change in approach. We all must think of options that might work and agree on them; perhaps we should have a renewed emphasis on oral advocacy that addresses skeleton arguments with oral judgments at the end of argument wherever possible, rather than overloading judges with long written submissions that tend to lead to long written judgments. Could we agree on practices that have interlocutory applications or short proceedings of up to a day in length being decided at the end of the hearing of argument with judgment given then, with reasons or with reasons to follow in a specified short time frame?”
Paul has an interest in developing better pathways for junior barristers who are keen to join the independent bar after finishing studies. Better training as barristers under supervision will ensure we have more young barristers who can handle cases efficiently and well.
Paul says that "There is no better start for a young lawyer who wants to be an independent barrister than to learn from an early stage to take responsibility for a client’s case. The Bar Association must work on providing the young barristers with appropriate and consistent training and supervision in the specialist drafting and advocacy skills required. There are many who want to do this work, to be responsible for cases and to be regularly in court using their skills. The Bar Association is in a unique position to help with this by providing the training and supervision required to get young lawyers started as barristers. Access to justice and the working of the system will benefit.”
The Bar Association
While Paul has been a member of the Bar Association for many years and has attended conferences regularly, he did not have greater involvement in what he saw as the political side of law, choosing to devote himself to the job of being a barrister.
“This seemed to be the right time to put myself forward. I wanted to try and contribute to the efforts to improve the system and to encourage the continued development of an independent bar and improve the understanding of the importance of its role. This is vital if advice and representation is to be provided in a way that makes the justice system more effective. You become an older barrister quickly but as a young barrister I benefited hugely from education and training on the job. The job is not for everyone, but I am passionate about the Bar Association making this career path available for young lawyers at an early stage in their careers.”
We need to work to avoid the inevitable problems that can arise in society when people simply can’t afford to use the court system to settle their disputes and may regard it as a waste of time and money.
The opportunity to shadow current President Maria Dew KC has been invaluable, and Paul notes Maria’s achievements in this demanding role are huge. “I have been warned about the workload and will try to prioritise what makes a real difference. I like to think that I understand our work as independent advisers and advocates well and I am looking forward to representing our members on the issues that concern them.”
Paul is grateful for this opportunity to work closely with the Bar Association. He hopes that he can use his skills to get things done for the benefit of barristers and the system they work in.
Favourites
Poetry: Many likes but Larkin is a favourite.
Pop song: All the young dudes, written by David Bowie, recorded by Mott the Hoople – first heard in 1972 and still great.
Food: Fish and chips.
Sport: Still interested, active (just) in a bit of golf and regular swim squad sessions where he swims increasingly slowly, but still loves it. A Warriors season ticket holder for many years.
