LawTalk Issue 791

LAWTALK NEW ZEALAND LAW SOCIETY

16 MARCH 2012 / 791

FOR THE NZ LEGAL PROFESSION

Working in-house

NZLS EST 1869

In-house lawyers need to be enablers, helping their organisations achieve. Doing this well requires passion about both the business and industry they are in.

IN-HOUSE FEATURE PAGE 9

RETAIN FAMILY COURT’S ESSENTIAL FEATURES NZLS SUBMISSION PAGE 5

VALUE BILLING EFFECTIVE PR ACTICE PAGE 14

NEED RESEARCH?

The NZLS Library, legal research and document delivery service is fast, efficient and thorough. Use us as your legal research provider.

For more information about our services: www.lawsociety.org.nz/home/for_lawyers/law_library/services

LIBRARY

NEW ZEALAND LAW SOCIETY

2 1869 LAWTALK NZLS EST

791 / 16 MARCH 2012

Contact:

auckland@nzlslibrary.org.nz

wellington@nzlslibrary.org.nz canterbury@nzlslibrary.org.nz

INSIDE

THE MAGAZINE

FEATURE: IN-HOUSE LAWYERS

“Substantial changes to the Family Court are not justified by the data provided in support of the court’s review.” page 5

“Having integrity is very important in a trusted advisor role. You have to have a lot of respect for diversity of views and to be able to work with a wide range of people.” page 10

04

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Standards Committees improve decisions The interface between the Legal Complaints Review Officer (LCRO) and the New Zealand Law Society...

Highlights from the High Court Five highlights of 2011 and eight new things that will happen this year are listed...

12.0

Retain essential features of Family Court

Legal service price rises

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(%) 10.0

14

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Value billing: has your firm considered changing?

In-house lawyer’s career soars

The recent University of Waikato Management Research Centre Law Firm Practice Comparison Legal found that Accounting 59% of the responding firms used value billing...

The CLANZ-Bell Gully Young In-house Lawyer of the Year award helped set the 2010 winner Claire Achmad on a journey...

In-house lawyer feature

8.0

PRIVATE SECTOR

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PUBLIC SECTOR

A day in the life ...

6.0 4.0

Concerns about the costs of sustaining the Family 2.0 Court can be addressed... 0.0

16 ‘04

‘05

‘06

‘07

‘08

Law or accountancy?

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By Rachael BRECKON

The latest Statistics New Zealand Producers Price Index (PPI) provides data for the final quarter of 2011...

Photos need to find family

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The Law Society has inherited a small collection of photographs and would be interested in hearing from anyone...

Malawian lawyer should be freed The International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute...

‘09

09

10

Having a ‘can do’ attitude

Working ‘for the people’

‘11 ‘10

By HANNAH GRANT

So what do in-house lawyers do all day?

LawTalk asks four inhouse lawyers to share what they have been working on lately.

By HANNAH GRANT

Rather than presenting legal hurdles, an in-house counsel needs to think quickly and laterally...

As an in-house lawyer in the public sector, you are not just working for your boss or your organisation...

13 CLANZ Conference

REGULARS

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14

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19

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People in the law

Effective practice

Law reform report

Section News

The Bookshelf

CLE

Lawyers Complaints Service

nzls lawyers website • keep up-to-date with local and regional news and events • have your say on law reform • find information and resources for practising law http://my.lawsociety.org.nz www.facebook.com/mylawsociety https://twitter.com/mylawsociety

LAWTALK 791 / 16 MARCH 2012

1

FROM THE LAW SOCIET Y JONATHAN TEMM

I

n this column, I would like to take the opportunity to highlight one of the principal services the profession asks the Law Society to undertake – law reform work and submissions.

This law reform work is very detailed and time consuming. But recent examples indicate how successful it can be. The ultimate beneficiaries are the public at large as well as the profession.

Ministers, politicians (from all parties), ministry officials and select committee personnel often remark to me how highly they regard Law Society law reform submissions.

May I also briefly remind practitioners about the Law Society library services as detailed

by Christine Grice in her column in the last issue of LawTalk.

The profession will be aware that recently the Minister of Justice, Judith Collins, asked for deferral of the select committee consideration of the Legal Aid (Sustainability) Bill to await further information.

This followed on from the Law Society select committee submission (full submission available at: http://bit.ly/w6oDJf).

This serves as a recent example of the influence of Law Society submissions.

In this issue of LawTalk you will find the monthly Law Reform Report. It is illuminating reading.

While the Law Society was delighted to see the recommendations taken up at the second reading of the bill process, one of our law reform objectives is to be engaged in the first round draft of legislative proposals, as this is when much progress can be made.

An example of this is the Family Law Section submissions on the Family Court review which followed the Family Law Symposium.

The Family Court submission recommends a series of targeted changes that could be incorporated into a legislative bill. These are changes the Law Society believes will lead to efficiencies and cost reduction.

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LAWTALK 791 / 16 MARCH 2012

The Law Society library service has been greatly enhanced through the creation of one Law Society in 2008. All library holdings have been amalgamated, streamlined, catalogued and indexed into a nonduplicated and easy access resource service.

Practitioners know the library service is funded by the Law Society and that it is expensive to maintain. For that reason, the Law Society Board requires the library to meet the needs of the profession, which I believe it does effectively.

I encourage all lawyers who do not currently utilise this great asset to give it a go and experience first-hand the exemplary skills the librarians have in locating judgments and articles. The research skills of the library staff are second to none. The service is very competitively priced and excellent value.

Jonathan Temm New Zealand Law Society President

LAWTALK More than 12,000 copies of LawTalk are distributed each issue. The magazine of the New Zealand Law Society, LawTalk is sent to every lawyer in New Zealand who holds a current practising certificate. Although the number of lawyers with practising certificates varies, it is typically around 11,500. Others who receive LawTalk include members of the judiciary, Law Society associate members, legal executives, Members of Parliament, media, academics and others involved in the legal services industry.

STREET ADDRESS: 26 Waring Taylor Street, Wellington Postal address: DX SP20202 or PO Box 5041, Lambton Quay, Wellington 6145, New Zealand EDITOR: Frank Neill Ph +64 4 463 2982 editor@lawsociety.org.nz WRITERS: Rachael Breckon Ph +64 4 463 2910 rachael.breckon@lawsociety.org.nz Hannah Grant Ph +64 4 463 2902 hannah.grant@lawsociety.org.nz DISPLAY Advertising: Frank Neill Ph +64 4 463 2982, editor@lawsociety.org.nz CLASSIFIED Advertising: Christine Pugh TPh +64 4 463 2966 christine.pugh@lawsociety.org.nz Inquiries about subscriptions to: subscriptions@lawsociety.org.nz DESIGN: Jesse Cogswell Ph +64 4 463 2981 jesse.cogswell@lawsociety.org.nz Printing: Lithoprint, Wellington ISSN 0114-989X

Coming up …

In-house lawyers’ global summit The 2012 Corporate Counsel World Summit will be held in Montreal from 13-15 April.

The conference theme is Leading Global In-house Success. This event has been developed by the Canadian Corporate Counsel Association in conjunction with other in-house counsel associations around the world.

CLA Regional Law Conference

It will provide an advanced-level discussion of the most pressing challenges and the biggest opportunities common to in-house practice. It will also look at shared transnational legal and business issues.

The conference theme is The Changing Role of the Legal Profession: Emerging Democracies and Globalisation. The sessions will offer practical training and expertise which will further develop the legal skills of those attending. See www. commonwealthlaw2012.org.

The keynote speaker is Richard Susskind, widely acknowledged as a leading world authority on the future of legal services.

For more information see www.cccaaccje.org/En/spring/main/default. aspx.

Running a better legal business The International Bar Association (IBA) Legal Business Conference will be held in Vilnius, Lithuania, on 3-4 May. This conference will feature sessions on law firm management, including: •

law firm leadership and law firm life cycles;

•

structuring partnership for success;

•

pricing models and cost management;

•

client development and management; and

•

growth of legal business and case study on international strategy.

Among those presenting are partners from leading international firms Allen&Overy, Ashurst, Freshfields, Salans, Slaughter&May, White&Case.

International general counsel add to the impressive line-up.

Delegates will also have an opportunity to participate in break-out sessions

CLIENTS WITH

ACC DISPUTES? The views expressed in LawTalk are not necessarily those of the New Zealand Law Society. Articles may be reproduced provided acknowledgment is given to LawTalk.

on law firm marketing, quality and knowledge management, talent management and a career session for young lawyers. See www. ibavilnius2012.org.

JOHN MILLER LAW

Level 1, 13 Leeds St I PO Box 6314, Wellington +64 (04) 801 5621 I info@jmlaw.co.nz www.jmlaw.co.nz

This conference, organised by the Commonwealth Lawyers Association, is the second CLA regional meeting and will be held in Sydney from 19-22 April.

Charity forum The trustees of the New Zealand Third Sector Educational Trust, in conjunction with ANGOA (the Association of Non-Governmental Organisations of Aotearoa), are organising a full-day forum on International perspectives on issues affecting the charitable sector in New Zealand. The aim of the 19 April event is to bring people from all aspects of the charitable sector, including advisers, together to discuss issues affecting the sector and gain from each other’s experience.

For more information, email s_barker@ clear.net.nz or dave.henderson@angoa. org.nz.

Project management awards Nominations for the 2012 PMINZ Project Management Awards close on 29 June.

The awards are organised by the Project Management Institute of New Zealand (PMINZ).

This year, PMINZ is working to ensure professional organisations are aware of the awards, in a bid to encourage people who have been involved in projects, including projects within or organised by their firms, to enter. More information, including application forms are at www. pminzconference.com/awards.

• Wish to refer them to a specialist ACC law firm?

• With nationwide coverage?

• We deal with ACC matters only and will not represent your clients in other areas.

LAWTALK 791 / 16 MARCH 2012

3

NEWS

Standards Committees improve decisions The interface between the Legal Complaints Review Officer (LCRO) and the New Zealand Law Society led to “discernible improvements” in Lawyers Standards Committees providing reasons for their decisions, according to the latest LCRO report.

The report for the year to 30 June 2011 was presented to Parliament on 29 February.

The report referred to two interfaces between the LCRO and the Law Society.

One interface arose through regular (usually quarterly) meetings which provided the forum for discussion of a variety of issues arising in the work of the Complaints Service and the LCRO.

Highlights from the High Court Five highlights of 2011 and eight new things that will happen this year are listed in the recently published Report from the High Court on 2011.

The report by Chief High Court Judge, Justice Helen Winkelmann, is the first in a new format.

Looking ahead, the report says, 2012 will see: • Major changes to the civil jurisdiction to speed resolution of matters and reduce costs to parties with the introduction of the new discovery rules in February and the case management changes mid-year.

• The introduction of the first tranche of Criminal Procedure Act changes.

For 2012 the main changes to affect the court are changes to the power to clear the court and restrictions on reporting (suppression), statutory recognition of sentencing indication and new provisions for proceeding with 10 or fewer jurors. Work on

“Opportunities for improvements are identified and discussed, and it particularly provides an opportunity for the LCRO to provide feedback to the New Zealand Law Society on observations that are made in the course of reviews in relation to standards committee decisions.

“Among the topics covered in the reporting year was the matter of Standards Committees providing reasons for decisions, this being a ‘problem area’ frequently identified as a basis for reviews. This has led to discernable improvements,” the LCRO said.

The report identified an increase in numbers of review applications “such

the Rules to implement the main procedural changes in 2013 will continue throughout the year.

• The adoption of a standard form for citing all High Court judgments from 1 January. Judgments are to be numbered sequentially upon delivery in the following format [2012] NZHC x.

• The Law Commission is expected to publish its review of the Judicature Act (which it did just after the report was published).

• Implementation of changes regarding the provision of legal aid and prosecution services.

• Judges continuing to seek and take opportunities to speak with the profession on matters of common interest.

• Building on discussions with the profession on the new case management rules, the Chief Judge intends to begin a programme to visit all High Court centres to discuss matters of mutual interest with the profession.

• Following the introduction of timeliness standards, more regular

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LAWTALK 791 / 16 MARCH 2012

that the main challenge to the office during this reporting period has been the pressure on the office due to increasing workloads, with no legislative provision for additional LCRO appointments.

“The LCRO function is of a judicial nature and with the absence of any provision for delegation, together with the [Lawyers and Conveyancers] Act [2006] currently restricting LCRO appointments to an LCRO and Deputy LCRO, there have been significant pressures to deal with review applications in a timely manner.

“Steps are currently under way to amend the Third Schedule of the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act to make provision for the appointment of a further LCRO. This involves a lengthy process but is expected to be concluded prior to the next reporting period,” the report said. LT

reporting by the court to the profession and the public will begin.

Some of the 2011 highlights, the report says, were: • A new approach to scheduling civil cases in Auckland has reduced time to trial in that registry. Civil trial dates are now available within 12 months in registries throughout New Zealand, with the exception of Hamilton. The provision of timely hearings in all registries remains a key focus for the court.

• A focus on scheduling work in Auckland has enabled more timely allocation of judgment writing time.

Judgment timeliness has improved now that judgment writing time is scheduled close to hearing.

• Case management changes have been developed and discussed with the profession, and changes to the High Court Rules to implement those changes are likely to come into force in mid 2012. These changes are, in part, necessary in light of the new discovery regime, but are also intended to make case management proportionate to the complexity and subject matter of the cases.

• Newly committed criminal cases are able to be offered dates within 12 months of committal (and increasingly within 12 months of charge) in most centres.

• Case disposals throughout the country from 1 January to 31 December 2011 were 185 jury trials, 1007 civil proceedings on the ready list and 1144 civil and criminal appeals.

The report is at www.courtsofnz. govt.nz/from/judicial-reports. LT

NEWS

Retain essential features of Family Court Concerns about the costs of sustaining the Family Court can be addressed in a way which enables the Court to continue to be functional and effective, the New Zealand Law Society says in its submission on the review of the court.

However, it is important that there is targeted rather than substantive legislative change, with the essential features of the Family Court retained.

Substantial changes to the Family Court are not justified by the data provided in support of the court’s review, the submission says.

“The Law Society reiterates that the exercise of greater discipline, refinements to existing systems and procedures, and a properly resourced Registry, would enable the Family Court to serve the purpose for which it was established, in a fiscally sustainable manner.

“In this way, the concern of the government about the cost of sustaining the Family Court can be addressed,” the submission says.

The Law Society acknowledges the “fiscal imperatives” at the heart of the review. However, funding reductions “must be exercised in a way that maintains a functional and effective Family Court.

“The Law Society has identified changes which will achieve both significant fiscal savings and improve the practice of all professionals working in and with the Family Court. These changes can be made with targeted rather than substantive legislative change.

amendments in the Legal Assistance (Sustainability) Amendment Bill 2011 be deferred until the recommendations of the NZLS submission on the Family Courts review were costed.

The Law Society had already submitted that consideration of this Bill should be deferred pending the review of the Family Courts, a submission that Justice Minister Judith Collins picked up. She has requested that the Bill should be deferred until the Family Courts Review has been completed.

The Law Society has welcomed the minister’s action.

Ms Collins’ action in requesting the Justice and Electoral committee to defer the Bill “shows that she appreciates the wider implications of the Bill,” Law Society President Jonathan Temm says.

“The Law Society and a number of other organisations made strong submissions to the committee calling for deferral of the Bill. We are very pleased that the Minister has listened to the arguments and agrees that it is sensible to take a wider view of the whole issue of the place of legal aid in the Family Courts system.”

Mr Temm says the Law Society told the committee that the Bill attempted to bring Family Court appointment of lawyers into the legal aid system without any investigation of the social consequences. It was also in isolation from the major review of the Family Courts which had been initiated last year.

“We say the Bill is a piecemeal response to very important matters which affect access to justice and some of the most vulnerable groups of people in New Zealand. The Minister’s decision to ask for deferral shows she is listening and is focused on the bigger picture.” LT

“The review is an opportunity for all those working in the Family Court, including judges, lawyers, psychologists, social workers and other specialists, to critically assess the existing processes, and their roles, and to identify areas for improvement,” the submission says.

“Family law is still law. It embraces legal rights and legal responsibilities. It sets boundaries. It is the product of statutes created by Parliament.

“Citizens are entitled to pursue available remedies and to be brought to account for perceived breaches and shortcomings.

Care needs to be taken not to trivialise this by closing the door to the Family Court’s expertise and specialties.

“Access to justice and the associated issue of equality of arms should not be lightly put aside.

“Claims that if parties too readily resort to the Family Court, they are discouraged from finding their own solutions are both overblown and unsubstantiated, although they fit the model of confronting the fiscal emergency.

“Care needs to be taken to ensure that changes, however well-intentioned, do not have unintended consequences,” the submission says. “Simplistic solutions are likely to create more difficulties than they resolve.”

The 81-page submission makes a series of recommendations, grouped under 10 headings in the “executive summary” of the submission. The full submission is available on the Law Society’s website, www.lawsociety.org.nz/publications_ and_submissions/submissions.

One of the recommendations was that the proposed

LAWTALK 791 / 16 MARCH 2012

5

PEOPLE IN THE LAW

ON THE MOVE

Genevieve Hancock and Richard Best have left employment with the Department of Internal Affairs. They have joined forces as Best+Hancock, a consortium of sole practitioners specialising in technology, commercial and public law. The Best+Hancock consortium is a legal services provider on the All-of-Government External Legal Services Panel.

Five specialist barristers established Clifton Chambers in Wellington on 1 March. Peter Castle is a commercial barrister advising the private and public sector on a wide range of commercial transactions and matters with a specialisation in the electricity sector.

Jane Meares is a specialist public and commercial lawyer, who has most recently been the chief legal adviser at Treasury. Most recently a litigation partner at Minter Ellison Rudd Watts, Paul Radich is a litigation and public lawyer who represents and provides advice for clients in both the public and private sectors.

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LAWTALK 791 / 16 MARCH 2012

Law firms and practitioners are invited to send in announcements of appointments, promotions, retirements or other information for this column. You may also send photos (preferably colour) in hard copy, on disk or by email in JPG format scanned at 300dpi. Items should be sent to LawTalk, DX SP20202 or PO Box 5041, Lambton Quay, Wellington 6145, tel (04) 463 2982, fax (04) 463 2985, email editorial.lawtalk@lawsociety.org.nz. The usual editorial discretion applies.

Geoff Sharp is a full time commercial mediator specialising in the resolution of legal disputes throughout New Zealand. Karen Radich (née Spackman) is an employment lawyer who was previously a partner at Minter Ellison Rudd Watts and who represents public and private sector employers in all areas of employment law.

Minter Ellison Rudd Watts has promoted two lawyers to the position of special counsel.

Vivian Cheng and Catherine Ross are the new special counsel. Vivian specialises in taxation and insurance, with particular expertise in structured finance, mergers and acquisitions, corporate restructuring, and managing tax investigations and disputes. Catherine is a corporate and commercial lawyer with particular emphasis on electricity, energy, infrastructure, resource management and environmental planning, regulatory and corporate governance. The firm has also promoted eight lawyers to senior associate positions.

Oliver Skilton is

a general commercial litigator. His work spans regulatory investigations (predominantly brought by the Commerce Commission), insurance, civil fraud, commercial contracts, professional negligence, telecommunications, banking, energy and insurance. Brendan Kevany is a corporate and commercial lawyer.

He regularly assists clients with domestic and international mergers, acquisitions, divestments, private equity, equity offerings, listings, debt issuances, securities law, corporate governance, due diligence reviews and commercial contracting.

Elizabeth Rowe is a senior lawyer in the corporate team who specialises in mergers and acquisitions, private equity, corporate governance and general contracting.

She also specialises in retirement village and aged care law.

Andrew Comer is a corporate and commercial lawyer with experience in all aspects of corporate law, including mergers and acquisitions, securities and managed investments, corporate governance and shareholder and joint venture arrangements.

Jennifer Campbell is a real estate lawyer with

specialist experience in energy and resources, strata schemes, subdivisions, receiverships and real estate finance.

She advises on strategic, contractual and legislative issues associated with property acquisitions and disposals, land use, development projects, titling and land tenures. Amanda Spratt advises on a range of property matters including complex acquisitions and disposals, commercial and retail leasing and property finance. She has a particular focus on overseas investment issues and receiverships and a strong interest in rural and farming law. Amanda also has a strong construction law and environmental compliance practice. Kathy Wilson specialises in resource management, environmental, energy and infrastructure. She advises land owners, developers and mining companies on a wide range of development and planning matters.

Christie Hall is an employment law specialist. She covers both contentious and non-contentious employment law issues, including equal employment opportunities, injured employee management, executive remuneration and occupational health and safety.

Claire Coe has been appointed a senior solicitor of Rainey Collins Lawyers. Claire is in the personal legal services and business team, working in all aspects of conveyancing, trusts, wills and estates.

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CONTACT FRANK NEILL editor @lawsociety.org.nz

PEOPLE Solicitor-General David Collins QC has been appointed a High Court Judge.

He was sworn in on 16 March in Wellington and will sit in the capital.

After graduating with an LLB (Hons) from Victoria University in 1975, Justice Collins gained an LLM in 1976 and an LLD in 1993, both from Victoria University. Justice Collins began practising with Chapman Tripp in 1979, leaving in 1982 to join the firm now known as Rainey Collins, where he subsequently became a partner, specialising in appearances before professional disciplinary tribunals.

He was admitted in Victoria and in Australia in 1986. In 1995 he left the partnership to go to the independent bar and was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2000. In September 2006, Justice Collins was appointed SolicitorGeneral. Before that, he chaired the Accident Compensation Commission and the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal. From 2000 to 2001 he was a consultant to the World Health Organisation. Justice Collins is an executive vice-president and member of the board of governors, World Association of Law and Medicine. He has published a number of articles and was the author of Medical Law in New Zealand in 1992.

Wellington lawyer Graeme Reeves has been appointed chairman of the New Zealand Affordable Art Trust (NZAAT), the governing body of New Zealand’s largest art show. He succeeds Chris Parkin. Graeme is also the Chief Gambling Commissioner and a director of Airways Corporation. He is a former director of New Zealand Post, a former trustee of the Wellington Community Trust, and was the Member of Parliament for Miramar from 19901993. He became a trustee of NZAAT in May 2011. NZAAT aims to support and promote new and emerging artists in New Zealand. This culminates in the New Zealand Show – an annual art

exhibition in the capital showcasing over 3,500 original artworks by hundreds of NZ artists. This year’s New Zealand Art Show runs from 3- 5 August in Wellington’s TSB Bank Arena on Queens Wharf.

Dr Wayne Mapp has been appointed a member of the Law Commission.

From 1979 to 1982 Dr Mapp practised law in the firm John Collinge, specialising in commercial litigation and general commercial law. From 1983 to 1995 he taught commercial law at Auckland University, becoming an Associate Professor of Law. In 1996 Dr Mapp entered Parliament and from 2008 to 2011 he was the Minister of Defence and Minister of Science and Innovation. He gained his LLB (Hons) at Auckland University, his LLM from the University of Toronto and his PhD in international law from Cambridge University. LT

Advertising for Solicitor-General The Solicitor-General position will be advertised soon, the Attorney-General, Chris Finlayson, told LawTalk on 2 March.

Following the appointment of David Collins QC to the High Court bench, the process to appoint a new SolicitorGeneral “will begin shortly”, Mr Finlayson said.

“I intend to advertise the role after revising the job description, taking into account the recommendations of the recent review of the role of the Solicitor-General and Crown Law. “A selection panel will be convened to assess candidates.

“In common with any employment or appointment process, the appointment of the Solicitor-General is a confidential process for the individuals involved, and so I will not speculate on potential candidates for the role.

“The two most recent Solicitor-General appointments took between four and five months.

“In the interim, Deputy SolicitorsGeneral Cheryl Gwyn and Cameron Mander have been appointed acting Solicitor-General,” Mr Finlayson said. LT

LAWTALK 791 / 16 MARCH 2012

7

Buildings The Tax Issues Tax Course

3+1 CPD hours

(3 hour workshop plus 1 hour follow up webinar)

Buildings represent a signicant investment. With the removal of depreciation, the treatment of cost for tax purposes from 2012 is critically important. The Treasury recognised this in Budget 2010 stating “we agree that the repairs and maintenance boundary would need to be looked at if depreciation rules are changed.”

“Dunedin Exhibition 1925-1926” is written on the back of this photo, the only picture that provided any clue to its subject.

IRD responded in February 2012 by issuing a draft interpretation statement on the deductibility of repairs and maintenance. Buildings owners and practitioners need to understand what the current rules are and why this issue is to seen as so important

by IRD and Treasury.

This three hour course will ensure you are up to date on the tax issues relating to buildings, building tout, repairs & maintenance, leasing & GST and can provide the best advice to your clients.

Photos need to find family

Benets of Attending

The Law Society has inherited a small collection of photographs and would be interested in hearing from anyone who may be interested in making a claim for them.

•

Understand the recent changes to depreciation, including earthquake issues, and the options for building t-out

•

Find out how to make the difcult distinction between revenue and capital expenditure

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Learn what the new proposals for mixed use assets will really mean for your holiday home

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Course available at a variety of venues 26 April to 11 May 2012 Price $305 (inc. GST) Price includes a one hour follow up webinar, where participants can have issues claried.

Please register online at http://www.ph.co.nz/buildings For further information please see our website www.ph.co.nz or contact Alisha Ross T 03 477 9923 E training@ph.co.nz

The collection, of around 46 photos and 14 negatives, was included in material that came from former lawyer James Francis Stewart, who died on 1 April 1966. It looks as though many of the photographs are of a family nature.

The former Wellington District Law Society inherited a suitcase of material after Mr Stewart died. Inside the suitcase was a film and print wallet from Waterworths Ltd containing the negatives and prints. Mr Stewart’s name is on the front of the wallet.

The Law Society knows little about Mr Stewart. It is known that he practised in both Taihape and Wellington.

An internet search has revealed that a James Francis Stewart was presented a proficiency certificate at Brooklyn School in 1915. It also shows that a James Francis Stewart graduated with an LLM from Victoria University in 1924.

Anyone interested in following up can contact the Editor, LawTalk, editor@lawsociety.org.nz, phone (04) 463 2982. LT

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LAWTALK 791 / 16 MARCH 2012

IN - HOUSE L AW YERS

Having a ‘can do’ attitude PRIVATE SECTOR IN-HOUSE LAWYERS

BY HANNAH GRANT Rather than presenting legal hurdles, an in-house lawyer needs to think quickly and laterally while providing expert advice within the context of a company’s wider goals.

“You can’t be seen as road block, when you want to be an enabler,” says Susan Baas, in-house counsel at Contact Energy.

“The commercial sector is all about returns to shareholders, so you have to move very quickly.”

In-house counsel at ANZ and CLANZ President Jeremy Valentine backs up this statement.

“If you are going to deal out blackletter law, you are not going to gain the respect of your business areas. It’s about focusing on ‘how can we achieve this’ rather than a focus on ‘what prevents us from achieving this’,” he says.

“There is always a way through things.

Sometimes it’s just a question of how much risk you want to take.”

This needs to be done within the context of the wider objectives of the organisation and considering the goals of other departments.

“You need to understand the strategies of your organisation and you align your work to those strategies. There is no point doing work that is not going to further your organisation’s goals,” Mr Valentine says.

In-house lawyers are generally aware of their role within a broad business context.

They have the opportunity to provide a much higher quality service compared to working in private practice, according to Ms Baas, but like other employees, in-house lawyers risk becoming institutionalised and need to be adaptable to the business they work for.

“You have to be receptive to the businesses strategy at the time and what the current drivers are − whether there is focus on cost cutting or things are more or less conservative at the time,” Ms Baas says.

“You have to be aware of the whole organisation as a client and also your individual employee clients.”

In-house lawyers need to be flexible, pragmatic, have business nous, and importantly, have a sense of humour – “because everything comes at you, 24 hours a day,” she says.

A big attraction to a career as an inhouse lawyer is the role’s legal breadth and the ability to generalise. However with this comes the need to prioritise.

“

In-house lawyers need to be flexible, pragmatic, have business nous, and importantly, have a sense of humour – ‘because everything comes at you, 24 hours a day.’

”

SUSAN BAAS

nature of the work that attracted me to work in-house. It ranges from pure legal work to performing a role because I understand the organisation and can add value to a project or steering committee,” he says.

To do this well requires passion about both the business and industry they are in, according to Caroline Quay, in-house counsel at Fisher and Paykel Healthcare.

“In-house lawyers have a clear understanding of the vision and values of the business, the commercial drivers of the business, the risk profile, and tolerance of the business,” she says.

“This means that in-house lawyers are able to identify where legal input can enhance and add value to the business and provide this value. They can also provide advice in context, which is invaluable in a business.”

Private practice lawyers often do not hear back from their clients about the impact of their advice, whereas inhouse lawyers are more closely involved in a project and as a result will see the outcomes of their advice.

The ability to establish yourself as a trusted advisor with your business is more obtainable in-house than private practice as close proximity to clients means the in-house lawyer is more integrated in the business.

A challenge exists, though, in demonstrating the value of the in-house team in a quantitative manner.

“Being in-house counsel, you need to be able to filter and be comfortable about working on the right issues,” Mr Valentine says.

“Existing matrices for measuring value and performance are not true indicators of legal department value within a business,” says Ms Quay.

“I think it requires skills of being able to identify where the issues are, what you need to worry about or leave alone because they are immaterial and are going to cause you stress.”

In-house qualities

Another lure to the sector is there is less time wasted on bureaucracy than private practice.

“Working in-house, it’s nice to do away with a lot of the process things like filling out time sheets. It’s also the

• • • • • •

Flexible Lateral Come up with solutions Pragmatic Business minded Passionate about business and industry • Ability to prioritise • Ability to build and maintain relationships LT

LAWTALK 791 / 16 MARCH 2012

9

IN - HOUSE L AW YERS

Working ‘for the people’ PUBLIC SECTOR IN-HOUSE LAWYERS

BY HANNAH GRANT As an in-house lawyer in the public sector, you are not just working for your boss or your organisation; you are working for your country and the people in it.

This is according to Jeremy Salmond, Treasury Solicitor at New Zealand Treasury. In his role, he says, it is important to have a public sector ethos as you are serving the public and government and not just board or shareholders’ interests.

“You have to be very agile in working across wide-ranging areas of law. You need to have a broader perspective on things. You are working for the public service rather than just for other goals.

“Having integrity is very important in a trusted advisor role. You have to have a lot of respect for diversity of views and to be able to work with a wide range of people,” he says.

Grant Adam, Chief Legal Advisor at the New Zealand Qualifications Authority, says you have to be flexible and adaptable when working in-house.

Lawyers also need to know where to find the advice if they are not proficient in that area themselves.

“In any one day you may have to instruct on a prosecution, write threatening letters to someone to get compliance out of them, draft amendments to legislation and deal with common queries on anything across any act.”

One of the main differences between in-house and private practice is seeing something through to the end, explains Mr Adam.

“With private practice you are largely advising on sporadic things and will have no real decision-making power or influence on decision making.”

In an in-house role, lawyers are responsible for the start, the progress and the outcome and to try to make sure everything fits together at the end.

“It’s you that has to deal with any problems at the end if you have missed something.

“This aspect is quite fulfilling and

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satisfying, particularly when it works out well. You get involved in the whole design because you see right across the organisation, whereas in private practice you just see your little silos,” says Mr Adam.

Mr Salmond was previously employed at Bell Gully for eight years. He agrees that the main difference between private practice and in-house is the ability to get involved in projects earlier and therefore have the potential to add more value to the project as a whole.

“

You have to have a lot of respect for diversity of views and to be able to work with a wide range of people.

”

JEREMY SALMOND “In private practice there is a bit of a barrier. Often you don’t get involved till later, once some of the key decisions have been made. Being involved earlier means you can mitigate risk and influence those key decisions.

“Working in a private practice, I was also getting more and more specialised − which obviously justified a charge out rate − but as an in-house lawyer there are greater opportunities to do more diverse work,” he says.

You are advising on what the law is and how to work within that in the private sector. In the public sector you are more involved in the development of the law as well; you can explore options outside normal parameters, explains Mr Salmond.

“Policy advisors are looking at what the law should be, what should happen, whereas public sector lawyers don’t

often work on what the law should be, but what it could be.”

A challenge facing in-house lawyers is the expectation to produce more for less. With fewer resources, in-house lawyers have to prioritise competing tasks more than you would have to working in a firm.

“Effectively you are balancing demand with supply, with the margins between getting pressured.

“It’s working best with the organisation to add the best value. The bottom line is often the key motivator,” he says.

The economic model of the bottom line is currently prevalent across in-house practise, says Mr Adam.

“It is no longer the outsourcing model where the expertise of your own business is sitting in the hands of a private law firm and you pay to get your own knowledge whenever you want it.”

He says that in terms of legal spend, people have realised that it is more economical to have in-house counsel and to outsource only sporadically.

“They are talking about centralising legal services across governmental departments, but I don’t know whether it is going to be a viable model.”

There is an on-going need for in-house counsel within departments, explains Mr Adam. Movement exists in the profession but it is not facilitated.

“There might be an opportunity for having rotating lawyers moving between departments which would ideally be extending the knowledge base across the whole government sector.

“The argument would be that it would affect the quality of work. People develop specific expertise in an area, so by moving people around, you constantly have to train those people to get that expertise.

“There are some challenges there.

But it might be that you can get both systems working. Like having some roving, wide-ranging lawyers and some permanent that would provide the day-to-day advice based on built-up knowledge,” he says. LT

IN - HOUSE L AW YERS

CLANZ-Bell Gully 2010 Young Corporate Lawyer of the year Claire Achmad graduates with an MA from Leiden University.

In-house lawyer’s career soars

BY RACHAEL BRECKON The CLANZ-Bell Gully Young In-house Lawyer of the Year award helped set the 2010 winner Claire Achmad on a journey that has landed her a position at UNICEF, and possibly the United Nations.

The award gave her $5,000 from Bell Gully towards professional development, which combined with a Rotary Foundation Global Grant Scholarship she used to pursue her LLM in Advanced Studies in Public International Law, specialising in Peace, Justice and Development at Leiden University in the Netherlands.

Ms Achmad, who completed her undergraduate degree at Auckland University with a LLB/BA (political studies) in 2006, graduated from Leiden one of five cum laude students,

with her thesis achieving 9.5 out of a possible 10 marks.

“This was a very humbling achievement for me,” she says.

Her thesis was a topic entitled: International Commercial Surrogacy: A 21st century human rights challenge to children and women, requiring enhanced protection, a topic she had been exposed to as an in-house lawyer at the Ministry of Social Development.

It has been submitted to a number of academic journals for publication.

“This study allowed me to traverse the murky terrain of this recent development, across issues of fundamental rights, the role of international law, conflict of law issues, bioethics and corporate social responsibility,” she says.

“The course was an excellent choice, and I thoroughly benefitted from the breadth and depth of the expertise and teaching in the faculty and through exposure to the international law institutions based in The Hague.”

A particular highlight for Ms Achmad was the tutelage provided by some of the judges of the International Court of Justice and a week visiting international institutions in Geneva and spending time at the United Nation’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Ms Achmad was invited to speak at an international workshop on surrogacy law and international surrogacy issues in New Zealand, at Aberdeen University. She will have a chapter included in a forthcoming collected

LAWTALK 791 / 16 MARCH 2012

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IN - HOUSE L AW YERS

A day in the life ...

BY RACHAEL BRECKON So what do in-house lawyers do all day? LawTalk asks four in-house lawyers to share what they have been working on lately.

Victoria Spackman, legal and business affairs manager, the Gibson Group.

The Gibson Group operates in film, visitor attractions, television, museums, exhibitions and technologies to enhance those areas.

Not only does Ms Spackman manage outside legal counsel, and assess risk management, her role includes budgeting, human resource management and chasing unpaid invoices.

In a day’s work, Ms Spackman needs to move between inducting new staff members, drafting contracts, liaison for publicity campaigns, working with international clients (and their time zones), local councils and – be a calm head with sensible advice for a stressedout producer”.

Ms Spackman needs to also be able to switch into sales mode when necessary.

Chris Gilbert, legal service manager, Christchurch City Council.

Coffee aids Mr Gilbert to get through his busy schedule, with a large amount of legal time and expertise spent pulling together relevant information and preparing witnesses for the Royal Commission on the earthquake.

Mr Gilbert admits there “is no typical week in [his] life” and that is “one of the great things about being an in-house lawyer”.

Throughout the week he manages requests for legal services from across different areas in council, as well as the workload and roles of the nine lawyers in his team. Their roles range from road widening to post-earthquake rock fall.

Mr Gilbert must also liaise with senior management, city councillors, and assess risk and look at insurance evaluation and health and safety issues.

“[I need to] be involved in pitching for work with clients and managing budgets and projects as they develop,” she says, “[as well as keeping] up to date with changes, challenges and developments in the wider industry and business sectors such as cultural policy and international trends in production and broadcasting.”

Rupert AblettHampson, chief legal advisor, Ministry of Social Development (MSD).

volume on comparative approaches to surrogacy law to be published later this year.

a research and advocacy officer. This expands on the work she began as an intern in leading an effort to establish a European advocacy platform.

During the second term of her studies, she undertook an internship with UNICEF in the Netherlands.

“This internship provided me with practical opportunity, and my work focused on international child rights issues pertaining to unaccompanied minor asylum seekers,” she says.

She has now embarked on a position with UNICEF in the Netherlands as

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Boredom is not a problem for Mr Ablett-Hampson.

Late last year, she was accepted as a candidate to sit the United Nations Young Professionals Examination which, if she is successful, could lead to work in the United Nations system.

She is also enrolled as an external (nonfee paying) PhD candidate at Leiden University to extend her LLM thesis topic. LT

“A day in my diary is generally full with a broad mix of legal, leadership, and governance work,” he says.

As Chief Legal Advisor, he leads the legal services group, which involves leading the standard of practice, strategy and management of its budget.

Mr Ablett-Hampson provides strategic direction and leadership of MSD’s response to legal issues, risks, litigation, and the legislative programme. He is the principal legal advisor for the Minister, the Chief Executive, and the executive team.

Alongside this he is a general manager in MSD’s corporate and governance management team. He is responsible for the department’s relationships with key legal stakeholders including other government agencies (and their legal services), the Crown Law Office, the judiciary, and the Law Society. He has regular appointments with all of these agencies.

To fulfil this role, he also sits on a number of steering groups – some for the Ministry and some across government. Most of the groups meet weekly or fortnightly and are responsible for the governance of significant projects and reform.

Mr Albett-Hampson has a group of direct reports who are responsible for managing areas of legal services work.

He meets with each of them weekly to discuss cases, legislative programmes, HR, development, budget and any other issues that might come up.

He also reviews, approves or comments on papers ranging from legislative drafts, regulations, settlement documents, cabinet papers, legal opinions, to human resources documents and leave approvals daily.

Rachel Cunningham, head of corporate affairs and legal, Southern Cross Healthcare Group.

“About 90% of what I do now is non-legal

IN - HOUSE L AW YERS work. Due to the wide and varied nature of my role, it’s fair to say there is no such thing as a ’typical day’ which keeps things interesting,” Ms Cunningham says.

Proximity to the action is a highlight for her.

“Unlike a large multi-national, our board are all New Zealand-based and the strategic direction is debated and decided right here,” she says.

“The nature of the group – comprising a friendly society, charitable trust and companies (both charitable and non-charitable) − provides unique challenges from a legal and governance perspective.”

Ms Cunningham reports to the group chief executive officer and has around 10 staff report to her. The small corporate

office team includes legal professionals, corporate communication professionals, company secretary and a variety of human resources, policy and strategy consultants, along with executive assistant support.

She has overall responsibility for the provision of policy, strategic, legal and corporate relations advice and services to the Southern Cross Medical Care Society and Southern Cross Health Trust (and their subsidiaries and related entities) to enable Southern Cross to meet its business objectives with minimal legal and business risk exposure.

•

liaising with the chairman and board of directors, the chief executives and senior management in the group’s businesses and with other corporate office staff;

•

preparing, reviewing and advising on strategic or board papers;

•

reviewing and advising on draft board or sub-committee minutes and attending meetings;

•

external meetings with key stakeholders and professional service providers;

•

advising on strategic communications plans and approving media responses or releases; and

•

legal risk and compliance reporting. LT

Ms Cunningham is also an executive director of Southern Cross Primary Care.

A day in Ms Cunningham’s working life can comprise:

Silver Anniversary CLANZ Conference CLANZ is celebrating its 25th annual conference in Queenstown on 10 and 11 May at the Millennium Hotel.

Registrations are open now for the premier event for in-house lawyers in New Zealand and you can register online or download a registration form at www. clanzconference.org.nz.

The conference theme is The Essential Elements of In-House and will focus on the essential elements that help in-house lawyers deliver value to their organisations in innovative ways.

New Zealander of the Year 2010 Sir Ray Avery will be opening the conference with an inspiring address on his journey as a scientist, entrepreneur and humanitarian. Sir Ray is replacing our original keynote Professor Sir Paul Callaghan who has regretfully had to withdraw.

One of the key skills needed by in-house counsel is the ability to deliver a message with clarity and conviction. Well-known actor and coach Miranda Harcourt will be delivering a workshop on how to communicate and make an essential connection with your audience. Our workshop masterclass on negotiating and drafting effective indemnities and limitation of liability provisions will upskill participants in this critical area.

Many of our in-house clients don’t like to decipher legalese and with a focus on simplifying the formula, Tania McAnearney will be leading a workshop

on plain legal language.

CLANZ Awards

Senior in-house lawyers sharing their wisdom include Charles Spillane, Auckland International Airport; Victoria Spackman, The Gibson Group; Craig Mulholland, ANZ and Bill Dwyer, Solid Energy talking about demonstrating leadership and being seen as more than just the lawyer.

Nominations are now open for the 2012 CLANZ Awards. The award categories are Young In-House Lawyer of the Year, Private Sector In-House Lawyer of the Year, Public Sector In-House Lawyer of the Year and Community Contribution Award winner.

Kevin Riordan, New Zealand Defence Force and Claire Bradley, MediaWorks will be looking at delivering value at the speed of light and how to manage expectations when working in a culture of urgency.

John Sneyd, Department of Building and Housing and Susan Peterson, ANZ will be exploring how to build relationships with your internal and external stakeholders.

Vanessa Oakley, Chorus; Nigel Barbour, Powerco and James Hay, Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority will be giving guidance on career progression.

Phil Griffiths, Programme Director, Government Legal Services Programme will provide an update of key developments in the public sector including the review of the Crown Law Office and the Solicitor-General roles and functions and the Government Legal Services initiatives.

The conference will be joined again by the talented in-house lawyer and comedy writer James Elliott as Master of Ceremonies.

CLANZ encourages all readers to think about in-house lawyers who have demonstrated excellence and who deserve to be nominated in one or more of these categories. For full details of award criteria and to download a nomination form, please go to www. clanzconference.org.nz/awards.

One of the key elements of a CLANZ conference is the ability to network with other in-house lawyers from throughout the country.

This year there will be two superb evening events: the Thursday night Gravitational Function at the AJ Hackett centre and the Friday night Silver Ball and Awards ceremony at the Millennium Ballroom.

If you are a practising in-house lawyer and register for a premium membership package before 30 March you go into the draw to win a luxury long weekend at Pacific Resort Aitutaki including flights, accommodation and transfers.

The organisers expect this conference to reach full capacity so encourage people to make sure they reserve their place today at The Essential Elements of InHouse. LT

LAWTALK 791 / 16 MARCH 2012

13

EFFECTIVE PRACTICE Value billing: has your firm considered changing?

The recent University of Waikato Management Research Centre Law Firm Practice Comparison found that 59% of the responding firms used value billing. The survey defined this as: “quote or estimate to clients an upfront price based on the ‘value’ of work to be performed (different from charging on billable hours worked)”.

Looking at life from a client’s perspective, the latest ACLA/CLANZ Legal Department Benchmarking Report found that only 4% of clients regarded hourly billing as the best basis for pricing legal services. Although 39% expressed serious concerns about hourly billing, the long anticipated “death of the billable hour” has not been reached: 47% of clients still consider hourly billing “generally appropriate”, albeit “not ideal”. Of clients surveyed who still used hourly billing, a significant number expressed an intention to start investigating the use of alternative fee arrangements and value pricing.

With the winds of change definitely blowing, LawTalk asked three leading practice management consultants in the Law Management Group (LMG) “Should New Zealand law practices be considering changing to value billing?”

Richard Burcher, Managing Director of Validatum Ltd and an LMG member travels extensively internationally, undertaking speaking engagements and providing pricing consultancy services to firms and barristers in New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom, UAE and Hong Kong.

I think that there are several important points to be made around this issue:

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1. This is not a uniquely New Zealand problem. Every Western legal profession is grappling with these issues. Having worked closely with firms in Australia, the UK, Hong Kong and Dubai, New Zealand does not have a monopoly on these challenges.

2. Pricing legal services used to (and for many unfortunately still does) consist of hitting the “print” button on the timesheet summary. Pricing is not merely an administrative function, it is a skill; one that has to be learned, properly resourced and practised intensively.

3. Hourly billing has its place if that’s what genuinely works for both the lawyer and the client. However, practitioners need to develop a smorgasbord of pricing options for clients; a “pricing toolbox” if you will. Most lawyers are great at developing technically appropriate, bespoke legal solutions. They need to become far more adept at simultaneously developing “shrinkwrap” pricing solutions.

4. Many practitioners working at the independent bar mistakenly believe that they are immune to these changes.

5. Our experience has shown that if handled correctly, transitioning to a sophisticated and contemporary pricing model can have demonstrable strategic and financial upside for practitioners.

6. Practitioners who are unwilling or unable to understand the need to embrace these changes are already on the endangered species list; they just don’t realise it yet. Most will not share this view but from an international perspective, the New Zealand legal market remains relatively benign. If only they knew ...

Ashley Balls, of LegalBestPractice and the LMG is convinced there is a profitable, robust and exciting future for legal services delivery BUT success is predicated on operational flexibility, vision, client focus and a willingness to adapt to a rapidlychanging environment.

Effective and user-friendly billing presents huge challenges to lawyer and client alike. Wherever this debate goes, it is likely no single model will end up as the default process as there is no one pricing activity that will always fit with the circumstances and no universal acceptance as to whether $X or $Y represents “value” for a particular outcome.

Straightforward transactional services (such as wills, codicils, simple residential property purchase/ sales, company formations, estates, trusts, standard form contracts for employment/distribution/licensing) are more likely to end up as fixed price services where some variables can come into play to reflect the consideration, urgency and/or complexity of the matter. Other work disciplines − relationship property, commercial litigation, business acquisition/ disposition − present both parties with so many variables that fixed and value pricing is never going to be easy.

What is becoming increasingly clear is that basic interaction between lawyer and client is changing – very rapidly.

For example, outsourcing of “back office” services and remote working is now commonplace. When combined with the capacity of IT to readily replicate some routine services, this is lowering the cost of sales and allowing

junior staff to carry out work previously reserved for intermediates and seniors.

Factor in another overseas change – the introduction of online legal services − and it is little wonder that pricing of legal services is moving away from the old cost-plus (time driven) open-ended model.

There would appear to be no onesize-fits-all solution. The client care provision of the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006 at least saw the start of the change process and now requires some structure around this complex problem. The key factor is an open dialogue between solicitor and client.

Ron Pol, Director, TeamFactors. com and an LMG member.

TeamFactors.com is New Zealand’s only legal consultancy specialising in the client perspective.

Although the use of alternative fee arrangements is rising, from a global perspective New Zealand remains in the relatively early stages of developing successful alternatives. For example, all of the panel law firms of a major multinational I worked with recently already work entirely on an annual fixed fee basis. This dramatically cuts the company’s total legal costs even as its law firms benefit from guaranteed cash flow and higher margins from helping reduce the company’s legal risk profile. Another company has even transformed its legal department from a cost centre into a US$300 million revenue centre.

I’m not aware of any New Zealand organisation that has transformed its law firm relationships to this extent.

The reality is that some self-proclaimed “innovative fee arrangements” are just hourly rates in disguise; resulting in frustrated clients abandoning the value

billing “experiment”. Equally, some clients have sought “innovative billing solutions” which helped law firms drive exceptional results, and then demanded hourly billing; causing law firms to abandon some genuinely innovative solutions.

In my experience the alternative fee arrangements that work best are structured to be successful for both parties. This suggests that the value billing “tipping point” can only occur when law firms and clients no longer regard billing as a zero-sum game, with one succeeding at the expense of the other. The most successful arrangements we have seen deliver benefits to both parties, including solutions with demonstrable savings to the client and higher margins for law firms.

•

If you do work overseas but intend to return to New Zealand (a) don’t stay too long – lawyers with 10+ years’ post-admission experience are quite plentiful here at the moment (even approaching a “glut”); and (b) be careful what you specialise in if working in London, Dubai or elsewhere – specialist knowledge of pensions, personal injury or other such areas of law may marginalise you in the New Zealand job market.

•

The rule of thumb for firms working out billing requirements as “Salary x 3” might be a thing of the past. It was certainly amusing news for many participants, who were working in environments where Salary x 4 or 5 was the norm.

•

Generalising wildly, Auckland is currently seen as a candidates’ market, while Wellington is mixed but more of an employers’ market.

Commercial property, banking and finance, insurance and commercial litigation are saleable skills in Auckland, with Wellington employers seeking banking and finance, insurance, financial services, commercial litigation and ICT. The expected exodus from Christchurch doesn’t appear to have happened and there is a lot of recruitment activity, with some good opportunities for progression.

•

The salary survey itself pointed to some relatively hefty salary increases last year, particularly for lawyers with from 2 (an average increase of 12.5%) to 5 (an average of 11.5%) years’ experience.

However, one-third of respondents did not answer the question (meaning it was likely they did not get an increase) and one-quarter of those who did answer said they did not receive an increase. This would indicate that about half of lawyers didn’t receive a salary increase in 2011. Those who did, however,

Admittedly, these arrangements sometimes require a lot of work to get right, but they are sustainable because both parties are committed to make them succeed. The added benefit is that the process itself helps engender trust which further deepens the working relationship.

Value billing remains the exception in New Zealand, but when it works well, it can help create the basis for the next generation of client relationships that are starting to appear internationally.

Don’t stay too long…

Legal recruitment specialist Momentum has been following through on the New Zealand Law Society/Momentum Legal Salary Survey 2011 with a series of lunchtime meetings with members of the legal profession. Review of the information at the Wellington session for younger lawyers was accompanied

by Momentum legal recruiter Carla Wellington’s tips on employment.

Some of the more interesting:

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15

EFFECTIVE PR ACTICE 2011 NATIONAL AWARDS

appear to have done well.

•

Top of mind for the younger lawyers was a call for transparency from their employers in salary banding.

Also important was a perceived lack of partnership opportunities and interest in more flexible hours and time in lieu. Younger lawyers in private practice also tend to see bonuses as illusory and often so discretionary as to be pointless.

Law or accountancy?

The latest Statistics New Zealand Producers Price Index (PPI) provides data for the final quarter of 2011. One of the things tracked is prices for legal services (personal and corporate). The index shows a rise of 3.3% in legal services prices over the 2011 calendar year, compared with 0.7% for the 2010 calendar year. The PPI also tracks accounting services prices which, apart from one blip in 2009, have consistently been ahead of legal services in annual rises.

Could the 2009 rise of 8.4% in legal services prices (or “fees” as many lawyers prefer) have been a panic reaction to reduced billings in 2007 and 2008 as the recession bit? Prices rose an astonishing 6.6% in the March 2009 quarter.

Note that the index shows the changes in prices received by producers of legal services. Statistics New Zealand is pretty vague on the finer points of the legal services data it reports.

It does note that some areas of the PPI, such as services, are “particularly difficult to quantify and price”. For what it’s worth, the below illustration shows the increase in prices for legal and accounting services each calendar year since 2004:

Professional Legal Studies Course Outstanding Achievers The College of Law proudly acknowledges the outstanding national achievers among its 2011 Professional Legal Studies Course graduates . The three highest achieving students overall from all eight courses and all five locations (Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin, Hamilton and Wellington) are: First:

Caroline Stacey (Auckland)

Second: Sarah Kuper (Wellington) Third:

Emily Purdy (Wellington)

For full details of all 2011 award winners go to: www.collaw.ac.nz/plsc/2011awards For information about our pre-admission training course: Call: 0800 894 172 Email: enquiries@collaw.ac.nz Visit: www.collaw.ac.nz/plsc

Legal Accounting

12.0 10.0

Price rises

(%)

8.0 6.0 4.0 2.0 0.0

‘04

‘05

‘06

‘07

‘08

‘09

‘10

‘11

Better than paper, but maybe not cheaper Results from a Land Information New Zealand survey of Landonline users carried out in July 2011 were made public last month. Respondents made up 25% of all Landonline customers.

Conveyancers were the group which was most content with Landonline, with 91% saying they were satisfied with the service overall (against 67% of surveyors). While 79% of all respondents agreed that Landonline was more efficient than the paper system it replaced, only 28% agreed that Landonline had reduced the cost of doing business. The average conveyancer conducted 4-5 title transactions in the average week, and 55% of conveyancers conducted at least one search a day. LT

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LAWTALK 791 / 16 MARCH 2012

Caroline Stacey

LAW REFORM REPORT Legal Assistance (Sustainability) Amendment Bill misleading President Jonathan Temm and Caroline Hannan (NZLS Family Law Section) presented the New Zealand Law Society’s submission to Parliament’s Justice and Electoral Select Committee on 16 February regarding the Bill’s proposed changes to legal aid funding (including for lawyer for child and youth advocates).

Mr Temm told the select committee that the Bill was misleading about the savings it would deliver and should be deferred until a report on a major review of the Family Courts was presented to the Minister of Justice in March.

Mr Temm said the Family Law Section initiated a symposium in 2011 that had resulted in significant ideas about ways efficiencies and cost savings could be introduced in the Family Courts.

The Law Society’s submission on the Family Court review was provided to the Ministry of Justice earlier this month.

Standards for health research could become less stringent New Zealanders could participate in health research without the chance to give informed consent if draft procedures for health and disability ethics committees are adopted.

The Law Society’s submission on proposed draft Standard Operating Procedures for Health and Disability Ethics Committees states that the proposals are a significant departure from the current standards for ethics committees developed since the Cartwright Inquiry and from international standards for the protection of human participants in research. If implemented they will have significant human rights implications.

The Law Society questions the legal status of the proposed changes and what legal effect they will have on the framework for ethical review of research in New Zealand, the submission says. It recommends the Government engage

in a more comprehensive review of New Zealand’s ethics review system with a view to providing an overarching legal framework, in line with international standards.

EEZ Bill needs amendment The NZLS submission on the Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf (Environmental Effects) Bill was presented to Parliament’s Local Government and Environment Committee by NZLS Environmental Law Committee member Robert Makgill.

Mr Makgill said inconsistencies between the Bill, New Zealand’s international obligations and the Resource Management Act raised doubt about the ability of the Bill to achieve integrated management, which was a touchstone of modern environmental law.

Mr Makgill said the Law Society believed the Bill should be amended to make it consistent with the Resource Management Act 1991 and international law.

This would require the purpose of the Bill to be amended to “sustainable management” as defined in the Resource Management Act, inclusion of New Zealand’s key international obligations, careful consideration of matters which should be seen as of national importance in decision-making, and replacing the words “cautious approach” with “precautionary approach” in order to reduce any unintentional ambiguity.

Law Commission proposes catch-all Courts Bill The Law Commission has released an issues paper from its review of the Judicature Act 1908. The commission proposes consolidation of the legislation relating to New Zealand trial and appellate courts into one clear, modern and coherent statute, by creating a new Courts Bill. The NZLS Civil Litigation & Tribunals Committee is considering the issues paper.

Legal aid – updates: The Ministry of Justice proposes to introduce a new fees framework for family and ACC legal aid providers.

Submissions from the NZLS Family Law Section and ACC Committee were due to be provided to the Ministry of Justice by 9 March.

For more information on Law Society law reform activities, contact vicky. stanbridge@lawsociety.org.nz.

Recent submissions The Law Society has also recently filed submissions on: •

the Victims of Crime Reform Bill;

•

Health and Disability Ethics Committees, draft Standard Operating Procedures (Ministry of Health proposals);

•

Default Judgment and Formal Proof (Rules Committee revisions);

Current and future consultation

•

the Natural Health Products Bill; and

The Law Society is currently preparing submissions on numerous bills and government discussion documents.

Members are welcome to contribute comments to the Law Reform Committee, specialist committees and sections preparing the submissions.

Significant projects are noted below; for a full list of upcoming submission deadlines and information about how to participate, visit http:// my.lawsociety.org.nz/law_reform/ work_in_progress.

•

the trust law review, 5th issues paper of the Law Commission.

The submissions are available at www. lawsociety.org.nz/publications_ and_submissions/submissions.

Select committee address The Law Society also recently addressed the Finance and Expenditure Select Committee on the Taxation (Annual Rates, Returns Filing, and Remedial Matters) Bill, (Casey Plunket, NZLS Tax Law Committee convenor). LT

LAWTALK 791 / 16 MARCH 2012

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Oceans law a hot topic SUPPORTING INDEPENDENT LEGAL THINKING

Debates over conservation and resource management have made oceans governance a strong and growing area of research interest. The Law Foundation has responded by funding three major projects.

They cover rights and responsibilities on New Zealand’s outer continental shelf; our legal framework for oceans governance; and laws protecting our marine mammals.

The project authors offer several explanations for the current enthusiasm around law of the sea. Joanna Mossop of Victoria University says the ocean is very important to New Zealand for environmental, commercial and social reasons.

“Unfortunately it has historically been given low priority by governments and others. It is vital that we continue to evaluate our management of such an important resource.”

Karen Scott, of Canterbury University, says international trends favour a more integrated approach to oceans management, and New Zealand needs to follow suit.

“Many countries are now moving towards managing oceans on a holistic rather than sectoral basis, though nationally we aren’t keeping up with those trends.”

New Zealand was one of the first countries to define the limits of its outer continental shelf, the area beyond its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). Mossop is examining how best to manage activities that may take place beyond the EEZ. “We were ahead of the game in defining this area, but we now need to look at what our legal rights are to protect our interests from those of other states,” she says.

For example, there is high interest in deep-sea vents – these may eventually become viable sites for oil and mineral extraction, but they also contain rare marine ecosystems. “If we don’t understand our rights, we may lose the ability to protect or exploit these areas.”

Other issues arise around the potential clash of rights covering the seabed, which is included in the outer continental shelf, and the sea above it, which is international waters. Bottom trawling is one activity where these rights may conflict.

Mossop aims to produce a set of legal principles for outer continental shelf activities that could underpin new legislation.

Laws covering the ocean’s resources have tended to develop in a fragmented, sectoral way, with no overall policy objective and limited attempts at integration.

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Lynda Hagen

Karen Scott’s study will propose an alternative, more coherent regime for oceans management, enabling new activities like deep-sea drilling to be considered in a broader context. She says such a framework could have made us better-prepared to deal with events like the Rena grounding.

“The current legislation doesn’t really provide for managing the environmental effects of activities, which means there can be an accident without a proper framework for effective remedies.”

Legislation currently before Parliament seeking to balance resource extraction with environmental protection in the EEZ is a step in the right direction, she says, but it offers only limited environmental protection: “Economic development is a strong priority.”

The fragmented oceans policy framework is also a concern for the Environmental Defence Society, which is studying laws protecting marine mammals in New Zealand.

New Zealand is a global hotspot for marine mammals – it has 38 species of whales and dolphins alone, just under half the world’s total. But the management of human impacts on them is covered by multiple legislation and different management bodies.

EDS Policy Director Raewyn Peart says there are direct conflicts between fishing interests and the welfare of marine mammals, mainly over the use of set and trawl nets that can entrap the animals.

“The industry is often not convinced that there is a problem, and they challenge the science … there’s also issues around the relationships between government departments and the conflicting objectives of Fisheries and DoC [Department of Conservation]. It’s clear that the current situation isn’t working – we need better, more effective legislation to deal with conflicts.”

The EDS study will recommend proposals for a better management framework to resolve conflicts between human activities and the welfare of marine mammals, she says.

For further information about these projects and other Law Foundation-funded projects, please visit our website www.lawfoundation.org.nz to review our latest news items or click on the “Success Stories” tab on the home page.

Lynda Hagen is the Executive Director of the New Zealand Law Foundation.

SECTION NEWS PROPERTY LAW SECTION NEW ZEALAND LAW SOCIETY

NZLS EST 1869

On 21 February, the Property Law Section (PLS) Chair, Chris Moore, wrote to the Minister of Building and Housing to raise concerns about the unforeseen problems that have emerged since the Unit Titles Act 2010 was implemented. The PLS has called for amendments to the Act and Unit Titles Regulations 2011 as a matter of priority. The letter detailed a number of suggested amendments, which have been collected with assistance from lawyers throughout the country via the my.lawsociety law reform forum.

The Trust Law Review Working Group, formed jointly by the Property and Family Law Sections, drafted the Law Society’s submission on the 5th issues paper in the Law Commission’s review of trust law, Court Jurisdiction, Trading Trusts and Other Issues.

The PLS is considering the Building Amendment Bill (No 4). Some of the proposed amendments include: •

enhanced and more comprehensive consumer protection measures;

•

mandatory written contracts for all building work over $20,000;

•

disclosure requirements for building contractors about their skills, qualifications, licensing status and track record; and

•

rules making principal building contractors fix any defects in their work within 12 months.

The PLS and NZLS Auckland branch will be hosting the first PLS-Land Information New Zealand lunch and learn “mini seminar” in Auckland on 15 March. Topics include: •

requisitions versus rejections – what does LINZ look for?

•

Landonline release 3.7 – enhancements.

•

LINZ’s “first point of contact” review.

•

And a Q & A forum.

If it is a success, follow up seminars in other centres will be organised in the coming months.

On a collegial note, the PLS Executive met with Wellington property lawyers for an informal lunch and regional meeting in February. Its next regional meeting will be held in Palmerston North on 22 March.

FAMILY LAW SECTION

with FLS members and Ministry of Justice officials to discuss problems arising from the implementation of the centralisation of Auckland District Court services.

An informal dinner was held in Auckland for Judge Southwick QC on 2 March. To welcome Judge O’Dwyer to Wellington, and to provide family lawyers with an opportunity to meet the Judge, the Wellington FLS regional representatives hosted informal functions in Lower Hutt and Wellington on 13 and 27 February. A formal dinner is being held for the Judge, in association with the NZLS Wellington Branch, on 30 March.

NEW ZEALAND LAW SOCIETY

NZLS EST 1869

Preparing the Law Society’s submission on the Review of the Family Court has been a significant undertaking for the Family Law Section (FLS) over recent months. FLS Chair, Antony Mahon, will be leading the Law Society’s media response over the coming weeks.

The FLS has also just completed the Law Society’s submission on the government’s paper titled Every Child Thrives, Belongs, Achieves – A Government Green Paper for Vulnerable Children.

The FLS Legal Aid Standing Committee will shortly complete the Law Society’s submission on the Ministry of Justice’s discussion document proposing a fixed fee framework for family legal aid. 750 family lawyers responded to a survey (to help inform the submission), which was sent to the profession on 23 February.

The Justice and Electoral Select Committee heard submissions on the Legal Aid (Sustainability) Bill on 16 February. Immediate Past FLS Deputy Chair, Caroline Hannan and NZLS President Jonathan Temm presented the Law Society’s submission.

The FLS Auckland regional representatives have organised meetings in various Auckland Courts

CLANZ IN-HOUSE LAWYERS NZLS EST 1869

In the beginning of March, the Corporate Lawyers Association of New Zealand (CLANZ) hosted two social media workshops in Auckland and Wellington, where attendees discussed the effective use of social media by inhouse lawyers. The results of these and previous workshops will be analysed and be made available to CLANZ members for effective social media guidance.

The CLANZ Regulatory and Law Reform workstream has been looking further into the issue of shared services.

Rule 15.2.4 allows an in-house lawyer to provide legal services to a company in the same group as its primary client but does not extend to other entity types. Members report that this rule causes inefficiencies and difficulties and CLANZ continues to lobby to resolve this issue. The workstream is also reviewing the proposed NZLS continuing professional development scheme from the perspective of inhouse lawyers and welcomes input from members on the proposals which can be found on my.lawsociety.org.nz. LT

LAWTALK 791 / 16 MARCH 2012

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BRANCH NEWS CANTERBURY WESTLAND

HAWKE’S BAY NEW ZEALAND LAW SOCIETY NZLS EST 1869

Maximising small firms’ opportunities, Hawke’s Bay The Hawke’s Bay branch of the New Zealand Law Society is running a workshop aimed at improving the management skills of the owners of small firms, solicitors or barristers sole.

The workshop, titled Maximising small firms’ opportunities, includes two sessions held at Vidal Estate Winery on 21 March.

Director of the Law Society’s new Stepping Up programme and Christchurch lawyer John Mackintosh will lead the workshop.

Session 1 (1:30pm – 3:30pm), Honing the Skills, will focus on aspects of a lawyer’s working life, including: time management; communicating effectively; managing information overload; delegating and handling stress; locums, getting away and looking after yourself; succession planning and risk management.

Session 2 (4pm – 6pm), Running the Business, will focus on: running the business; attaining work; effectively processing work and increasing revenue.

A workbook or set of notes will be provided to all participants on the day.

A follow-up session will be held later in the year, focusing on the financial aspects of running a small legal firm.

Cost: one session $30 (members), $45 (non-members); both sessions $45 (members), $65 (non-members).

For more information email hawkesbay@lawsociety.org.nz.

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NEW ZEALAND LAW SOCIETY

NZLS EST 1869

LAWTALK 791 / 16 MARCH 2012

The Great Debate, Christchurch

OTAGO Town and Gown dinner Friday 23 March at 7:00pm Venue: The Dunedin Club, 33 Melville Street, Dunedin The dinner will celebrate the career of Justice Sir J Bruce Robertson.

China Law Society delegates visit Wellington Branch

The Canterbury Westland branch invites practitioners, High and District Court judges to The Great Debate – a debate between senior and junior lawyers.

Monday 26 March at 9:30am

Chaired by Associate Judge Osborne, the night’s moot will be Enthusiasm v experience – do junior lawyers do it better?

The Wellington Branch will be hosting a morning visit by six members of the China Law Society.

It will revolve around the fact that the junior lawyer is eager and enthusiastic and can download judgments, email clients, discuss social arrangements all on a hand-held appliance while drinking coffee with other young professionals, whereas the senior lawyer is learned and experienced, commands authority, reads books in hard copy, sends everything snail mail and rubs shoulders with High Court judges.

The debate is predicted to be possibly intelligent, probably controversial and definitely witty.

The event will be held on Thursday 29 March 2012 at The Open Stage, Hagley College, 510 Hagley Avenue.

It starts promptly at 7:30pm with complimentary drinks and nibbles served from 7pm to 7:30pm and during the interval. The cost is $28 (incl GST).

A registration form is available on the Canterbury-Westland branch page on my.lawsociety.

Top branch events Waikato Bay of Plenty BRANCH AGM Thursday 10 May at 5:30pm Venue: 109 Anglesea Street, Hamilton

Venue: Wellington Branch, Waring Taylor Street

For more information on these Law Society events, and others, please go to http://my.lawsociety.org.nz/ events.

WAIKATO BAY OF PLENTY NEW ZEALAND LAW SOCIETY

NZLS EST 1869

Christmas BBQ Tauranga The Waikato-Bay of Plenty Tauranga Christmas barbecue was held belatedly at the law firm Holland Beckett on Thursday 16 February.

See photos next page.

In Memoriam Sir Rodney Gallen (Hawke’s Bay) If you would like to contribute to In memoriam please contact rachael. breckon@lawsociety.org.nz.

Obituaries on late members of the profession can be found in the People section of my.lawsociety.

Christmas BBQ Tauranga 1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

1.

2.

3.

4.

Keith Catran and Raj Naidu.

Robert Keam and Geoff Annan.

Renee Turner, Claire Allen, Ben Eagleson and co.

Tauranga lawyers networking.

5.

6.

7.

8.

Gary Valentine, Tim Neil, Caleb Standen.

Great turnout of the profession in Tauranga.

Bill Nabney, Michael Sharp, Bruce Hesketh and Rita Nabney.

Genevieve Denize, Dean Thompson, Katrina Hulsebosch.

LAWTALK 791 / 16 MARCH 2012

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THE BOOKSHELF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY IN NEW ZEALAND, 2ND EDITION

By Susy Frankel Reviewed by Justin Graham* Published nine years after its 2002 predecessor, the second edition of Susy Frankel’s Intellectual Property in New Zealand undertakes to update and survey the legal protections and material issues concerning intellectual property today.

Broadly structured by subject matter, the four-part, 900-page text encompasses the international foundations of intellectual property, Māori knowledge assets, the nexus between intellectual property and competition law, copyright, patents, design law, trade marks, the Fair Trading Act and the protection of information in the digital world.

The structure of the text avoids the methodical division into traditional areas. Doing so recognises the reactive and cross-disciplinary nature of intellectual property law, without detracting from breadth and depth of coverage.

Two of the major parts of the text relate, as would be expected, to copyright and design, and marketing law. Marketing law encompasses the areas of trade marks, fair trading and passing off. These substantial subjects are then broken down into chapters providing a general overview of the topic, which is then developed and contextualised. The approach allows the text to cater not only for students in quest of an introduction, but also specialists seeking a more in-depth analysis.

The text is particularly notable in three main respects: its international focus, its attention to Māori knowledge assets and its analysis of the digital domain.

The international focus is present from the outset. The opening chapter,

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LAWTALK 791 / 16 MARCH 2012

entitled “Intellectual Property across Borders”, contains a thorough examination of the role of both public and private international law in protecting copyright. Importantly for the more senior practitioner, attention is paid to both the history of, and potential developments to, international copyright agreements and treaties. Moreover, the prominence that the chapter affords to conflict of laws carries on throughout the text, with frequent comparisons of the New Zealand position to overseas precedents.

Equally, the chapter on Māori knowledge assets is crucial to providing a complete account of the New Zealand context to intellectual property protections. Again, and most helpfully, the author provides the relevant context and history, by touching on tikanga Māori and the Treaty of Waitangi before analysing the international safeguards for traditional knowledge. Next, particular challenges to Māori intellectual property are discussed and complemented by suggestions for reform. In this respect, the chapter provides a holistic and constructive analysis of a fundamental aspect of, and current challenge for, intellectual property in New Zealand.

The text is very usefully updated for technological developments. The final two chapters of the text are devoted to intellectual property protections for computer software and the internet.

The discussion within these chapters centres on early developments to intellectual property laws for computers and the internet as each rose to prominence. This discussion is then supplemented by examination of international agreements and landmark decisions in overseas jurisdictions.

The chapter dedicated to the internet pays special attention to domain names and embedding in web pages; two issues which continue to increase in relevance. The structure of the text is such that despite the speed with which technology moves, the discussion

should remain relevant and useful. It should be noted however that the publication of the text preceded any opportunity for extensive comment on the Copyright (Infringing File Sharing) Amendment Act 2011.

The writing is user-friendly and clear, yet also authoritative. The discussion of cases and issues is engaging and relevant. Tables and diagrams are used sparingly, but, where used, are effective – especially in relation to matters of procedure.

Perhaps the greatest compliment that can be paid is that the copy provided for review has already been borrowed three times while this review was penned, suggesting that the text in fact is – the publisher’s dream – a relevant source for students and practitioners at all levels.

Intellectual Property in New Zealand, 2nd edition by Susy Frankel, LexisNexis, July 2011, 978-0-408718-35-6, 900 pages, $150.01 (GST incl, p&h excl).

Available in paperback and e-book. *Justin Graham is a principal at Chapman Tripp, Auckland. He is a member of the Intellectual Property Society of Australia and New Zealand and of the Media Lawyers’ Association.

He has presented several seminars on privacy and defamation law.

THE RULE OF LAW

By Tom Bingham Reviewed by Warren Pyke* The late Lord Bingham chose as his subject for the Sir David Williams Lecture at the University of Cambridge in 2006 “The Rule of Law”, because while “the expression was constantly on people’s lips, I was not quite sure what it meant, and I was not sure that all those who used the expression knew

what they meant either, or meant the same thing.” From this emerged a book, now made accessible in soft cover

by Penguin Books.

Lord Bingham’s book is “not addressed to lawyers”, but to those “who may think the rule of law sounds like a good thing, and who think it may be rather important, but who are not quite sure what it is all about.” It has relevance to our impending constitutional “conversation”, and its value has already extended further: Justice Hammond referred to Lord Bingham’s “little monograph” in Wool Board Disestablishment Co Ltd v Saxmere Co Ltd [2011] 2 NZLR 442 (citing it in support of the principle that legal rights and liabilities should ordinarily be decided by application of law, not discretion).

The book contains a finely woven “impressionistic”, “episodic” and “selective” summary of “milestones on the way to the rule of law”. Lord Bingham non-exhaustively identifies the important principles of the rule of law as equality before the law, law not discretion, the exercise of power within its legal limits, accessibility to the law, access to justice, and adherence to precedent; and, he argues, the rule of law includes a requirement to observe human rights and the right to a fair trial. This is juxtaposed against a “thin” notion of the rule of law (this descriptive is quoted from an economist), that broadly means conformity with promulgated laws.

KNOW YOUR RESOURCES The Law Society belongs to the Electronic Publishing in Collaboration (EPIC) consortium and has secured access to 29 specialised information databases. Under the terms of the licence agreement, Law Society members may use them by logging on through my.lawsociety (via the “Library” tab). To help show what is included in this very valuable asset, LawTalk is running a series which looks at the content in one of the databases.

Computer Database This database contains up-to-date information on the world of technology.

Users are able to search full-text articles from leading periodicals on the computer, telecommunications and electronics industry. Search results can be viewed by Subject, Document Type or Publication Title. Indexing, abstracts

“Thin” and “thick” notions of the rule of law arguably emerge from the conceptual shadows cast by Edmund Burke (defender of the unwritten constitution and a Crowned parliament) and Thomas Paine (champion of the written constitution and individual rights). Being intellectually in the Paine camp, Lord Bingham recapitulates notions about the rule of law articulated

by John Rawls in his A Theory of Justice (OUP, 1972 - see his chapter entitled “Equal Liberty”). However, as with Rawls, the treatment of the rule of law by Lord Bingham points to deeper challenges for legal theory: for example, how to treat meaningless or wicked laws, and whether such measures may properly be described as “law” at all (for discussion of this see HLA Hart in The Concept of Law, Clarendon Press,1961).

Moreover, future evolution of Lord Bingham’s theory could arguably include emerging contemporary theories of pluralistic justice and “open impartiality” (for these ideas, see Amartya Sen, The Idea of Justice, Allen Lane, 2009).

A “thick” rule of law sits incoherently with the present constitutional arrangements in the United Kingdom and New Zealand: Lord Bingham appears to be sentimentally in the Burke camp on this issue, while intellectually recognising the incompatibility of a Crowned parliament with his “thick” notion of the rule of law. Lord Bingham recognises that an “elective and full-text articles from over 800 journals and periodicals are included, with impressive speed of updating.

In late February 2012 Computer Database contained 5,074,215 articles published between 1980 and 2012.

The database can be used to find computer-related product introductions, news and reviews in areas such as hardware, software, electronics, engineering, communications and the application of technology. While most useful for anyone seeking information on technology developments, the database contains some publications specifically aimed at lawyers. These include Duke Law & Technology Review, e-Commerce Law and Strategy, Journal of Law, Technology and the Internet, Law Technology News, Rutgers Computer & Technology Law Journal and Santa Clara Computer & High Technology Law Journal.

dictatorship” of parliament (being a conjectural reference to words allegedly uttered by Lord Hailsham, when not in office, in 1976) poses a serious problem for his “thick” textured rule of law, that “will [not] go away if we ignore it,” and that it could give rise to “wholly undesirable conflict between Parliament and the judges”.

As a primer on the rule of law, this “little monograph” is excellent and readable (and good value for money).

Lord Bingham’s book serves to remind us that, in the words of Lord Radcliffe: “…we need at this critical time to take thought, so that everyone may very surely understand what law is and why it has hitherto commanded, without intolerable strain, the general acceptance of people in this country.

Unless we are clear about what it is not as well as about what it is, there is danger that we may lose the true value of this institution at a time when we need it most.” (“Some Reflections on Law and Lawyers”, 10 Cambridge LJ 361, 1948-1950).

The Rule of Law by Tom Bingham, Penguin Books, 2011, 978-0-141034-53-9, 213 pages, $32 (RRP). Available in paperback (special order required in New Zealand). First published by Allen Lane, 2010. *Warren Pyke is a Hamilton barrister and convenor of the New Zealand Law Society’s Courthouse Committee.

RECENT LEGAL BOOKS LAW OF CONTRACT IN NEW ZEALAND, 4th EDITION

By John Burrows, Jeremy Finn and Stephen Todd This aims to provide definitive coverage of the law of contract in New Zealand and is as much a reference work for legal practitioners as it is an essential text for law students. The 3rd edition was published in 2007. (LexisNexis, February 2012, 978-1-927149-54-6, paperback and e-book, 960 pages, $178.25 (GST incl, p&h excl)).

Is there a book you would like to see reviewed?

Write to: geoff.adlam@lawsociety.org.nz

LAWTALK 791 / 16 MARCH 2012

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CONTINUING YOUR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT ACLEA’s 48th mid-year meeting

Education Law Intensive Schools are microcosms of society and as such encounter the same kinds of problems that their wider communities face.

When dealing with issues relating to student discipline and welfare, employment matters and governance, it is important that the requirements of relevant legislation is understood and followed.

The Association for Continuing Legal Education (ACLEA), based in America, aims to be an international hub for information and resources on continuing legal education.

Members are primarily from the United States and Canada, but also from the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Africa, and Mexico.

The NZLS CLE Education Law Intensive, to be held in Auckland on 2 May and Wellington on 7 May, will identify key statutory requirements and relevant case law from New Zealand and other jurisdictions.

ACLEA’s 48 mid-year meeting took place late January in Louisiana. CLE professionals from across the globe were given the opportunity to attend numerous workshops and networking events on topics ranging from marketing and programming to executive leadership. th

The meeting had a distinct technology focus and attending was NZLS CLE Chief Executive, Hellen Papadopoulos.

For Ms Papadopoulos, highlights of the meeting included a workshop on cloud computing where participants learned about cloud-software applications such as Evernote, MindMeister, Dropbox, Efax; a session on automation and the future of legal services which discussed cutting edge knowledge management technologies and how the role of the legal department is changing within both small and large companies and which technologies will underpin the future of how law is practised; and a workshop on expanding your web presence outside of your own website. It explained that members may add as much content and value to your company’s dialogue as your organisation does, emphasising that organisations wanting to stay relevant need to use every marketing tool available to them. The workshop looked at the way members now consume knowledge and information in many different ways, such as blogs, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, RSS feeds, and Google+, with the key aspect of these tools being their interactive and participatory nature.

The presenters will give examples of how this might apply and just what senior management and boards of trustees must be mindful of when dealing with these kinds of issues.

Find out more at www.lawyerseducation.co.nz/shop/ Intensives+2012/Education+Law+Intensive. For registration enquiries, freephone 0800 333 111.

Lawyer as Negotiator Negotiation is a vital skill for every lawyer. Few aspects of representation can have a greater impact on whether the best results are achieved for your client.

Over the next few months Lawyer as Negotiator workshops will take place across the country. They will build on participants’ experience and insight to assess the risks and benefits of various negotiation strategies and tactics; examine techniques for dealing with difficult negotiators and for breaking deadlocks; address specific issues participants may wish to bring to the workshop; and enhance confidence in dealing with aspects of negotiation such as preparation, information management, and thinking strategically.

Find out more at www.lawyerseducation.co.nz/shop/ Workshops+2012/Lawyer+as+Negotiator+2012.html LT

THE BOOKSHELF NEW ZEALAND MASTER TRUSTS GUIDE, 3rd EDITION General Editor John Brown 14 experts in trust law provide coverage of current trust law and practice in New Zealand. The book gives a practical focus to problems and issues which are encountered by anyone involved in advising on, administering or benefitting from a trust. (CCH New Zealand Ltd, December 2011, 978-0864759-15-3, paperback, 355 pages, $110 (GST and p&h excl)).

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LAWTALK 791 / 16 MARCH 2012

SALE OF LAND, 3rd EDITION

By Don McMorland Sometimes known as the “Friday Afternoon Bible”, Dr McMorland’s book aims to provide authoritative answers to anything related to conveyancing and the sale of land. The 2nd edition was published in 2000. (Cathcart Trust, September 2011, 978-0-473189-39-6, paperback, 673 pages, $185 (GST and p&h incl)).

NEW ZEALAND EMPLOYMENT LAW GUIDE, 2012 EDITION

By Richard Rudman A plain English outline of the law relating to employment. Aimed at anyone involved in employment matters, including lawyers who are not specialists in the area.

Updated to 1 January 2012. (CCH New Zealand Ltd, January 2012, 978-0864759-55-9, paperback, 462 pages, $78 (GST and p&h excl)).

OVERSEAS Malawian lawyer should be freed The International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) has called for the immediate release on bail of Malawian lawyer Ralph Kasambara.

The former Attorney-General of Malawi and former Commissioner of the Malawi Human Rights Commission, Mr Kasambara has been held in arbitrary detention since 13 February, despite two court orders commanding his release on bail.

Following his arrest last month, Mr Kasambara was granted bail by a magistrate’s court but re-arrested several hours later and detained in Zomba maximum security prison.

A High Court Judge heard a judicial review application of his case and granted a further order to ensure his immediate release on 17 February. Reports indicate that Mr Kasambara was denied release following “specific instructions” to keep him in detention.

On 19 February, Mr Kasambara was moved to a hospital after his health seriously deteriorated due to a lack of access to medication while in detention. He remains under heavy police surveillance at Mwaiwathu hospital.

As a prominent human rights activist, Mr Kasambara has been an outspoken critic of Malawian President Bingu Wa Mutharika. The IBAHRI is concerned that Mr Kasambara is being targeted for his public human rights activities and representation of opposition members. LT

Fiji has no rule of law A secret fact-finding mission to Fiji has concluded that the rule of law “no longer operates” in the country, reports the Gazette, magazine of the Law Society of England and Wales.

The independence of the judiciary “cannot be relied upon” and “there is no freedom of expression”, Law Society Charity chair Nigel Dodds reports in Fiji: The Rule of Law Lost.

The Law Society set up Charity in 1974 to fund and provide expertise to organisations whose work is related to the law and the legal profession with a view to furthering law and justice.

Mr Dodds, who is also a Law Society council member, visited Fiji on a tourist visa in late 2011. “I found a significant number of lawyers endeavouring to do the best for their clients in intolerable circumstances. They deserve tremendous credit,” he says.

His report claims that Fiji’s Attorney-General, Aiyaz SayedKhaiyum, has been central to ending the rule of law by limiting the power of the courts and ending the independence of legal sector regulation. Fiji’s President, Ratu Josefa Iloilo, revoked all judicial appointments in 2009. The report reveals the extent to which the government depends on the appointment of judges and senior law officers from Sri Lanka on short-term contracts.

Previously criticised by the Law Society in open

correspondence, a professional accreditation regime remains in place whereby the government issues practising certificates, Mr Dodds reports. In 2011 the government refused to permit Fiji’s Law Society to hold its annual meeting.

Mr Dodds’ subterfuge was deemed necessary following the refusal of the Fiji government to admit an International Bar Association delegation to the country in 2009. He funded the trip personally. LT

Annual human rights report The International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) released its 2011 Annual Report on 23 February.

The 52-page publication provides insight into the global activities of the IBAHRI, including: capacity building, factfinding, trial observations, and training, as well as a number of advocacy initiatives and thematic programmes working towards the promotion, protection and enforcement of human rights under a just rule of law and the independence of the judiciary across the globe.

Among the many items the report covers are: capacity building in the Democratic Republic of Congo, fact-finding missions to Syria and Eqypt, and the long-term observation of the Khodorkovsky trial. The report is at www.ibanet.org/ Document/Default.aspx?DocumentUid=B166A9F77EB9-4939-9728-782991FD3996. LT

Millions spent on empty courts The British government is spending £2.5m a year maintaining dozens of redundant courts across England and Wales, the Gazette, magazine of the Law Society of England and Wales, reports.

A reply to a freedom of information request (FoI) shows 69 former court buildings remain vacant, with no imminent chance of them being sold. The FoI request confirmed that HM Courts and Tribunals Service is spending £206,000 a month maintaining them.

Justice minister Jonathan Djanogly announced in December 2010 that 142 courts would close to save money. It is understood that 121 have since shut, most by April 2011.

Commercial property experts warn that it will be difficult to sell many former court sites because of the cost of refurbishment and the stagnant market. Just five of the 121 have been sold. LT

Independent Resource Management Specialist Advice, strategy, advocacy, dispute resolution for your clients Waterfront Chambers Wellington

Philip Milne Barrister

021 803 327 or PA 04 499 6653 philip.milne@waterfront.org.nz milnelaw.co.nz

LAWTALK 791 / 16 MARCH 2012

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Online registration and payment can be made at www.lawyerseducation.co.nz

Programme

Presenters

Content

Where

When

Section 21 – contracting out

Judge Murfitt Vivienne Crawshaw

This seminar is designed for experienced practitioners, and will examine s 21 agreements and how to guide your clients through this typically emotional process. The presenters will discuss mechanisms to reduce an agreement’s vulnerability to challenge, as well as minimise the risk to the lawyer when clients have hidden agendas. They will also provide a comprehensive tool kit for some of the more complex clauses, such as attributing value, review and reconciliation clauses; including tips to help you create your own robust clauses.

Dunedin Christchurch Wellington Hamilton Auckland Live videoconference

19 Mar 20 Mar 21 Mar 26 Mar 27 Mar 27 Mar

Social Media and the Law

Richard Best Andrew ScottHowman

The widespread use of social media has given rise to new legal exposures in both the private and public sector. The presenters will give their perspectives on the legal and practical issues inherent in deploying social media, the importance from an employment law perspective of up-to-date technology use and communications policies and how to deal with anonymous and destructive people who use social media for malicious purposes.

Christchurch Wellington Auckland

2 Apr 3 Apr 4 Apr

Lawyer as Negotiator

Jane Chart

Building on participants’ own experience, this one and a half day workshop provides hands-on practice and feedback, as well as a conceptual framework for preparing for and undertaking negotiations. It uses cutting edge research to examine different strategies and tactics, and offers tools for dealing with difficult negotiators, breaking impasses, for addressing specific issues which participants might wish to raise and for generally enhancing skill and confidence in this vitally important aspect of practice.

Wellington Auckland Christchurch Wellington 2 Auckland 2

2-3 Apr 1-2 May 29-30 May 30-31 Oct 7-8 Nov

Workings of the Property Law Act – four years on

Associate Professor David Grinlinton Peter Nolan

Presenters will review the now four years’ worth of case law and academic writing to consider how the 2007 Act is performing and will examine how the standard ADLS forms have adapted to cover issues raised under the PLA. They will focus on real property aspects. All experience levels should attend.

Dunedin Christchurch Wellington Hamilton Auckland Live videoconference

23 Apr 24 Apr 26 Apr 30 Apr 1 May 1 May

Judicial Review

Francis Cooke QC

You can effectively use judicial review proceedings as a useful means of challenging decisions made by a range of public, private and voluntary organisations. If you operate in the public law area or advise decision-makers, this programme offers you a practical approach to the principles and processes of judicial review.

Christchurch Wellington Auckland

1 May 3 May 9 May

Mediation Masterclass with Prof Laurence Boulle

Professor Laurence Boulle

Practitioner, academic and teacher Laurence Boulle needs no introduction to mediators. We are indeed Wellington fortunate to have someone with his international reputation willing to hold masterclass workshops for Auckland us. Numbers are strictly limited.

2 May 4 May

Education Law Intensive

Chair: Patrick Walsh

Given the size of the school sector and its increasingly litigious nature, practitioners should add this day Auckland to their calendar. This intensive will help all practitioners who assist boards of trustees, principals, and Wellington parents in resolving, what can be complex, legal issues such as employment disputes, suspensions and exclusions, negligence, search and seizure, family law, harassment, cyber bullying and responding to complaints to the Ombudsman and Privacy Commissioner.

2 May 7 May

PPPR Act in Action

Annette Gray Judge Ullrich QC

The Protection of Property and Personal Rights Act applies to people who are not fully able to manage their own affairs due to age-related conditions, mental health disability, accident, etc. This webinar will cover the high points of a “how to” guide for anyone who undertakes PPPR Act work (for parties or as counsel for the subject person) and provides advice about care and property planning for clients with older or incapacitated family members.

Your computer

4 May

Auckland

4-6 May

SEMINARS / INTENSIVES / WORKSHOPS / CONFERENCES / WEBINARS FOR 2012

Webinar

Mediation for Lawyers - Part B Family Law 2012

Virginia Goldblatt Denise Evans

For those with recent approved prior mediation training, including our Part A course. This programme will give an opportunity to practise mediation skills in the family law area and then to be assessed on them. Strictly limited numbers with pre-course work required.

Competition Law

John Land Tom Weston QC

Competition law is a specialised and complex area and it can be quite difficult to keep up-to-date Christchurch with. This seminar will alert you to the dos and don’ts when dealing with a Commerce Commission Wellington investigation. It will look at the impact of the Commerce Act on a range of issues, the current proposal Auckland for cartel criminalisation and remedies for breaches of the Act.

7 May 8 May 9 May

Lending and Securities – changes to Consumer and Commercial Credit Laws

Sarah Simmers Stuart Walker

Credit law and lending practices have come under scrutiny as a consequence of the global financial crisis, third-tier lenders practices and recent litigation involving lenders. The government has proposed amendments to the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act 2003 to protect consumers including introducing new responsible lending requirements. The presenters will summarise and offer their perspectives on these changes.

Dunedin Christchurch Wellington Hamilton Auckland Live videoconference

14 May 15 May 16 May 21 May 22 May 22 May

Construction Contract Issues for Non-litigators

Carolyn Culliney Howard Thompson

The Construction Contracts Act, now in its 10th year, is generally working well, although some issues have arisen that are a cause for concern. This seminar will identify these issues and their implications.

It will also consider what legislative matters you should be aware of when drafting a contract.

Dunedin Christchurch Wellington Auckland Tauranga

21 May 22 May 23 May 28 May 29 May

Brochures for CLE programmes are distributed with LawTalk. If you have not received a brochure for any of the programmes listed, please see www.lawyerseducation.co.nz or email cle@lawyerseducation.co.nz or contact CLE information, tel 0800 333 111.

Programme

Presenters

Content

Where

When

SEMINARS / INTENSIVES / WORKSHOPS / CONFERENCES / WEBINARS FOR 2012 Death and the Law Intensive

Chair: Prof Nicola Peart

Most of us have a good deal of time to prepare for the inevitable – our death. Yet, too often the Wellington preparation has been inadequate and problems arise post death that can create family rifts, be costly Auckland and emotionally draining. This intensive will look at steps needed to minimize the risk of conflict and uncertainty post death – dealing with incapacity; testamentary advice and drafting; issues relating to the body, the validity of wills, and claims against estates.

24 May 25 May

Property Law Conference

Chair: Andrew Logan

The biennial 2012 Property Law Conference will be held on Monday 18 and Tuesday 19 June at the Pullman (formerly the Hyatt) in Auckland. The chair is long-time PLS Executive member Andrew Logan of Mortlock McCormick Law, Christchurch. With nine plenary sessions, two lots of breakout sessions and a stellar line-up of presenters this is an event not to be missed. Watch for the brochure which will hit your desks on 19 March.

Auckland

18-19 Jun

Stepping Up – Foundation for practising on own account

Director: John Mackintosh

The new national course Stepping Up replaces the various local Flying Start courses. All lawyers wishing to practise on their own account whether alone, in partnership, in an incorporated practice or as a barrister, will be required to complete the course.

Developed with the support of the NZLF.

Christchurch Auckland 2 Wellington

19-21 Jul 6-8 Sep 8-10 Nov

Wellington Whangarei Palmerston North Hamilton Rotorua Christchurch Nelson Invercargill

20 Mar 21 Mar 22 Mar 28 Mar 29 Mar 15 May 17 May 22 May

Auckland Hamilton Wellington Auckland Christchurch

21 Mar 11 Jul 12 Sep 14 Nov 21 Nov

TRUST ACCOUNT TRAINING PROGRAMMES Trust Account Administrator

Trust Account Supervisor Training Programme

John Hicks Steve Lewis David Littlefair

How do you keep a trust account in good order? This training is for new trust accounting staff, legal executives, legal secretaries and office managers.

Mark Anderson, John Hicks or David Littlefair.

And David Chapman, Bob Eades or Lindsay Lloyd

To qualify as a trust account supervisor, you must complete 40-55 hours’ preparation, attend the assessment day and pass all assessments.

NB: Numbers are limited so be sure to register early.

Make sure you register in time to do the preparatory work before the assessment day as listed on the right.

ENTRY LEVEL PROGRAMMES

Developed with the support of the Law Foundation Introduction to Criminal Law

Noel Sainsbury

This practical two-day, entry-level workshop will cover the fundamentals of being an effective criminal lawyer. You will gain essential skills to enable you to advise your clients about the range of available law-based resolutions that may apply to them, and put those skills into practice.

Wellington Auckland

19-20 Mar 22-23 Mar

Introduction to Family Law Advocacy and Practice

Judge John Adams Usha Patel

This limited-number workshop is designed for practitioners in their first two or three years of family law practice. It works through the sort of case that will be likely to be encountered at this stage of one’s career.

Auckland Christchurch

3-4 May 23-24 May

Introduction to Company Law

Jeremy Blake Andrew Leete John Horner Anne McLeod Graeme Switzer Daniel Wong

This is a practical two-day workshop for practitioners in their first three years’ of practice with small, Christchurch medium or large firms. It will cover issues such as acquiring a business, funding, governance, Auckland distributions, expansion, shareholder disputes, financial problems and the sale of shares. Participants Wellington will gain many practical tips to enable them to develop good practice and provide quality advice to their clients.

3-4 May 14-15 May 28-29 May

Duty Solicitor Training Programme

Duty solicitors are critical to the smooth running of a District Court list.

Here is a way to gain more of the knowledge and skills you need to join this important group.

You will: • complete pre-course reading on the key tasks of a duty solicitor • learn about penalties, tariffs and sentencing options • observe experienced duty solicitors (5 x ½ days) • develop your advising skills by working through a series of realistic scenarios • sit an open book examination • practise and improve your advocacy skills • make critiqued appearances as a duty solicitor at a practice court • be observed and assessed while appearing as a duty solicitor (a full day).

Wellington Nelson Auckland Gisborne Hamilton Tauranga Rotorua Dunedin Invercargill Wellington 2 Whanganui Hawkes Bay New Plymouth Palmerston North Manukau Whangarei

30 Mar, 18 May, 19 May 30 Mar, 18 May (in Wgtn), 19 May (in Wgtn) 11 May, 22 Jun, 23 Jun 11 May, 22 Jun (in Akl), 23 Jun (in Akl) 1 Jun, 20 Jul, 21 Jul 1 Jun, 20 Jul (in Ham) 21 Jul (In Ham) 1 Jun, 20 Jul (in Ham) 21 Jul (In Ham) 13 Jul, 31 Aug, 1 Sep 13 Jul, 31 Aug (in Dun) 1 Sep (In Dun) 3 Aug, 14 Sep, 15 Sep 3 Aug, 14 Sep (in Wgtn), 15 Sep (in Wgtn) 3 Aug, 14 Sep (in Wgtn), 15 Sep (in Wgtn) 3 Aug, 14 Sep (in Wgtn), 15 Sep (in Wgtn) 3 Aug, 14 Sep (in Wgtn), 15 Sep (in Wgtn) 21 Sep, 26 Oct, 27 Oct 21 Sep, 26 Oct (in Man), 27 Oct (in Man)

Programme brochures, online registration and booket purchases (with cheque, direct credit and credit card payment options) available at www.lawyerseducation.co.nz

LAWYERS COMPLAINTS SERVICE Lawyer fined after delay of several years in filing proceedings Auckland lawyer John Lamborn was fined $8,000 by the New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal for “inordinate delays” in acting on a client’s instructions.

Charge and response Despite regular reminders from a family law client, Mr Lamborn did not file proceedings for her for some three and a half years, by which stage they were out of time.

After the client complained, a Lawyers Standards Committee charged Mr Lamborn with negligence or competence of such a degree or frequency as to bring the profession into disrepute (s241(c) Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006).

Mr Lamborn pleaded guilty. He had at all times openly acknowledged his wrongdoing and did not attempt to mislead the client about it. He had also reached a settlement with her, and the tribunal said it was to Mr Lamborn’s credit that he had agreed to what the

In-house lawyer who practised on own account pleads guilty to misconduct Auckland lawyer Anthony Ram has been barred by the New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal from practising on his own account without the tribunal’s permission.

Mr Ram pleaded guilty to two charges of misconduct: that he had provided regulated services to people other than his employer, and that he had therefore practised on his own account when not entitled to.

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LAWTALK 791 / 16 MARCH 2012

client had asked without any attempt to negotiate. There was also no suggestion of any dishonesty or personal gain.

There had been four previous findings

by Standards Committees against Mr Lamborn, all involving delays.

However, this series of five complaints all took place within a period of two to three years when he was not functioning at his usual level, after 28 years in practice without a single complaint. Mr Lamborn provided a testimonial as to his normal competence and diligent performance.

Punishment not the main aim The tribunal decided that the threemonth suspension sought by the Standards Committee would be too severe.

It quoted recent High Court statements that punishment is not the primary purpose of the tribunal’s penalty function. The High Court said that the “predominant purposes are to advance the public interest (which include ‘protection of the public’), to maintain professional standards, to impose sanctions on a practitioner for breach of his/her duties, and to provide scope for rehabilitation in appropriate cases” (Daniels v Complaints Committee 2 of the Wellington District Law Society, Wellington, CIV-2011-485-000227, 8 Under the terms of his practising certificate, Mr Ram was able to provide legal services only to his employers and was not permitted to practise on his own account. He had acted for a number of clients who he incorrectly considered to be “employers”, but he now accepted he had made an error of interpretation and that his judgement had been poor.

The tribunal said there was no suggestion of dishonesty or other similarly serious wrongdoing in this case.

Background The relevant events took place shortly after Mr Ram was admitted. The tribunal said Mr Ram’s inexperience had showed, attracting an investigation that resulted in the charges against him.

The tribunal censured Mr Ram and

August 2011).

The tribunal said that the settlement with the client was itself a real sanction for Mr Lamborn, particularly when combined with a substantial fine and costs. He had also formally arranged for a colleague to provide support and assistance and to report to the Law Society, and the tribunal said this would address the need for public protection. The tribunal also took account of the fact that the charge was slightly less serious than misconduct and that Mr Lamborn had acted responsibly in pleading guilty and reaching a settlement.

Because the period of the delay had straddled the change from the Law Practitioners Act 1982 to the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006, the tribunal took account of the penalty provisions of both regimes.

The tribunal censured Mr Lamborn, fined him $8,000, and ordered him to take advice on the management of his practice for two years. (The specific terms of this management process had already been approved by the Law Society). He was also ordered to pay the Law Society $7,440 costs and to pay half of the tribunal’s own costs, half being $1,600. The tribunal also made an order giving formal effect to the settlement with the client. LT barred him from practising on his own account, whether in partnership or otherwise, without its permission. If Mr Ram did later seek its permission, the tribunal said it would look at whether he had complied with the relevant requirements in the interim, had acquired the requisite experience, met the criteria for practising on his own account, and fully understood his professional obligations.

The tribunal said a key element in Mr Ram being able to meet all these requirements would be competent supervision and quality mentoring in the meantime.

With his consent, the tribunal ordered Mr Ram to pay $28,000 costs to the Law Society and to reimburse the Society $7,600 for its payment of the tribunal’s own costs.

The tribunal said that the episode highlighted the need for the current controls on the right to practise on one’s own account, which are designed to protect the public and preserve public confidence in the profession.

It also showed the value in new lawyers aligning themselves with experienced practitioners who can provide quality guidance and supervision.

Parameters of “in-house” Mr Ram had asked the tribunal to set out the parameters applicable to in-house lawyers not approved to practise on their own account.

The tribunal noted the relevant provisions in the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006, s9(1) (for employee in-house lawyers) and in Chapter 15 of the Conduct and Client Care Rules (which sets out rules for all in-house lawyers, whether employed or contracted for services).

The tribunal said it would also consider whether in a particular case there had been “multiple contemporaneous or short-term sequential employment engagements of a practitioner by various employers”, as this could indicate that an employee had tried to extend his or her ability to provide services beyond what was intended by the relevant rules.

The tribunal also noted that the rules for employee in-house lawyers are intended to restrict not just the people to whom they can provide services but also the content of those services. For example, an in-house lawyer for a union or employer organisation can provide legal services to a member of that body only if the services are relevant to the person’s membership (s9(1A)).

Rejecting Mr Ram’s application for permanent name suppression, the tribunal said prospective employers may well accept that his misconduct was simply a mistake by an inexperienced lawyer, and in that case publication would be unlikely to hinder Mr Ram’s rehabilitation. Further, employers should always be entitled to know about a prospective employee’s professional disciplinary record. The tribunal also said that disciplinary charges often result in distress, embarrassment and adverse personal and financial consequences, and Mr Ram had not shown any damage out of the ordinary to displace the presumption of openness. LT

When is a lawyer just a consumer?

A Lawyers Standards Committee has reprimanded a lawyer (B) for attempting to buy products from an opposing client’s online business.

The opposing client complained that B had contacted her directly at a time when B was acting for her ex-husband in a dispute over relationship property and access to the couple’s child. The complainant said that B had twice used a false name to order massage wax from her website and that her actions had been inappropriate, misleading and highly upsetting. The complainant believed the deception was linked with the ongoing Family Court case.

B told the committee she had ordered the wax for a close relative, who was very ill. She said she had used a pseudonym and a personal email address because she had been worried the complainant would refuse to supply the goods if she knew who was ordering them. B thought the complainant could possibly feel some resentment about a recent court decision favouring her ex-husband.

Registry The following people have applied to the NZLS for certificates or approvals.

Admission

under Part 3 of the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006 Auckland Branch Matthew Allan BEATTIE Jesvinjit Kaur BOPAROY Laura Peta COCHRANE Lucas Lance Clive COONEY Shiraan Marie DUNN Ho Tin Nixon FONG Anastasiya GUTOROVA Jiyeon HAN Emily Ann HARRIS Jeanne HEATLIE Rachel Susan HOLLY Katie Louise HUGHES Paul Sukchul KIM (Also known as Sukchul KIM) Daria Alexeevna KOVALENKO I-Chin LIEN Ibolya LITTLE Sarah Joy MCFETRIDGE Jennifer Marie MCNAMARA Asheeta NANDINI Shanna Maree PARSONS Alice Colleen POOLE Mandvi Nandita SINGH Namrata Charan SINGH Hannah Charlotte STUART Jamie Li-Juan WONG Canterbury Branch Charlotte Rose BECKER Samuel John Wyllie FLETCHER Olivia Monica MCBRIDE

James Robert PULLAR Anna Louise WORRILL Hawkes Bay Branch Bodee Rutherford OLIVER Otago Branch Mark John NORMAN Lenore Margaret BRADY Sophan Tep PEARSON Christine Samy Antoun SEDRAK Greta Eliza-Marie KEENAN Serena Antonia STARRS Taranaki Branch Jonathan Reuben PETTERSON Hayden Joseph MAZENGARB Josephine Isobel MOONEY Waikato Bay of Plenty Branch Clyde Matthew BOWES Rachel Maree BOYTE Andrew Robert CAMERON Anna Louise CHAPMAN Rachael Ann MEMBERY Emma Louise MILES Simon Bruce MILLS Alicia Marie ROSS Alex Jayne Hinemoa SHADBOLT Mala SHARMA Rebekah Naomi WALTHAM Rohan WANIGASEKERA Renata David Murray WEST

Approval to Practise on Own Account

under s30 of the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006 Auckland Branch Jeremy Andrew BROWNE Joseph Wallis BIDDLE Francis Kevin MCENTEE Nicolaas Breunis LODDER

Taranaki Branch Karen Ann VENABLES Waikato Bay of Plenty Branch Jijie (George) GUO

The Registry is now advertising names of candidates for certificates of character, practising certificates and approvals to practise on own account on the NZLS website at http://www.lawsociety.org.nz/home/for_lawyers/registry/ applications_for_approval/ Comments concerning the suitability of any of the above-named applicants for the certificate or approval being sought should be made in writing to me by 22 March 2012.

Any submissions should be given on the understanding that they may be disclosed to the candidate.

Lisa Attrill, Registry Manager Email: lisa.attrill@lawsociety.org.nz, Direct Dial: (+64) (4) 463 2916 Freephone: 0800 22 30 30, Fax: (+64) (4) 463 2989

LAWTALK 791 / 16 MARCH 2012

29

L AW YERS COMPL AINTS SERVICE B accepted her actions had been inappropriate and unwise, and she apologised for any distress she had caused. However, she argued she had not been providing legal services when she ordered the products. She said she had done this as a member of the public acting in her personal time, and she had given her personal details and address although not her own name.

The committee said, however, that it was clear B’s actions had occurred “in connection with the provision of regulated services”.

On another occasion B had also inadvertently sent the complainant an email to do with the relationship property dispute. The committee found that B had breached Rule 10.2 of the Conduct and Client Care Rules by contacting the other party when matters were current and the parties were each represented by lawyers actively involved in those matters.

The use of a false name had also breached Rule 5.2, which states: “The professional judgement of a lawyer must at all times be exercised within the bounds of the law and the professional obligations of the lawyer solely for the benefit of the client.”

The committee found B guilty of unsatisfactory conduct. In deciding on penalty it took into account B’s difficult personal situation and a “unique” set of circumstances. It reprimanded her and ordered her to pay $500 costs to the Law Society. LT

S40 PUBLIC WORKS ACT JOSEPH LEES & DAVID LEES Would any lawyer who currently acts for or is holding a will for the abovenamed, who owned property in Enfield, Oamaru, please contact Chris Cochrane, ph 03 363 5068, Darroch Ltd, PO Box 142, Christchurch 8140. Joseph Lees died 13 February 1876 and David Lees died 16 April 1915. Information is sought for the purposes of Section 40 of the Public Works Act 1981.

Threat to make criminal Information lack not complaint “crossed the excused by defence of “still settling in” threshold” A Lawyers Standards Committee has ruled that lawyers acting in civil disputes can legitimately use robust tactics to gain an advantage, such as threatening civil court action, but threatening to complain to the Police in an effort to gain an advantage is not permitted.

The committee heard a complaint that during negotiations a lawyer had tried to “blackmail” the other side by proposing a settlement that would have precluded his client from either bringing a civil action or going to the Police.

The committee found this was a clear breach of the Lawyers Conduct and Client Care Rules. Lawyers must not “threaten, expressly or by implication, to make any accusation against a person or to disclose something about any person for an improper purpose” (Rule 2.7). Here, the committee said, the improper purpose was to attempt to force the resolution of the dispute without following a proper process.

The committee said the Lawyers Complaints Service was not concerned with “robust” tactics used by lawyers in the course of negotiations or court proceedings, and said it had no objection to “strong advocacy combined with a threat to issue civil proceedings”.

However, the implied threat to complain to the Police “crossed the threshold”, and was therefore unsatisfactory conduct.

The committee censured the lawyer and ordered him to apologise to the complainant. It also ordered him to pay $500 costs to the Law Society. LT

A lawyer (A) who had recently taken over a new practice was fined $500 by a Lawyers Standards Committee for failing to provide the client service information required by the Lawyers Conduct and Client Care Rules 2008 (RCCC).

A client had complained of overcharging, despite an earlier ruling by the Disputes Tribunal that A’s bill had been fair and reasonable. The client said A had not provided terms of engagement, and for that reason the fee was still an issue for him.

The committee decided to take no action on the overcharging complaint, since the Disputes Tribunal had made a ruling and the parties had reached an agreement on it. However, the committee found that A had breached Chapter 3 of the RCCC by failing to provide a letter of engagement.

A told the committee this had been an oversight on his part. He had only just taken over a new practice, and he was still settling in and coming up to speed with existing clients. A suggested the exception in Rule 3.7(b) might apply: this excuses lawyers from providing client service information if it would be impracticable.

The committee accepted that A’s failure had been an oversight, but it saw no evidence it had been impracticable for him to comply. He had breached the RCCC and was therefore guilty of unsatisfactory conduct. The committee fined him $500 and ordered him to pay $200 costs to the Law Society. LT

Classified Advertising

WILLS SAR SAPOTO APOLINARIO

IAN GEORGE LAWSON

NOEL JOHN BALL

Would any lawyer holding a will for the above-named, born 26 May 1937, died in Wellington on 18 December 2011, please contact Ken Ah Kuoi of Strachan O’Connor, PO Box 40 643, Upper Hutt 5140, DX RP 44006, ph 04 528 7676, fax 04 528 7675 or email enq@justlaw.co.nz.

Would any lawyer holding a will or has acted for the above-named, late of Te Aroha, who died on 18 February 2012, please contact Fiona Ryan of Ryan Law, Solicitors, DX GA24027 or PO Box 104, Morrinsville 3340, ph 07 889 8041 or email fiona.ryan@ ryanlaw.co.nz.

Would any lawyer holding a will for the above-named, late of 171 Fairway Drive, Whangarei who died on 1 February 2012, please contact Ron Warne, Hammonds, Solicitors, DX AA23502 or PO Box 16, Dargaville 0340, ph 09 439 7099, fax 09 439 6464 or email hammonds.law@xtra.co.nz.

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LAWTALK 791 / 16 MARCH 2012

WILLS NOREEN (NORA) ELIZABETH HEATH

PHILLIP ALEXANDER COTTRELL

Would any lawyer holding a will for the above-named, AKA Elizabeth Heath, late of Auckland, born 17 April 1948, who died on the 30 January 2012, please contact Lisa Lawson, PO Box 74088, Greenlane, Auckland 1546, ph 021 710 303 or email lisal@apexgroup.co.nz.

Would any lawyer holding a will for the above-named, late of 56 / 185 Victoria Street, Wellington, radio journalist, who died on 11 December 2011, aged 43, please contact Amadee Rose of W L C Brierley Law Office, PO Box 7196, Newtown, Wellington 6242, ph 04 389 2571, fax 04 389 2789 or email amadee@wlcbrierley.co.nz.

MASINA YEE Would any lawyer holding a will for the above-named, late of Belmont, Lower Hutt, AKA Masina Moy and Masina Southon-Yee, who died on 27 January 2012, please contact John Swan, Swan Legal Ltd, PO Box 10829, Wellington 6143, ph 04 472 3006, fax 04 472 3007 or email john@swanlegal.co.nz.

David John Dudley Brown Would any lawyer holding a will for the above-named, late of Auckland, antique dealer, who died at Auckland on or about 22 February 2012, please contact Simon Reeves, PO Box 90150, Auckland Mail Centre, Auckland 1142, or email rethink@xtra.co.nz.

SITUATIONS VACANT

ALICE MAUDINA WICHMAN Would any lawyer holding a will for the above-named, late of 9 Waldie Grove, Avalon, Lower Hutt, housewife, died on 7 January 2012, please contact Don Battah of Keesing McLeod, Lawyers, DX RP42010 or PO Box 30342, Lower Hutt 5040, ph 04 569 8059, fax 04 569 8035 or email don.battah@ keesingmcleod.co.nz.

RENATA MOEKE Would any lawyer holding a will for the above-named, late of Wellington, who died on 29 May 2011, please contact Shahana Firdosh of Burnard Bull & Co, Barristers and Solicitors, PO Box 946, Gisborne 4040, ph 06 867 1399, fax 06 868 5024 or email shahana.f@burnardbull.co.nz.

TO LET

Office to Rent With the opening of the Public Defence Service office in Tauranga, opportunities exist to join an enthusiastic new team committed to providing high quality, timely legal advice and representation and contributing to significant development in criminal defence services in New Zealand.

Duty Lawyer Supervisor An experienced criminal lawyer is sought to lead the duty lawyer service for the Tauranga District Court.

Reporting to the Senior Duty Lawyer Supervisor for the northern region, you will be committed to ensuring the delivery of high quality duty lawyer services to clients and the further development of an effective and efficient service.

As well as leadership skills, you will have strong organisational and administrative skills and enjoy working in a team. You will have credibility with judges, peers and others working in the criminal courts and an interest in training and mentoring.

Applications for either a full time appointment within the Public Defence Service combining duty lawyer supervision and criminal casework or a part-time role will be considered.

For more information, please email peter.hutchinson@justice.govt.nz or telephone him on (09) 836 9043.

Junior Criminal Lawyers The Public Defence Service represents legally aided clients in a full range of criminal cases. This is an opportunity to advance your legal career in a busy, challenging and supportive environment. Our commitment to training and development includes ongoing mentoring, high quality work, a strong collegial environment and a competitive salary.

Reporting to the Deputy Public Defender, Tauranga, you will have completed duty solicitor training and have Category one approval or the ability to gain this.

For more information, please email joy.mcdonald@justice.govt.nz or telephone her on (04) 978 7052.

To request a copy of the job description and application form please go to the Ministry of Justice website vacancy numbers Duty Lawyer Supervisor 22780 and Junior Lawyers 22781.

Applications for all positions close on April 2 2012.

210m2 office just 100 metres from the Hastings Courthouse and next to an accounting practice.

Contact Wendy (06) 874 3728 Fearon & Co 56x100 ad_BW.qxd:Layout 1

LEGAL SERVICES

ENGLISH LAW AGENCY SERVICES SOLICITORS Established 1825

Fearon & Co specialise in acting for non-residents in the fields of Probate, Property and Litigation. In particular:• Obtaining Grants of Representation for Estates in England and Wales, Channel Islands, Isle of Man and elsewhere and re-sealing Australian and New Zealand Grants of Representation • Administering English Estates • Buying and selling homes and business premises • Recovering compensation for accident victims • Litigation including Debt Recovery and Matrimonial Our offices are within easy reach of the London Airports and Central London Stations

VISIT OUR WEBSITE www.fearonlaw.com Westminster House, 6 Faraday Road, Guildford, Surrey GU1 1EA, United Kingdom Tel: 00 44 (0)1483 540840 Fax: 00 44 (0)1483 540844 General Email: enquiries@fearonlaw.com

LITIGATION

Martin Williams 00 44 (0)1483 540843

mw@fearonlaw.com

PROPERTY John Phillips

00 44 (0)1483 540841

ajp@fearonlaw.com

PROBATE

Francesca Nash 00 44 (0)1483 540842

fn@fearonlaw.com

Regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority of England and Wales

LAWTALK 791 / 16 MARCH 2012

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21/

SITUATION VACANT

TO LET

BARRISTER’S CHAMBERS Fully furnished private office in Barrister’s chambers available. Situated in the Ground level of Waterloo Towers on Waterloo Quadrant, Auckland, conveniently next door to the High Court. Floor shared with two senior civil Barristers. All inclusive $1,200 per month.

Phone (09) 309 3893

Partnership Opportunities - Nationwide We currently have a number of partnership opportunities in Wellington, the Hawke’s Bay and the South Island.

If you are a partner looking to make a lifestyle move to a provincial firm, or a senior associate with partnership aspirations we have openings in the following areas: •

Commercial

•

Public law

•

General practice

•

Family law

•

Employment law

•

Resource management

SITUATION VACANT

If you have extensive experience in any of the above areas of the law and are interested in exploring your options, we’d welcome the opportunity to talk to you in confidence. We have a proven track record in partnership negotiations and a range of clients who are looking at growth and succession planning around the country.

For further information in strict confidence please contact Ben Traynor or Clare Savali on 04 471 1423 or email admin@ nicherecruitment.co.nz

Solicitor – Rural Law We are a firm in the Wairarapa looking for a lawyer who has had at least 2 years’ experience working in a law firm, has completed any proposed OE and is ready to establish themself in the community and as a member of our firm. Partnership opportunities exist for the right applicant.

The firm has a long and proud history in the Wairarapa, providing a wide range of services to our clients throughout NZ. We are looking for someone who has a real interest in rural law and a complementary field such as employment law or relationship property.

The firm operates from modern premises in Masterton, with good systems, and efficient, experienced and friendly staff. The partners encourage and support the staff to achieve their aims. The Wairarapa provides an enviable out door environment with good schools, and is within close proximity to Wellington.

Expressions of interest can be made in writing or by email to The Practice Manager, Logan Gold Walsh Lawyers Ltd, PO Box 562, Masterton; melissa@lgwlawyers.co.nz

Phone: +64 4 471 1423 Email: admin@nicherecruitment.co.nz www.nicherecruitment.co.nz

www.facebook.com /mylawsociety

SITUATIONS VACANT

Summer’s Starting to Heat Up

Legal Executive – Estates and Trusts

Assistant Company Secretary – This complex international business is looking for a person with either secondment or in-house experience to join them as a company secretary. A great range of projects, governance responsibility and working across multiple Boards - $85,000 to $100,000. Ref: 29242

This well positioned Christchurch based firm will see you assisting high net worth individuals with their private client legal work.

Employment – Seeking an intermediate solicitor to join this boutique firm with a fabulous reputation.

Do you want to progress your career due to ability not structure? Do you want 110% focus and a great culture in which to work? Ref: 29127 In-house Banking and Finance – Are you looking for a role that will use your legal skills, relationship management and commercial acumen in equal measure? Do you have a good knowledge of financial services, particularly securities? Ref: 29270

Wellington Ph: +64 4 499 6161 PO Box 11003 Auckland Ph: +64 9 306 5500 PO Box 105732

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Intermediate Corporate Lawyer – National based firm that is recognised by the legal 500 for their strong corporate practice. Office of 12 authors in Auckland with a great flow of work, recognised partners and a enjoyable culture. Ref: 29316 To apply, send your CV to aucklandjobs@momentum.co.nz quoting the reference number. For further information in strict confidence, please contact Rachel Beattie or Rebecca Laney on (09) 306 5500.

LAWTALK 791 / 16 MARCH 2012

Working in collaboration with Anthony Harper’s expert Private Client Special Counsel the successful Legal Executive will be exposed to a constant stream of quality private client work, including managing the administration of complex estates and trusts.

Responsibilities include preparing and amending wills, explaining legislation relevant to asset protection and succession planning, providing advice on relationship property issues and Enduring Powers of Attorney and the establishment of family trusts.

To be seriously considered, you will be a Registered Legal Executive with a specialisation in trust and estate planning capable of cultivating trusted relationships with clients.

Anthony Harper offers a first-rate culture that recognises and rewards great performance.

To apply, please email your CV to wellingtonjobs@momentum.co.nz quoting reference number 29303. For further information in strict confidence, please contact Jennifer Little on (04) 499 6161.

LEGAL SERVICES

PUBLIC NOTICE

THE WAY TO GO

UK Private Client Services & Estate Administration

Cobbetts is a leading UK law firm based in Birmingham, Leeds, London and Manchester. Our private capital team provides sensitive, timely and thorough advice on a wide range of personal matters, including: • Administration of UK estates • Obtaining Grants of Representation • Contentious trusts and probate • Powers of Attorney • Settlements and Taxation • Wills For further details, please contact: Jennifer Morries on +44 (121) 2229368 or jennifer.morries@cobbetts.com Alexia Loughran on +44 (121) 2229277 or alexia.loughran@cobbetts.com

www.cobbetts.com Cobbetts LLP is a limited liability partnership

PRACTICE NOTICE

Establish a Connection in Australia We offer the complete Package:            

Company Formations Smart Solutions Confidential Investigations Taxation returns and planning Payrolls, Audits, BAS Consultancy Services Financial Planning & Advice Sale and purchase of Business Bookkeeping Mail, Email Services Meeting/Boardroom services Other business needs

Experience and Cost Effectiveness St. Clair partners – CBD Sydney Chartered Accountants, Tax Agents, Auditors and Business Advisers

Contact: Mr Paul St. Clair or Mr Peter Small

New Director The Directors are very pleased to announce Phil Shannon as a new Director with our team. Phil is a quality practitioner and brings a wealth of experience and skill from many years working with some of New Zealand’s largest corporate law firms.

Website: www.stclairco.com.au Email: accountants@stclairco.com.au T: +61 2 9221 4088 F: +61 2 9221 7498 In the heart of CBD Sydney 15th Level, 109 Pitt Street, SYDNEY NSW 2000 GPO Box 1881, SYDNEY NSW 2001, AUSTRALIA

42nd year of Practice

Phil’s background in large scale infrastructure projects, the Public Works Act and in Local Government advisory adds a new dimension to our legal portfolio.

Specialty Areas: •

Accredited supplier of property services to the NZ Government

•

Commercial & Residential Property

•

Maori Land Law

•

Trusts and Estates planning

•

Public Works Act compensation

•

Local Government / Public Law advisory

•

Company Law

Phil Shannon LLM (Hons) +64 4 916 0161 phil@johnlaw.co.nz www.johnlaw.co.nz

SITUATION VACANT

Intermediate Crown Prosecutor specialist barristers

Almao Douch has a vacancy for an Intermediate Crown Prosecutor.

The firm is the office of the Crown Solicitor at Hamilton and a solicitor with experience in criminal jury trials is required to conduct the prosecution of trials in both the High and District Courts together with attendances in relation to other aspects of the Crown Solicitor’s practice. Applications from interested practitioners with 3 or more years’ experience are sought.

In each case the terms of employment will be negotiated to reflect the experience and ability of the successful applicant.

Applications accompanied by a CV should be addressed to: Almao Douch PO Box 19173 HAMILTON 3240 Attention: R G Douch

LAWTALK 791 / 16 MARCH 2012

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SITUATIONS VACANT

CORPORATE COUNSEL • Potential for part-time • Auckland Here is a great opportunity to work within a successful and highly supportive in-house team and assist in delivering sound and timely legal advice across the full spectrum of our client’s finance-related business.

You are likely to have a minimum of four to six years PQE and preferably some experience of working inhouse which may include time spent on secondment.

This role will also suit a more experienced Lawyer, who may be seeking a part-time, perhaps 4 days per week, working arrangement. You will have high quality commercial law experience, including recent experience in finance-related legal work and ideally retail banking experience.

This role has plenty of variety and is strongly “hands on” as the legal team is highly accessible and closely involved in all aspects of the business.

You will assist with the provision of legal advice on financial and commercial matters, working with the General Counsel to help the business achieve compliance with regulatory reforms; drafting and reviewing contracts; supporting the business with its compliance obligations; assisting in managing litigation and disputes; conducting research, and providing advice on specific projects and larger transactions.

Our client’s work environment is open and collaborative, and as such this role will suit someone who has great initiative, first rate interpersonal skills and the ability to confidently engage with the business. In addition you will be highly organised and solutions-focused with an aptitude for both legal and commercial reasoning.

This is a tremendous opportunity to become immersed in the business, develop your legal and commercial skills in a team focused environment, and play an integral part in our client’s ongoing business success.

For a confidential discussion about this opportunity, please contact Jennifer Williams at Williams Legal Recruitment on 09 446 6050 or 027 220 8003 or email jw@williamslegalrecruitment.co.nz

Corporate Lawyer – Dispute Resolution Auckland BNZ is looking for a lawyer with experience in litigation and dispute resolution to join our Legal Team, reporting to the Head of Dispute Resolution.

This is a superb development opportunity for an ambitious lawyer with corporate/commercial litigation experience.

You will have approximately three or more years experience in a mid/top tier law firm or a major corporate organisation as an in-house lawyer and will possess excellent technical, negotiation and communication skills.

BNZ offers a competitive remuneration package, stimulating and challenging work, and a rewarding work/life balance.

To apply, please visit www.bnzcareers.co.nz quoting job reference 80931LAW or for further information, phone Vicki Parker on 09 924 8551.

Applications close 1st April 2012.

See how you can build your career at:

bnzcareers.co.nz

building Business builds Community builds Family

NZALPA Solicitor (In House)

• Newly Created Position

• Auckland Airport Location

The New Zealand Air Line Pilots’ Association (NZALPA) is a well established internationally affiliated trade union and professional organisation representing 2000+ commercial pilots and air traffic controllers in New Zealand. NZALPA oversees four important functions on behalf of members: Safety and Security, Representation, Advocacy, and Insurance.

The NZALPA Industrial/Legal team is recognised nationally for work on behalf of members covering a comprehensive range of workplace relations and employment matters across a range of jurisdictions.

The Position This position is a unique opportunity for an ambitious Solicitor to grow and enhance employment law skills.

Working as part of a highly experienced Industrial/Legal team, you will have the opportunity to learn from NZALPA Counsel / Senior Counsel, managing to the highest standard all aspects of employment related legal matters, disputes and problems including alternative dispute resolution and litigation, on behalf of NZALPA members.

The role will be hands on and it is anticipated you will be handling your own files within six months.

Qualifications LlB and admitted to the Roll of Barristers and Solicitors (preferably with a current Practicing Certificate).

Required Skills • A minimum of 2 years’ post admission experience • Ability to balance priorities and co-ordinate work effectively in order to meet deadlines and deal with high workloads • Knowledge and/or experience relating to employment and public law Applications close 31 March 2012 To submit your application, in strict confidence, please apply online using the appropriate link below.

For further information go to http://www.nzalpa.org.nz/jobs.aspx Your interest will be treated in the strictest of confidence.