Committees Update

18 committees represented by over 200 members.

General update

 Majority of ADLS Committees provided input and perspectives on the following submissions:

 Independent Panel Review on Regulating Lawyers and Legal Services

 Digital Strategy for Courts and Tribunals

 Possible changes to notification rules under the Privacy Act 2020.

Overall, the work of committees this year has been impressive. Details on a selection of their work follows.

AML/CFT LAW COMMITTEE

• This Committee was formed in November 2021 in response to the AML/CFT Act Statutory Review 2021, a consultation administered by the Ministry of Justice under s 156A of the AML/CFT Act.

• Met with the Ministry of Justice and made extensive verbal submissions on the AML/CFT Statutory Review, with early signs that the proposed solutions would be adopted as recommendations in the Ministry of Justice’s report to the Minister in June 2022.

• Reviewed the newly published DIA’s Approach to Regulation of AML/CFT & Guide to Compliance and Enforcement Activities documents.

Courthouse Liaison Committee

• ADLS was notified in January 2022 of damage to the historic books collections stored in the NZLS Auckland High Court library. The

Committee has met to consider potential solutions for this matter.

Cpd Committee

• The Committee oversaw activities, covering a range of areas of practice, ages and stages.

• Thought was given to ensuring a mix of blackletter law, legal skills and more general skills.

Criminal Law Committee

• Significant engagement with various stakeholders including the Police, the Ministry of Justice, the Courts, Privacy Commissioner, Legal Services Commissioner, and the Department of Corrections.

• Comprehensive submissions, including: Three Strikes Legislation Repeal Bill in January 2022, to the Court of Appeal for the matter Hanara -v- R (CA63/2009) on 15 March 2022. Made oral and written submissions to Parliament’s Justice Select Committee on the COVID-19 Response (Courts Safety) Legislation Bill, advocating for permanent changes to allow for more remote participation in Courts.

Documents And Precedents Committee

• The Committee, in conjunction with the Agreement for Sale and Purchase of Real Estate Sub-Committee, continued the task of comprehensively reviewing and updating documents.

• The ASPRE Eleventh Edition 2022 went live on ADLS and REINZ platforms in February 2022 following which the Eleventh Edition 2022 (2) of the ASPRE was drafted to include the Te āhui o Matariki Public Holiday Bill which was passed into law.

• The Sixth Edition 2022 of the Tender and Auction Agreements were updated, bringing them in-line with the ASPRE 11th Edition 2022 (2). Release dates were Sale and Purchase by Auction, Sixth Edition 2022 – 28 June; Sale and Purchase by Tender, Sixth Edition 2022 – 19 July; Agreement for Sale & Purchase of Real Estate, Eleventh Edition 2022 (2) – 19 July.

Employment Law Committee

• Continued to cultivate good working relationships with the Employment Court and the Employment Relations Authority.

• Made a submission to MBIE on the proposed New Zealand Income Insurance Scheme in April 2022, filed a submission on the Fair Pay Agreements Bill in May 2022. Filed submissions on the Employment Relations (Extended Time for Personal Grievance for Sexual Harassment) Amendment Bill in July 2022 and made oral submissions to Parliament’s Workforce and Education Select Committee. A submission to the Independent Review Panel raised the matter of resourcing to get through the backlog of cases, including that lawyers should be required to do pro bono work each year to fulfil renewal requirements.

ENVIRONMENT & RESOURCE MANAGEMENT LAW COMMITTEE

• The Committee monitored significant policy and legislative developments during the year and contributed to a wide range of CPD events for the profession on a range of issues.

• Focused on recent case law and local government policy developments including the Supreme Court judgment on offshore underwater mining and the government’s obligations under the Treaty of Waitangi.

• Filed a submission to the Chief Environment Court Judge on the revised Environment Court Practice Note in August 2022.

Family Law Committee

• The Committee continued to stay informed of operational matters concerning the Family Court and provide useful updates to LawNews. Also engaged in closer collaboration with NZ Bar Association Family Law Committee and Te Hunga Roia o Aotearoa Family Law Committee.

HEALTH & SAFETY LAW COMMITTEE

• Commenced a more collaborative approach to potential areas for improvement in Health & Safety law to WorkSafe NZ.

• Continued to make progress on various items within the 5-year review of the Health & Safety at Work Act.

• Filed individual submissions to the proposed inclusion of Health & Safety professionals as “private investigators” and requiring a licence under the Private Security Personnel and Private Investigators Act 2010.

IMMIGRATION & REFUGEE LAW COMMITTEE

• Continued to foster good working relationships with Immigration New Zealand and sent two representatives to the fortnightly Immigration New Zealand Operations meetings.

• Approached by Rainbow Law on human rights issue concerning international students. Prepared a letter to support Rainbow Law to the University of Auckland’s Law School.

• Resolved to work with the Immigration & Protection Tribunal on the digital strategy of that tribunal.

Members Special Fund Committee

• The MSF Committee continues to consider applications from eligible Members for financial support in circumstances of hardship and friendship.

Mental Health And Disability Law Committee

• Wrote to the Auckland District Health Board on the need for an updated interview procedure in mental health units for when a patient reports physical or sexual abuse to staff, a standardised process for providing patient files in preparation for mental health hearings and the lack of private interview facilities for lawyers and clients at the main mental health unit at Auckland Hospital.

• The Committee focused on the ongoing difficulties of conducting hearings via AVL as opposed to in person and raised this with the Family Court Committee via committee member Judge Recordon.

Newly Suited Committee

• The Committee focused on important issues such as diversity and well-being for junior lawyers, support received when going through the admissions process and, attrition rates of law students and junior lawyers. Discussions about mandatory mentoring for one hour each month as part of CPD requirements, with junior lawyers having more structured CPD on mandatory topics such as complaints, review of disciplinary procedures and general legal ethics.

• The Committee provided input to the submission on Digital Strategy for Courts & Tribunals.

Parole Committee

• The Committee continued to voice, on behalf of all practitioners, the issue of Counsel access to clients in custody, which had been made difficult by the Department of Corrections since the start of the pandemic.

• Engaged in a special meeting with Sir Ronald Young, Chair of the New Zealand Parole Board, on a range of topics including access to prisoners and the timeframe in returning to Parole hearings in person; access to programmes; timeframes for filing submissions with the Parole Board panel; quality of psychiatrist reports and; questioning style of some Parole Board members and what is appropriate.

Property Disputes Committee

• The Committee continued to provide a wellinformed and cost-effective means of resolving a wide range of disputes relating to property issues.

• Received positive feedback from counsel who filed a dispute on the process and quick turnaround of the final decision.

Property Law Committee

• Discussions about how self-isolation requirements had impacted on settlement of property transactions. Observed the general trend of reduction in volume in the property market resulting from the amendments to the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act 2003 coming into effect, as well as the legal implications of rising costs and increasing difficulties in accessing building materials on new builds and developments.

• Engaged significantly with LINZ on reducing processing times of Title and Survey transactions. Also, on communicating to practitioners the go-live rollout of the Notice of Change of Ownership for Auckland Council on Landonline.

• The Committee’s Retirement Villages sub-committee attended the Retirement Commissioner’s briefing in Wellington in August.

• Had a major role in the preparation and delivery of the Unit Titles half-day conference in September.

Technology And Law Committee

• The Committee focused on the volume of new legislation being enacted including Harmful Digital Communications; Digital Identity Services Trust Framework Bill and Security Information in Proceedings Legislation Bill.

• Drafted media articles including technical aspects of the COVID-19 vaccination passport, and the increasing prevalence of virtual sexual assault of female avatars in online communities, raising an interesting cross-over between criminal, commercial, privacy and potentially defamation law. The Committee also discussed the landmark case Director of Human Rights Proceedings vs Netsafe Inc [2022] NZHRRT 15 and its implications for people who have experienced prolonged sexual harassment and Netsafe as the main regulator.

Trust Law Committee

• The Committee continued to stay engaged with the IRD and kept a watching brief on succession law reform and the new reporting requirements for trusts proposed by IRD. Because of its submission on the reporting requirements, the IRD has now recognised the expertise of this Committee and extended an invitation to the Committee to make a submission on Foreign Trust Remedials. The Committee also provided expert feedback to the IRD on issues arising from the latest changes to the bright-line test and rollover relief.

• At the invitation of the Legal Research Foundation, some members presented at a Masterclass series on Trust Law.