Connecting with the Profession

As we eased our way into calendar year 2022, the editorial team at LawNews looked forward to a period of relative calm and consolidation. With a major rethink and redesign of LawNews in June 2021, followed by the covid-induced disruption that saw LawNews become a digital-only publication at the start of the first lockdown in March 2020, we thought we could do with a more leisurely start to 2022.

How wrong we were! Consolidation – maybe – but when it came to legal news, the 2022 year proved to be anything but calm, with a raft of controversial decisions and initiatives affecting the profession.

Most significant and fundamental to the future of practitioners was the so-called once-in-a-generation review of the legal profession by an independent panel which, at the time of writing, had yet to reveal its recommendations.

This was also the year when a series of flash-points made it crystal clear that politics and the law are inextricably linked. Fundamental constitutional issues, such as co-governance, freedom of speech, fair trial rights and the human rights issues around vaccine mandates were hotly debated by readers within the pages of LawNews. As always, our editorial policy was to offer readers a free marketplace of thought, with the only criteria being that opinion pieces are well-argued, well-written, non-abusive and don’t breach the law. We welcome a wide variety of views, particularly on controversial issues.

The NZLS discussion paper wasn’t the only consultation document put before the profession this year. LawNews also wrote extensively about issues raised in the inaugural annual report released by Chief Justice Dame Helen Winkelmann and her call to fully digitise the country’s courts, partly as a means of improving access to justice. And we followed up when the digital plan was announced with an interview with Justice David Goddard, who is managing the project, and comments from members of our Technology and Law committee who had identified potential fishhooks in the plan.

Towards the end of the year, the long-awaited report on access to civil justice was released. Three years in gestation, the report proposes sweeping changes to the way cases are dealt with in the District Court’s civil jurisdiction.

Other highlights of the year were the James Gardner-Hopkins penalty decision and appeal for sexual misconduct, the posthumous quashing of sexual abuse convictions against the late Peter Ellis and calls to regulate AI-generated legal advice.

We also covered the serving of legal documents on crypto crooks via the blockchain, the vexed issue of fair pay agreements, new ways of pricing legal services beyond the billable hour, tax traps for those wanting to move property out of trusts, how the Commerce Commission tripped at the finish line when investigating New Zealand’s grocery duopoly and gaping holes in the government’s yet-to-befinalised income insurance scheme.

Once again, we would like to extend a heartfelt thanks to all our writers, colleagues, advertisers, and readers for another stellar year. Moves are afoot to significantly expand the footprint of LawNews and its sister publication, The Bulletin, in the coming months. We can’t wait to tell you all about it!