News

The Government ignored advice from the Ministry of Education and Treasury that the private school Wanganui Collegiate should not become a state integrated school. Radio New Zealand has obtained information under the Official Information Act that show the ministry told the Government that there...

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The first music pirate stung under new file-sharing laws has been fined $616 but "didn't realise" the actions were illegal. The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ) - which represents music studios - took an unnamed offender to the Copyright Tribunal last year for...

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Justice Minister Judith Collins has warned that any decision on compensation for David Bain will be delayed even longer now he has filed a judicial review of her actions in his claim. Mr Bain has filed a High Court claim against Ms Collins seeking a review of her actions since she received the...

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The fight to defend legal professional privilege looks set to continue, despite last week’s landmark victory for the profession in the Supreme Court. Parliament was urged to consider extending the scope of LPP in the wake of the judgment by the 140,000-member Institute of Chartered...

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Capital + Merchant Finance director, Owen Francis Tallentire, has today pleaded guilty to three charges laid by the Financial Markets Authority under the Securities Act 1978. Mr Tallentire pleaded guilty to two charges of making an untrue statement in a registered prospectus and one charge of...

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A new visa rule coming into effect today will help ensure New Zealanders are first in line for job vacancies created during the Canterbury rebuild, says Immigration Minister Nathan Guy. “The new rule means visa applications to fill most jobs in Canterbury won’t be processed until a...

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Construction contract disputes will be dealt with faster and more cost effectively under proposed amendments to the Construction Contracts Act, which were introduced in Parliament today. Building and Construction Minister Maurice Williamson says the proposed changes, which include streamlining...

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Lead Counsel to the Levenson inquiry, Robert Jay QC, has suggested that in order to deal with the problem of online libel, ISPs should be brought within the scope of "publishers" for the purposes of defamation. However ISPs are not overjoyed with the prospect of being placed under a...

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Veteran UK actress, Joanna Lumley, in an interview with the Telegraph, gave advice to young women on how to keep safe. She said: "Don't look like trash, don't get drunk, don't be sick down your front, don't break your heels and stagger about in the wrong clothes at midnight,"...

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For many, the time to look for a new job is when they have to (such as in the wake or redundancy) or when the "excrement" factor rises above the apathy factor. However there are certain milestones in a lawyer's career that can make changing jobs a sensible thing to do. These include...

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Courts no less than lawyers need to embrace technology to provide a better service, argues Richard Susskind in this extract from his book, "Tomorrow's Lawyers". Commenting on the court service in England and Wales, Susskind says that the use of IT would allow for replacement of...

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The new Mega website fronted by Kim Dotcom appears to have been set up to ensure that Mega does not have specific knowledge of the information which is being stored or shared, intellectual property lawyer Clive Elliott says. Mr Elliott, who is convenor of the New Zealand Law Society’s...

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The New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) carries out vital work in New Zealand and overseas and its staff are valued for their high standards of professionalism, training, and skill. The Defence White Paper 2010 highlighted the importance of getting value for money from the defence budget. It...

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The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) today formally opened an investigation into alleged crimes committed in Mali since January 2012 – including murder, torture and rape – with a focus on the northern part of the country. Fighting between Government forces...

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The Commission has an exciting and busy year ahead with legislative changes in the consumer area while in the competition arena new legislation will impact our work on cartels. We look forward to a number of 'firsts' in 2013 as new regulatory regimes are bedded in across the energy, dairy and...

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The Commerce Commission has published a statement of preliminary issues relating to an application from Bertelsmann SE & Co. (owner of Random House) and Pearson plc (owner of Penguin) seeking clearance to form a new jointly-owned company to be called Penguin Random House, which will acquire...

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The Commerce Commission has published a statement of preliminary issues relating to an application from Perry Metal Protection Limited (PMP) to acquire the CSP Coating Systems (CSP) division from Fletcher Steel. The statement of preliminary issues outlines the key competition issues that...

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Changes to New Zealand’s warrant of fitness system, which will see annual inspections for cars registered after 2000, will save motorists time and money and will also focus on road safety, says Associate Transport Minister Simon Bridges. The key changes to the warrant of fitness system...

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As most children prepare to go back to school next week, Associate Transport Minister Simon Bridges has today announced a significant increase in variable speed limit signs. This is part of a wider rural school safety programme launched today. "Road safety around rural schools is a major...

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Criminal charges have been laid in the Auckland District Court today against Rene Alan Chalmers (42) following a Serious Fraud Office (SFO) investigation. Mr Chalmers is facing a total of 15 charges of theft by person in special relationship, dishonestly taking or using document and false...

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The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has announced that it has completed and closed an investigation into one of New Zealand's largest privately owned construction companies, Hawkins Construction Limited (Hawkins). In August last year, SFO investigators executed search warrants on two premises...

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Cabinet has been updated on Mr Bain’s application for compensation for wrongful conviction and imprisonment at its meeting today, says Justice Minister Judith Collins. “I have updated my colleagues on the status of Mr Bain’s application. Cabinet has not made any decision on...

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The Law Commission will investigate the issues raised by lawyers researching jurors on the internet, then tailoring their arguments to help them win cases. The phenomenon, labelled unethical by a British judge, will be considered as part of a wider review this year. The practice has come to...

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Ten million dollars of reparations paid by criminals has not been given to their victims - because they cannot be found. Ministry of Justice figures show that by the end of the year, $2.5 million was yet to be given to victims, while another $7.5m was transferred to the Treasury, as the...

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The barristers’ cab rank rule is ‘redundant’ and should be abolished, according to a report published today by the Legal Services Board. Authors Professor John Flood and Professor Morten Hviid suggest that the rule is ‘regularly breached’, and serves ‘no...

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The UK government if providing funding for school leavers to become lawyers and accountants through an apprenticeship scheme without the need to obtain a degree first. The minister for skills state that there was no reason why the same qualification could not be obtained from an on the job...

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Many people cannot afford legal advice and are unaware of when they should seek it. Conventional lawyers in traditional law firms are not always the best placed or most affordable sources of guidance for clients. A major and urgent social challenge is to find new ways of providing legal help,...

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On the recently launched UK supreme court launched a YouTube channel short judgments summaries are read out by justices when a judgment is released. While the UK's most important legal hearings are recorded, there are no plans to make the transmission of these hearings available in an online...

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The New Zealand Law Society is warning New Zealand lawyers about hoax emails purporting to have been sent by a well-known New Zealand lawyer. It appears that the lawyer's email account has been hacked and contacts are being sent emails requesting money after a "robbery" during the...

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In July 2013, the final stage of Criminal Procedure Act 2011 will come into place. The resulting changes will simplify and streamline court processes and cut out unnecessary steps. This is the biggest overhaul of the criminal justice system in 50 years. The changes will: reduce...

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Only victims can be the recipients of a sentence of reparation, the Supreme Court has held in the case of Kapa v R [2012] NZSC 119 (20 December 2012) at [11]. The issue before the Court was whether a reward of $100,000 paid to James Kapa by the Commissioner of Police, in return for information...

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Glenn William Cooper (39) plead guilty in the Manukau District Court today to charges laid by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) late last year. Mr Cooper was facing five charges of dishonestly using a document following an SFO investigation into the property developer's activities. This...

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The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has today laid criminal charges against Kairuaiti Tangata Oropai Robert Kairua (52), the director of Grace Holdings NZ Limited (Grace NZ). Mr Kairua faces 29 Crimes Act charges of theft by person in special relationship and false statement by promoter. Trading...

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Armstrong confessed to doping during an interview with Oprah Winfrey taped Monday, just a couple of hours after a wrenching apology to staff at the Livestrong charity he founded and has now been forced to surrender. The emotional day ended with 2 1/2 hours of questions from Winfrey at a...

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A Java security warning was recently issued by the U.S. government, which left many people wondering if they should uninstall or disable the software. And if so, how do you do it? Java is a piece of software that was created by Sun Microsystems, now owned by Oracle, that is mostly used in...

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Proposals in an Inland Revenue officials’ issues paper released today would bolster the taxation of highly leveraged investments made by foreigners, through changes to the thin capitalisation rules, Revenue Minister Peter Dunne said. “I referred in December to upcoming proposals...

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A third of small and mid-sized practices are considering merging in the next two or three years and one in five are likely to seek external investment, according to the results of the Law Society Law Management Section’s latest benchmarking survey. The report, published today, revealed...

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We all like a good chuckle – even the high-minded hacks on the Gazette have been known to engage in badinage. But when does good-natured banter cross the line to become grounds for a discrimination or harassment claim? When does a joke stop being funny? The answer to that last question...

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It's the new year and hopefully a fresh start for many employees. The job market seems to be picking up and people have a renewed fresh outlook once again, as the year starts. We've covered many lawsuits in the employment arena over the last 12 months. Some of these were local and others were...

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More New Zealand lawyers spend some time practising company and commercial law than any other area of law. New Zealand Law Society analysis of information provided by lawyers on their areas of practice shows that 48% of lawyers practice company and commercial law at least some of the time....

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Lawyers in New Zealand have been practising law for an average of 18 years since being admitted to the bar, according to information from the New Zealand Law Society. The Law Society says there were 11,434 New Zealand-based lawyers with a current practising certificate at 8 January 2013. A...

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More than half of the top 30 firms which reported both their FY2011 and FY2012 pro bono figures have seen a fall in the number of pro bono hours worked per lawyer. According to the Legal Services Expenditure Report 2011-2012, there were 46 Commonwealth legal providers which reported that...

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Nike Inc won a victory at the U.S. Supreme Court barring a smaller rival from suing to void the company's trademark for its top-selling Air Force 1 sneakers. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for a unanimous court on Wednesday that Nike's promise not to pursue an infringement lawsuit against...

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In the run-up to Christmas 2012, British shoppers reportedly bought a tablet computer every second. This means that many of your staff are likely to have a new, shiny device that they may want to use in work, as well as at home. Bring your own device - or BYOD as it’s known - is...

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More than a quarter of top-100 firms were involved in a merger in 2012, in what has been described as a record year for deals. Research by Jomati Consultants has found that 26 deals were announced by top-100 firms during the past 12 months. That was a 24% increase on merger activity...

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How accurate are alcohol breath tests? They've been conduced for years but now, a Dauphin County judge's opinion on these tests is taking center stage in the debate on DUI breath testing, as numerous DUI convictions are now under scrutiny, reports The Patriot News. Last month, Judge...

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The Financial Services Authority has given the go-ahead for the bar’s scheme that will allow barristers to hold client money through a third party, enabling clients to bypass solicitors and instruct barristers directly more widely. The FSA has granted regulatory approval under the...

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A gathering of high-profile in-house lawyers has expressed its frustration at the methods of measuring in-house efficiency. In late November, alternate legal services provider Plexus hosted a discussion on The Future of the Legal Function. The discussion was attended by seven prominent...

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Stress was the main reason lawyers called legal helpline LawCare in 2012, the charity’s statistics for the year revealed today. LawCare opened 378 case files last year, slightly down on the 392 opened in 2011. Stress continued to be the most common issue reported, cited by 69% of...

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Minister of Māori Affairs, Hon Dr Pita R Sharples, today announced the appointment of Miriama Evans, Dr Rawinia Higgins, Hon Paul Swain and Nick Davidson to the Waitangi Tribunal. Each has been appointed for a term of three years, from 1 January 2013. They will join Professor Sir Hirini Mead...

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