News

Familial relationship not always reason for judicial recusal

By Darise Bennington

CONTEXT IS everything when it comes to determining whether or not a judge should recuse him or herself from a proceeding to which he or she has been assigned, the Court of Appeal has found in Churchill Group Holdings Limited & Ors v Aral Property Holding Limited & Anor [2010] NZCA 335.

In Churchill Group, fifth appellant Philip Fava, who appeared in person, applied to set aside a judgment of Justice Venning, in which his Honour had declined Fava’s application for a stay of execution pending the hearing of an appeal against a $2 million costs judgment made against him by Justice Hugh Williams, on the grounds that a fair-minded lay observer might reasonably apprehend there was a possibility of bias on the part of Justice Venning.

Improving legal aid or simply tilting the playing field?

By Bill Bevan, managing solicitor, Kapimana Legal Services Limited

AFTER RECEIVING 128 submissions on the proposal to scrap the ‘preferred lawyer’ policy, the majority of which did not agree with the proposal, the Legal Services Agency (LSA) has gone ahead and announced its intention to remove choice of lawyer for categories one and two criminal legal aid.

The main justifications provided in its report entitled Response to the consultation on preferred lawyer and criminal legal aid assignment, were to “address many of the current problems with the behaviour of some lawyers” and “establish a fair and transparent assignment process”.

Features & Opinions

COMMERCIAL LAW
Fair Trading Act claim leads to a sticky end
Patrick Casey considers the Courts’ attempts to reconcile consumer legislation with commercial transactions

The recent decision of the High Court in WaikatoLink Limited v Comvita New Zealand Limited (High Court, Tauranga CIV-2008-470-90, 4 June 2010, Justice Harrison) has reinforced the power of the Fair Trading Act 1986 (FTA) in contractual disputes. This case also continues the Courts’ attempts to reconcile the application of the FTA as consumer legislation to commercial transactions entered into between sophisticated entities.

FAMILY LAW
A deadly silence
Misinterpretations of the changes to the Australian Family Law Act in 2006 are putting the safety of children at risk, Darise Bennington discovers

A recent Australian study has found that women and men are choosing not to report family violence for fear of being seen as ‘unfriendly’ by legal professionals. As a result, a significant number of victims of family violence are making their way through the Australian family law system without anyone knowing or understanding the impact family violence is having on their ability to make decisions that will keep them and their children safe. 

EMPLOYMENT
Facebook – face dismissal?
By Jennifer Mills, partner, and Bridget Smith, senior associate, Minter Ellison Rudd Watts

Madonna sang: “We are living in a material world and I am a material girl…” While Madonna may appear to be ageless (or cynics may say at least heavily Photoshopped to appear that way), we’re not so much living in a ‘material world’ as a world of ever-developing technology. The challenge for employers is not only to get the best out of that technology in terms of achieving efficiencies within the workplace, but equally to ensure that the technology is not creating organisational risk.