An old man with a slug gun
My respect for Gary McCormick increased during his Panel session yesterday with Jim Mora, after he confided his doubts about his earlier campaigning with Philip Alpers against firearm ownership. The...
View ArticleDefamation law’s threat to freedom of speech
Have a look at Nicky Hager’s complaint about his defamation stoush with Crosby Textor (or Crosby alone to be more accurate). I expected to be amused by Hager’s complaints. . Instead I agree with...
View ArticleOffice of Devil’s Advocacy
I want small government. But I want a new government agency. In my view the last unequivocally great agency to be created was the Office of the Ombudsmen. Since then its been a steep downhill slide. We...
View ArticleACC’s future
Will insurers come back to compete with ACC if ACT obliges National to deliver on its own policy of reintroducing contestability? Or will they be too wary of investing in the set-up then having to...
View ArticleVictim impact statements
Justice Minister Simon Power responded instantly and sensibly to the launch of the SST campaign to allow victims to give the Court their views on sentencing. More sensibly than the new President of the...
View ArticleThe upside of Supreme Court embarassment
Yesterday’s Supreme Court direction for a Court of Appeal rehearing of the Saxmere case SC 64/2007 is a victory for Sue Grey and a serious embarassment for the New Zealand Courts. But we may be...
View ArticleUK judges deplore “torrent of legislation”
Thanks to the Law Society Bulletin for highlighting the Times OnLine report on UK judges empathy with citizens facing the Dickensian legal system constructed over the last 30 years. Read and weep...
View ArticleAnother constitutional hui
Yesterday I was a commentator on Q & A's Jim Bolger/Mike Moore discussion of constitutional reform I assumed it was a warm-up for the invitation-only Hui of the Anointed ('Reconstituting the...
View ArticleNick Smith’s genuinely radical reform – will general incompetence survive?
Big ups for this one. There's little namby pamby about the local government reform package announced today. Clients have had to blow tens of thousands in defending their communities, customers, and...
View ArticleNew deputy secretary of justice – a tradition of public service
Frank McLaughlin is to become a Deputy Secretary of Justice. Who's he, and so what? Frank is a partner in Chapman Tripp, and one of the best lawyers I've had the privilege to work with (and because...
View ArticleBusinesses sacrificed to lawyer-clericalism.
Voidable preferences Suppliers beware! You can now be made to repay many times more than you've ever earned from customers which go broke. Your money will go into the liquidators' pool for the benefit...
View ArticleFree legal advice to Transfield subbies
The Stuff report of Transfield's shifting (and shifty) excuses (and NBR's updates) for not paying its debts when due, plus the reported loss for last year, raise the question whether creditors could...
View ArticleMore company secretaries, fewer lawyers?
A well written UK promotion of the role of a company secretary reminds me that in our 1993 company law reformulation we lost the compulsion to have someone nominated to do the necessary. The article...
View ArticleBanks’ class action prospects darken – other businesses should worry
Sixteen months ago I irritated some banks with a post predicting they would lose in the New Zealand class action promoted by Australian lawyers in June last year. If iPredict had a contract on that...
View ArticleJudges initiating long overdue reform of barrister restrictive practice?
In an elegant 13-page decision Justice Joe Williams applies the electricity transmission pricing methodology to the North Auckland and Northland (NAaN) network. It might yet be followed by a turgid...
View ArticleAnimal cruelty hypocrisy
RNZ this morning interviewed Ric Odom of SPCA on a case involving people who let dogs kill tethered goats for ‘training’ purposes. He cited the principle of animal welfare law – that everyone should...
View ArticleFarm scarce wildlife to take the profit from poachers
Cheaper DNA identification could soon end lucrative illegal trading in protected New Zealand wildlife. All it needs are some careful law changes. Maori could once again routinely feast on (farmed)...
View ArticleStupid law – No 1 – coffee warnings
The Lost Angeles Times editorial of 30 September comments on a California law requirement that cafes with more than 10 employees expressly warn customers of the possible cancer risk from acrylamide in...
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