Kōrero – bar news

Congratulations to new South Auckland Bar Association President

Iswari (Ish) Jayanandan has recently been appointed as President of the South Auckland Bar Association (SABA).

Many of our members know Ish through her work over the last couple of years on our Bar Council, Diversity and Inclusion Committee, and Criminal Committee. Ish co-chairs both of these committees. She has also a long history of working with ADLS Inc.

Ish has been a force to be reckoned with in Manukau for many years and is known for her considerable support of all barristers at the South Auckland bar. While she herself is a specialist in criminal law, she has worked across the spectrum to ensure that the voice of the profession is heard.

Committees

Our commitees continue to grow and develop. Juliet Philpott has recently joined our Employment Law and Privacy Committee, bringing with her extensive experience as you will see from her bio below.

Juliet is a public and administrative law specialist at Hawkestone Chambers in Wellington. She has particular expertise in privacy and information law. Juliet has been practising for 20 years, including in London and Melbourne, and joined the independent bar in 2020 from Meredith Connell. She is a member of the New Zealand Law Society’s Human Rights and Privacy Committee and a member of the Wellington District Licensing Committee.

Juliet Philpott

Kate Sheppard Chambers

Kate Sheppard Chambers barristers have been busy over the last few months providing expert advice and appearing in Courts and Tribunals across Aotearoa. We have grown to 22 members. In April we welcomed Jamie O’Sullivan and Tiffany McRae followed by Genevieve Haszard in June 2022.

Jamie is an expert litigator with extensive experience representing and advising a range of public sector agencies. Her key practice areas are regulatory, criminal, public and disciplinary. Tiffany specialises in criminal defence work. She has experience in a wide range of criminal matters including judge alone trials, bail hearings, charge negotiations and sentencings.

Genevieve has over 21 years of litigation experience both in New Zealand and Australia working in private practice and as a barrister sole. While having a broad litigation background in both civil and criminal law, Genevieve has particular experience in civil, criminal and family appeals, relationship property disputes and coronial inquiries.

Our members have also been involved in professional education and governance. In May, Kate Sheppard Chambers hosted the third Doing Law Differently event. Charlotte Griffin, Elana Geddis, Dhilum Nightingale, and Sarah Shaw explored the flexibility and opportunities offered by the bar and gave an insight into practice as part of a virtual chambers. The fifth Doing Law Differently event, Intertwining Journeys in Academia and Practising Law, on 31 August featured Dr Rhonda Powell. The panel discussed their experiences of being an academic working in the legal profession, both concurrently and consecutively. They shared their stories about their research, teaching, and legal practices.

Lizzy Wiessing presented a very well received Legalwise seminar in June on water reforms and implications. That month we also celebrated Dr Alison Gordon’s appointment to the New Zealand Women’s Law Journal – Te Aho Kawe Kaupapa Ture a ngā wāhine Trust Board.

Dhilum Nightingale has recently received this year’s Borrin Foundation Community Law Fellowship. Dhilum will undertake important research examining employer accountability in relation to migrant exploitation within Aotearoa New Zealand. We are also very proud to announce Anna Dombroski as the winner of the annual Kate Sheppard Chambers scholarship for research on women and the law. Anna’s honours research will examine the defences of compulsion and duress of circumstances.

Lambton Chambers celebrates its 25th anniversary

Lambton Chambers held its long-awaited 25th anniversary celebration on 4 August 2022. Originally scheduled to be held in September 2021, the celebration had to be postponed when the country went into lockdown two weeks before the event. The event was well-attended by practitioners, clients, family, and past and present members of the judiciary. It was held at Public Trust Hall, a modern and state-of-the-art function venue in the historic Public Trust building on Lambton Quay, Wellington.

Lambton Chambers was founded in 1996 by David Collins (now Justice Collins), John Morrison and Pam Davidson. John and Pam are still members of the Chambers, which now comprise 14 barristers (two having recently retired). All three founding members spoke at the event and the formalities finished on a musical note with a performance by the Bach Choir of Wellington.

In her welcome remarks, Pam Davidson recounted that the original three were eventually joined by Ken Johnston (now Associate Judge Johnston) and Kim Murray in 1997, Chris Jurgeleit in 1998 and Andrew Beck in 2002. Justice Collins left to become Solicitor-General in 2006 and from 2011, Lambton Chambers expanded to include Paul Michalik, Gaeline Phipps, Terry Sissons, Barbara Hunt, David Milliken, Toby Gee, Debra Angus, Ian Carter (now Judge Carter), Tanya Kennedy, James Mahuta-Coyle, Felix Geiringer, John Goddard and most recently, Ben Nettleton.

Pam noted that over a quarter of a century, the members of Lambton Chambers have developed a bond, a shared sense of belonging and an esprit de corps and they have the best of both worlds practising independently yet feeling they were part of a team.

It is with sadness that we note the passing of Lambton Chambers member Andrew Beck, on 24 September 2022. Andrew was an active member of the Bar Association as a member of the Advocacy Committee and he was a contributor to our work on law reform. Our thoughts are with his whānau, friends and colleagues – Maria Dew KC, President.

Mai Chen joins the independent bar and founds Public Law Toolbox Chambers.

“I am looking forward to working with instructing solicitors and learning from other barristers. I am also looking forward to expanding my colleague base and spending my time solving complex public law problems, which remains my first and greatest love in the law. I have had a lot of help getting to this point and I want to thank the KCs and barristers who have encouraged me and given me their wisdom about how to make the transition.”

Public Law Toolbox Chambers will be a home for barristers who are experienced experts in using the public law toolbox to solve problems for clients. This includes barristers who specialise “upstream” in policy making, law drafting and making submissions to influence law making and the select committee process as well as those who specialise “downstream” in judicial reviews and declaratory judgments when litigation has become necessary as a last resort. The reach of public law also includes issues in Te Ao Māori and Te Tiriti o Waitangi, the NZ Bill of Rights Act, discrimination and Royal Commissions, reviews and inquiries.

“Public law backs into so many other specialist areas of the law but the focus of these chambers will always be at the interface between public law and other specialties, whether it be commercial law, employment law, or criminal prosecution by regulators and white collar crime.

“Public law practice promotes the upstream building of systems and processes to promote access to justice. Public law also promotes providing legal advocacy for individuals whose access to the law or voice before the law has been hindered or denied. Barristers in these chambers will be committed to promoting and upholding the rule of law – the notion that all are equal before the law.” - Mai Chen

Public Law Toolbox Chambers will operate from physical premises in the Auckland CBD but will also be a virtual chambers for barristers outside of Auckland.