LawTalk 900 · 4 November 2016
Our Profession, Our People
Solicitor-General inspires government lawyers By Helen Mackay “Be strong, be courageous, be steadfast.” This was the final encouragement with which Solicitor-General Una Jagose QC ended her address at the recent Government Lawyers Conference in Wellington. Her keynote address spoke of the need for government lawyers to practise smart, agile lawyering in meeting their collective challenge to deliver value and stewardship to the Crown as its “uber in-house legal team”. She suggested the traditional solicitor-client relationship was too rigid and transactional to meet this challenge and instead a more collaborative style of lawyering was needed across the network. Ms Jagose spoke of the role of the Solicitor-General as being both a privilege and a burden and the need to consider “what is the proper view of the law that the Crown should take?” The guiding principles were always the rule and integrity of the law, she said. New Zealand was best served by lawyers who held executive to account, spoke truth to power and behaved constructively in service to the public. Some degree of conflict was inevitable around the provision and acceptance of legal advice due to competing risk tolerances but government must act and must be seen to act lawfully. The importance of good relationships was emphasised, with the simple but sage advice “being nice and having respect for people is powerful.” Ms Jagose encouraged the delegates to “put people first and always observe basic courtesies of being polite and timely”. Influence was not about where you were in the hierarchy but who you could have an impact on as part of the wider whole. Building influence included delivering legal advice in smart ways
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that connected with the audience who received them. The answer today was seldom the classic legal opinion. Ms Jagose stressed that lawyers still needed to go through the discipline of rigorous thinking and interpretation for which there were no short-cuts but that the work product given to the decision-maker could be a diagram, a brief for a discussion roundtable or a flowchart rather than a lengthy text document. Talent development was a key focus of Ms Jagose’s work as Chief Executive of Crown Law. She said she wanted her colleagues to love their work and for others to see the system value proposition. Lawyers were well-placed to act as problem spotters and solvers within the Crown and to understand context and
Construction law essay contest Entries are now open for the 2017 New Zealand Society of Construction Law’s (SCL) essay prize competition. The Essay Prize Competition is designed to encourage an interest in, and the study of, construction law among undergraduate or recently graduated students. Proposed topics, and the author’s or authors’ eligibility, must be submitted for approval by 30 November, and essays must be received by SCL’s systems manager by 31 March 2017. This is the sixth year the SCL New Zealand has run the competition. For more information see http:// constructionlaw.org.nz. ▪
consequence. They must get comfortable with disruption to order and always put the rule of law first. The scope and nature of the challenge was embodied in the Chilcott report which provided an important case study in the multitude of ways in which the independence of a lawyer might be compromised. Crown Law’s helicopter view across the whole system meant it was wellplaced to understand and advise on Crown risks and opportunities. This vision of a networked system used wisely was a powerful one which will enable government lawyers to be the “adaptable and agile” lawyers that their SolicitorGeneral encourages them to be. ▪
Helen Mackay was, until recently, manager of the New Zealand Law Society in-house lawyers association, ILANZ.
On the move Continued from page 9...
Hazel Bowering-Scott
Jasmine Koh
Two lawyers have joined Wynn Williams and another has been promoted. Hazel Bowering-Scott was promoted to solicitor in the insurance team. Jasmine Koh has started in the corporate and finance team as Victoria Hadlow an associate, and Victoria Hadlow has started in the corporate and finance team as a solicitor.