Guy Nathan: Lawyers and Conveyancers Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Guy Nathan: Lawyers and Conveyancers Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:667;Page:14469] 
Hon NATHAN GUY (Associate Minister of Justice) 
: 
 I move  
That the Lawyers and Conveyancers Amendment Bill be now read a first time. 
 I intend to move that the bill be considered by the Justice and Electoral Committee. This bill amends the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006. The amendments reform the regulation of the legal profession in New Zealand. The bill replaces the existing regulatory framework for lawyers with a co-regulatory regime that also covers the new profession of conveyancers created by the Act. The Act enables both professions to respond more effectively to the changing needs of consumers in the legal services market. The Act came into force on 1 August 2008 and it has been working well since its implementation. However this bill makes an important change to the Act by restoring the title of Queen’s Counsel to the office currently known as Senior Counsel and some auxiliary changes to eligibility for that office. The bill also makes some minor amendments to enhance the functioning of the Act. 
I will talk first of all about Part 1 of the bill as it restores the title of Queen’s Counsel to the office currently known as Senior Counsel. The Lawyers and Conveyancers Act replaced the title of Queen’s Counsel with that of Senior Counsel. The Act also made a number of changes to expand eligibility for the rank which now extends to lawyers in all forms of practice including law firms. The bill will repeal that arrangement by reinstating the title of Queen’s Counsel and restricting eligibility in most cases to barristers sole rather than lawyers in partnerships or firms. 
The title of Queen’s Counsel reflects the public purpose and status of this position. It underscores the historical link between Queen’s Counsel and the Crown which has been established on the reputation of the rank in New Zealand and abroad. The rank identifies leading advocates in New Zealand and provides official recognition of excellence. In particular it provides leadership to the legal profession and assists people to resolve disputes by identifying legal counsel. 
Eligibility for appointment of Queen’s Counsel will be limited to barristers sole in most cases. This returns the rank to its original form and recognises and protects the independence of Queen’s Counsel enhancing their ability to accept instructions and to provide frank independent and objective legal advice. To maintain that independence Queen’s Counsel who are providing regulated legal services as defined by the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act will continue to practise as barristers sole or they will be deemed to have surrendered the title. 
It is intended that the amendments will preserve the existing arrangements for those Queen’s Counsel and Senior Counsel who have entered with other lawyers in partnership or incorporated law firms since the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act came into force. Clause 6 of the bill containing new sections 118A and 118B may require minor amendments to ensure that those purposes are accurately reflected. 
However the amendments also preserve the Governor-General’s power to appoint from time to time other lawyers including litigators in law firms as Queen’s Counsel in recognition of their extraordinary contributions to the field of law. This is consistent with the established practice of occasionally appointing exceptional lawyers in government and parliamentary counsel as Queen’s Counsel although they are not members of the independent Bar. 
Part 2 of the bill makes minor technical amendments to the Act. First the bill amends the definition of “relative” to include a reference to a grandchild of a lawyer or conveyancing practitioner. This will enable grandchildren to be shareholders of an incorporated law firm or incorporated conveyancing firm or if a minor to be a beneficiary of a qualifying trust. 
Secondly the bill permits a qualifying trust to be a non-voting shareholder in an incorporated law firm or an incorporated conveyancing firm. A “qualifying trust” means a trust in which each beneficiary is a relative of one or more of the trustees and each trustee for an incorporated conveyancing firm is a conveyancing practitioner or for an incorporated law firm is a lawyer who is actively involved in the practice. The Act is quite specific as to who may be a shareholder of an incorporated law firm or conveyancing firm. This ensures lawyer or conveyancer control of an incorporated firm which is important to maintain professional standards. The use of a qualifying trust as a vehicle for shareholding avoids the need for proliferation of relatives holding shares in their own right. It will also enable children and grandchildren who are minors to benefit from income through distributions from the trust. 
Thirdly the bill extends the power of attorney that those in sole practice must give to authorise another to have the power to conduct the practice through any periods where the sole practitioner is an undischarged bankrupt. The Act requires a sole practitioner to issue a power of attorney that enables the power to conduct the practice in a range of circumstances. These do not include the bankruptcy of a sole practitioner. Instead where the practitioner is an undischarged bankrupt a process needs to be instigated by either the New Zealand Law Society or the New Zealand Society of Conveyancers with the New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal to have the practitioner struck off or suspended before the power of attorney provisions can apply and the practice can be continued. The amendment will remove the need for that cumbersome process and will provide a more simplified and streamlined process in those difficult circumstances. That will also serve clients better as it will be an immediate response to the situation and will enable client matters to be managed more effectively. 
Finally the bill makes a technical amendment to the complaints procedure. One of the reforms introduced by the Act is a new three-tiered complaints and disciplinary process. Complaints are usually heard in the first instance by locally run standards committees. The decisions or actions of that committee can then be reviewed by the Legal Complaints Review Officer. The bill amends the notice period for lodging a review with the Legal Complaints Review Officer of a standards committee decision. It provides that an application for review must be lodged within a 30-day period which begins to run when the applicant is notified of the committee’s decision. The date of notification is presumed to have occurred 5 days after the committee’s decision. This amendment will ensure there is sufficient time for applicants to lodge a review application if they wish to do so. I commend this bill to the House.