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Current News & Events from the Faculty of Law
- Sam Wevers Wins Undergraduate Essay Award
- Uptake of Coroners' recommendations to be investigated
- Otago Team wins International Client Counselling Competition
- Donna Buckingham President of Otago District Law Society
- Carl Rowe Medal Lecture
- Stephen Guest - The Right to Obscene Thoughts Staff Seminar
- ELSA WTO Mooting Competition Result for Otago
- Lunchbox Seminar 29 March 2012 - Third Party Litigation Funding
- F W Guest Lecture 2012
- Staff/SOULS Cricket 2 March 2012
- Faculty of Law in the News
- Death and the Law Intensive
- Art in Law VII
- Professor Paul Roth invited onto OECD Expert Group Reviewing Protection of Privacy and Transborder Flows of Personal Data
- Kent Gardner wins New Zealander of the Year Award
- Australia New Zealand Legal Ethics Colloquium hosted by the Faculty of Law and the University of Otago Legal Issues Centre - 9 - 10 February 2012
Sam Wevers Wins Undergraduate Essay Award
Otago Law recent graduate and new alumnus, Sam Wevers, has won the Legal Research Foundation Best undergraduate law essay award for his dissertation: see http://www.legalresearch.org.nz/writing-awards.html
Sam has also won the NZ Law Commission's Bill Sewell Prize for writing on legislation. Congratulations Sam.
Uptake of Coroners' recommendations to be investigated
A major new study will examine whether Coroners' recommendations are being acted on and helping save lives.
Otago University law researchers Professor Mark Henaghan and Dr Jennifer Moore will review all Coroners' findings and recommendations between 2006 and 2011 and interview around 60 agencies and organisations to determine how much they take notice of the findings.
The New Zealand Law Foundation-funded study is commencing as Coroners express frustration that their recommendations are not being followed up. Chief Coroner Neil McLean has reportedly urged the Government to look at making it compulsory for relevant agencies to consider Coroners' recommendations, as happens in some other countries.
Jennifer Moore says there is a pressing and overdue need for good information on how Coroners' recommendations are being implemented.
"A common refrain of those who have lost family members is that they want the coronial system to ensure that this doesn't happen to anyone else," she says.
"Coroners have said that agencies are failing to take their recommendations seriously, but are all their recommendations possible to implement? Should mandatory follow-up be part of New Zealand law? Any such law reform must be evidence-based, not anecdotal."
The Otago University Faculty of Law project will work in collaboration with Coronial Services, and will take account of overseas experience, including a similar research project in Victoria, Australia, where there is mandatory follow-up of Coroners' findings.
Otago Team wins International Client Counselling Competition
Congratulations to Alex Boock and Rob Clarke (along with their coach Selene Mize) for winning the International Client Counselling Competition in Dublin this weekend.
New Zealand has now won five of the last ten competitions (plus one 2nd place and two 3rd places).
Well done to the team and congratulations to Selene for all her work in coaching.
Donna Buckingham President of Otago District Law Society
Congratulations to Associate Professor Donna Buckingham who is now the President of the Otago District Law Society.
Donna does outstanding work, including behind the scenes, and should be credited for her commitment and contributions to the legal profession.
Carl Rowe Medal Lecture
Hear Jacinta Ruru give the 2012 Carl Rowe Medal Lecture at 5.30pm 16th April, in the Moot Court.
Jacinta's topic is: Undefined and unresolved: Maori legal rights to water.
Stephen Guest - The Right to Obscene Thoughts Staff Seminar
Hear Stephen Guest, Professor of Legal Philosophy, University of London, speak at a staff seminar given on Wednesday, April 4th in the Law Faculty Staff Library, 9th floor, Richardson Building between noon and 12:50pm. His topic will be: "The Right to Obscene Thoughts".
ELSA WTO Mooting Competition Result for Otago
Congratulations to Sarah Baillie, Rosa Reynolds and Charlotte Greenfield for reaching the semi finals in the Asia Pacific Regional round of the ELSA WTO Mooting Competition. The dispute involved complex arguments under the WTO's Agreements on Safeguards and the Agreements on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures.
The Otago team displayed an impressive knowledge of the technical details of the agreements (particularly impressive as none of the team had studied trade law and 1 of the team had never mooted). The team would like to thank their coaches, Tracey Epps and Emma Foley - Emma was with them in Jakarta. They would also like to thank the Faculty of Law and Mark for the support they received.
Lunchbox Seminar 29 March 2012 - Third Party Litigation Funding
Join the lively debate the first Legal Issues Centre Lunchbox seminar of this semester at which third party litigation funding will be debated. This is a hot topic in many countries - highly relevant to changing the way we think about financing legal action - that is also now present in New Zealand, albeit not yet on a grand scale. Our two speakers are both experts and will lead what should be a fascinating discussion. For further information about the topic we strongly recommend that you read beforehand the background paper.
F W Guest Lecture 2012
The Faculty of Law is pleased to host the 2012 New Zealand Law Foundation Distinguished Visiting Fellow, Professor Andrew Ashworth, Vinerian Professor of English Law, from 12 - 15 March 2012.
Professor Ashworth will be offering the F W Guest Lecture (further information on the F W Guest Lecture is available here)
The topic is: Negotiating the Fundamental Right to Personal Liberty: Four Problem Cases.
All welcome to attend. A poster is attached.
Staff/SOULS Cricket 2 March 2012
Staff/Senior Students:
Mark Heneghan, John Dawson,Andrew Geddis. Abby Suszko, Jesse Wall, Alec Dawson, Sam McLernon, Patrick Ryan, Willie Allan, Paul Hunt, James Harty, Josh Pemberton, Vinnie Schumacher, Sam Cleland
Junior Students:
George Willis, Derek McLaughlin, Sam Teppett, Blake Hoare, Sam Poole, Nick Smith, Ollie Salt, Campbell Arnott, Alex Low, Lucas Schuler, Sam Davison, Angus Grayson, Sam Kember
Helpers:
Zak Hawkins, Sam Sygrove, Edward Bowie
Students:
111. Top score: Extras 21 / Derek 21
Staff:
114. Top score: Patrick Ryan 36
Faculty of Law in the News
Death and the Law Intensive
The New Zealand Law Society is running an Intensive on Death and the Law. Nicola Peart is chairing the Intensive and presenting a paper on issues relating to the body.
Please see the brochure for more information.
Art in Law VII
The Dean invites you to the opening of Art in Law VII.
Wednesday 22 February 2012, 5.30-7.00pm Faculty of Law, Seminar Room 5 10th Floor, Richardson Building
An exhibition of photographs by well known graduates, from the collection of the Dunedin School of Art, Otago Polytechnic. Guest Artist - Sandra McElrea. Curated by Peter Stupples.
The works will be displayed in the Faculty of Law from 14 February - 5 June 2012. Please RSVP to law@otago.ac.nz .
Professor Paul Roth invited onto OECD Expert Group Reviewing Protection of Privacy and Transborder Flows of Personal Data
Professor Paul Roth was recently invited on to the OECD Expert Group that is reviewing the 1980 OECD Guidelines on the Protection of Privacy and Transborder Flows of Personal Data. New Zealand's Privacy Act 1993 was enacted in part to promote and protect privacy in accordance with the OECD Guidelines.
The OECD Expert Group is comprised of OECD officials and privacy commissioners and academics from around the world. Jennifer Stoddart, the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, chairs the grou The function of the Expert Group is to provide recommendations to the OECD Working Party on Information Security and Privacy (WPISP). The WPISP meets twice a year, bringing together delegations from the 34 OECD member governments, the European Union, observer countries, observer organisations (Council of Europe, International Conference of Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners), and representatives from business, civil society, and the Internet technical Community.
The review of the OECD Guidelines arises out of the Seoul Declaration for the Future of the Internet Economy, which was adopted by OECD Ministers in June 2008. The Seoul Declaration calls for the OECD to assess the application of certain instruments, including the OECD Guidelines, in light of "changing technologies, markets and user behaviour and the growing importance of digital identities".
Paul has recently had his latest book Access to Information by Graham Taylor and Paul Roth, published by LexisNexis NZ Ltd.
Kent Gardner wins New Zealander of the Year Award
Congratulations to Kent Gardner who recieved the New Zealander of the Year Award in London recently. Kent received the award at the Waitangi Day charity dinner at the Plaisterers' Hall.
Kent was born and bred in Dunedin and holds commerce and law degrees from the University of Otago.
He has been most supportive of the Canterbury earthquake victims. Last May, he organised Step Up 4 Christchurch, a charity stair run up London's distinctive Gherkin building, which raised about 325,000 ($NZ619,000).
Australia New Zealand Legal Ethics Colloquium hosted by the Faculty of Law and the University of Otago Legal Issues Centre - 9 - 10 February 2012
Is Adversarialism Dead? New Foundations for Legal Process and Lawyers' Ethics
This colloquium was the third in a series that began seven years ago in Christchurch when Professor Duncan Webb, of the School of Law at the University of Canterbury, organized a regional meeting of legal ethicists based in New Zealand and Australia, together with a handful of visitors from North America and Europe. This followed up on the International Legal Ethics Conference (ILEC) series that was launched the previous year. In September 2010 the regional group met again for a second time, hosted by the University of Southern Queensland in Toowoomba, under the direction of Professor Reid Mortensen.
The colloquium concentrated on a theme that is of seminal importance for the future of both lawyers and courts; exploring the need for new ethical frameworks, beyond adversarialism, to support new and emergent forms of legal work, particularly those currently being opened up by increasing deregulation of the legal services market.
Do adversarial ethics sit comfortably with modern legal practice, especially that taking place outside, or challenging, the mainstream? Clients do not always want, or need, a gladiatorial contest. Over time, adversarialism may inflict unnecessary harm on lawyers, those whom they are supposed to serve, as well as innocent third parties. But to what new ethical theories or perspectives should lawyers turn in order to meet challenges confronting the civil justice system? And what kind of ethics is required for alternative dispute resolution? The colloquium will examine the extent to which post- or non-adversarial ethics might inform and enrich standards of legal work before, during and after civil trials. We shall also consider whether ethical obligations should attach to those who are not gladiators: whether the parties themselves, and those
The Colloquium was attended by leading thinkers from Australia and New Zealand and the United States.
The keynote speakers were Professor Brad Wendell from Cornelll University and Peter Cashman from the University of Sydney.
