Legal Articles & Publications

By: Dylan Pine, Anthony Drake

A key purpose of an internship is to gain experience, skills or contacts that may assist a prospective employee to gain employment or work opportunities in the future, but is it exploitation?

By: Amanda Douglas, Raya Marinova

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) is looking at reclassifying contractors and, if imposed, this could change the contractor landscape. MBIE recently released a discussion document, Better Protections for Contractors, seeking public feedback on MBIE’s proposed options to address its concerns of misclassification of employees as “independent contractors,” and workers who are in the “grey zone” between employees and contractors.

By: Phoebe Davies, Steffan Ronald

Shortly prior to Dick Smith Electronics’ sudden closure back in 2016, the Government established a working group to look at reforming insolvency law and ways to bolster the rights of creditors in the event of liquidations. On 4 November 2019, the Government published the findings of the working group which it intends to include in a future insolvency law reform bill.

By: Amanda Douglas, Anthony Drake

Many employers and employees use the festive season to take planned holidays, manage leave balances, and in some cases close the office, factory or shop. Amanda Douglas and Anthony Drake explain some of the employer's obligations.

By: Jeremy Johnson

It is often said that New Zealand has one of the highest rates of trusts per capita – the government estimates there are somewhere between 300,000 and 500,000 trusts operating in New Zealand. 2019 brings a long-anticipated change to the law of trusts in the form of the Trusts Act 2019.

By: Hayden Baird, Steffan Ronald

Changes are coming to the controversial arena of residential landlord and tenant legal relationships. With 1 in 3 New Zealanders now renting, these changes will affect a significant proportion of the population. The Government has announced a suite of changes to the Residential Tenancies Act 1986.

By: Phoebe Davies

It always seems to be a rough road for the agri-sector. Recent years have seen it faced with drought, low milk prices and a change in government which has had severe knock on implications not only for overseas investors, but also for famers themselves. The banks are tightening their LVR requirements and some are looking to divest of certain agri-sectors all together.

By: Amanda Douglas

In our experience, the lead up to Christmas and the New Year is when employers often look ahead to their staffing needs for the upcoming year. Often, it is at this time that employers identify employment issues.

By: Josh Taylor, Miles McConway

The 21st century has brought with it some fascinating developments, smartphones, social media, and service of statutory demands by email? The judgment of Lester AJ in the High Court decision of Upright Scaffolding Ltd v Pinnies Painters & Plasterers Ltd seems to have settled the decades old question of whether service of a statutory demand by email is possible under the Companies Act 1993.

By: Michelle Mehlhopt, Alyssa Langford

Last week the Minister for the Environment, Hon David Parker, introduced the Resource Management Amendment Bill (Bill) to the house. The Bill proposes to repeal a number of the changes to the RMA that were introduced by the previous coalition Government in the Resource Legislation Amendment Act 2017 (RLAA) and otherwise includes some easy ‘wins’ for this Government.

By: Charlene Sell

Whether you are running a small local business or a large multi-national organisation, your brand will often be your most important asset. A distinctive brand is an important way to target and maintain a connection with your chosen market. By protecting your brand, you can ensure that it remains unique to your business and contributes to strong and consistent brand awareness amongst both your existing customers and your wider target market.

By: Jesse Aimer

In a recent High Court decision Auckland Council v Cabra Rural Developments Ltd [2019] NZHC 1892, the Court provided guidance on a range of fundamental issues in plan making. This note outlines the Environment Court and High Court decisions and sets out three key takeaways that anyone involved in plan-making processes should bear in mind.