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1. Auckland Standards Committee v Comeskey [2010] NZLCDT 19 [pdf, 121 KB]

   ...made to the New Zealand Herald on or about 22 November 2009. (These charges were withdrawn). Background [3] Mr Comeskey pleaded guilty to charges (a) to (c) above, and the charges in (d) above were withdrawn following Mr Comeskey’s guilty pleas for the first three charges. The three charges on which the Tribunal was required to determine a penalty relate to professional misconduct which occurred during the twelve month period from February 2008 to February 2009. For the purp...

2. Quality and Value Audit Terms of Reference 2018 [pdf, 560 KB]

   ...client, (and with the client’s consent) their whānau, or social worker about any relevant medical or experience of mental distress. b) determines whether any mental health or intellectual disability issues potentially affect: i. fitness to plead and/or instruct a lawyer Full Audit Methodology February 2023 16 ii. whether the client had the requisite mens rea or potentially provide a defence iii. release on bail and the appropriate bail conditions iv. the culpabi...

3. LA Terms of Reference - quality and value audits [pdf, 531 KB]

   ...client, (and with the client’s consent) their whānau, or social worker about any relevant medical or experience of mental distress. b) determines whether any mental health or intellectual disability issues potentially affect: i. fitness to plead and/or instruct a lawyer Full Audit Methodology February 2023 16 ii. whether the client had the requisite mens rea or potentially provide a defence iii. release on bail and the appropriate bail conditions iv. the culpabi...

4. Self-represented litigants: an exploratory study of litigants in person in the New Zealand criminal & family jurisdictions [pdf, 1.2 MB]

   ...88 10.1.3 Case types 88 10.2 Demographics 90 10.3 Summary 91 11 Why do litigants appear self-represented in the criminal summary jurisdiction? 92 11.1 Reasons for appearing without representation 92 11.1.1 Views of key informants 92 11.1.2 Plea types and charges 93 11.2 Legal aid findings from the criminal jurisdiction 94 11.3 Summary 94 12 Impacts of self-represented litigants in the criminal summary jurisdiction 96 12.1 Impacts on others 96 12.1.1 Impact on judges 96 12...

5. 3-Strikes-Proactive-Release-OIA-Requests_Final_Part2.pdf [pdf, 19 MB]

   ...the qualifying offences and not dropping 7 year offences o  Noting there is the alternative option of “grossly disproportionate” wording for the exception instead of “manifestly unjust”  Brief comment on 20% vs 25% cap for the guilty plea reduction – and interaction with our wider work on sentencing discounts. Please let us know if there are other areas you would like us to flag in the covering briefing. Over the next two weeks you can expect to hear from Sophie and myself...

6. Three-strikes-document-release_Combined_FINAL.pdf [pdf, 2.1 MB]

   ...specifically in the sentencing process, and more broadly? As we noted in our submission to Select Committee, there is a real risk that setting the threshold too low may lead to other kinds of unintended consequences. Specifically, some defendants may plead guilty even if they are innocent because the potential guilty plea discount may eliminate the risk of a strike conviction and increase the likelihood of home detention. This would have the perverse effect of allowing the actual off...

7. Justice Sector Crown Law forecast 2013 to 2017 [pdf, 284 KB]

   ...District Courts (for offences on the Schedule attached to the Crown Prosecution Regulations 2 )  District Court “committal guilty” cases (the residue of current cases involving Crown Law in sentencing serious charges arising from a guilty plea in the current pre-committal stage – modelled as a number of cases on hand but declining to zero over a 12 month period)  High Court jury trials  Court of Appeal cases  High Court appeal cases. Each category of case has a...

8. A package of family violence and sexual violence initiatives for Budget 2019 [pdf, 4.6 MB]

   ...If reforms to the criminal justice system were funded , these will reduce the risk of victims of sexual violence experiencing secondary victimisation, and reduces the risk of resulting harm. This will also increase the likelihood of a guilty plea, and should improve confidence in the justice system. Around 1,500 victims of sexual violence begin court action each year (where the offender is charged with a sexual violence offence). s9(2)(f)(iv) s9(2)(f)(iv) s9(2)(f)(iv) s9(2)(f)...

9. CAC10073 v Philip Kenny Real Estate Ltd [2013] NZREADT 19 [pdf, 41 KB]

   ...there must be strict compliance with the handling of clients’ money by a licensee. However, he accepted that against that serious principle in this case, there are some notable mitigating factors. He referred to the defendant’s early guilty plea, the repayment of the amount in dispute together with interest, and to the defendant having acted at material times on rather inappropriate legal advice (and we note that was not the advice of present counsel Mr Argyle). [18] Mr Clancy als...

10. Auckland Standards Committee v RDM [2015] NZLCDT 26 [pdf, 100 KB]

    ...practitioner of that distinction in the repeated steps that he took to resolve the issue of fees and distribution of the funds. [51] The Tribunal finds that the practitioner has accepted the charge and that Counsel for the practitioner has made a valiant plea in mitigation. 12 [52] The Tribunal has considered that plea and has considered the complicated factual situation together with the difficult family dynamics which the practitioner faced along with his wish to resolve matte...