Posted by: transparencynz | January 9, 2015

Its time to sort out the confusion with regards to law firms.

The law society have a statutory duty to deal with two groups of persons – lawyers and incorporated law firms .

The  first one  is seemingly straight forward a lawyer  gets a practicing certificate and is for that year a lawyer and is  placed on the law societies register .

The law society  also provides a page called “Find a Lawyer or Organisation” and by entering a name onto that   search field and selecting “organisation”    names come up.

Basic logic would have  you think that the “organisations’ would be incorporated law firms   but that is not  so.  The reality is that the  organisation search is grossly deceptive,  to such an extent that even  the staff administering the  register cannot tell you if  these ” organisations “are  incorporated law firms or not.

An incorporated law firm  is defined as

incorporated law firm means, subject to sections 15 and 16, a company that—(a) provides to the public services that are, in relation to a lawyer, regulated services; and(b) has as its directors no persons other than lawyers who are actively involved in the provision by the body corporate of regulated services; and(c) has as its shareholders, in respect of shares that confer voting rights, no persons other than—(i) lawyers of the kind described in paragraph (b); or(ii) persons who are administrators of the estates of persons who, at the time of their death, were lawyers of the kind described in paragraph (b); and(d) has as its shareholders, in respect of shares that do not confer voting rights, no persons other than—(i) lawyers of the kind described in paragraph (b) (any 1 or more or each of whom may, but none of whom is required to, hold those shares as a trustee of a qualifying trust); or(ii) persons who are relatives of lawyers of the kind described in paragraph (b); or(iii) persons who are administrators of the estates of persons who, at the time of their death, were shareholders of the kind described in subparagraph (i) or subparagraph (ii)

the act then  goes on to relies on  section 21 Provision of legal services  for the protection of legal services  and states

 (1) A person commits an offence who, not being a lawyer or an incorporated law firm,—(a) provides legal services in New Zealand; and(b) describes himself, herself, or itself as—(i) a lawyer; or(ii) a law practitioner; or(iii) a legal practitioner; or(iv) a barrister; or(v) a solicitor; or(vi) a barrister and solicitor; or(vii) an attorney-at-law; or(viii) counsel.

So does this mean that a  firm  which is not a law firm  does not commit an offence if it provides legal services and

  1. cannot be identified as a person
  2.  does not call itself  lawyer, barrister  etc  as above.

section 22   Misleading descriptions

It is clear that this section  is there for non lawyers  who hold themselves out to be lawyers   but  what if a  lawyer is holding a  fictional company out to be a law firm. –    section  23 does not   give much support, it appears to exonerate actions as long as  there is a lawyer  involved somewhere in the process.

But  Lawyers have rules too  , they are enforced  more or less through the law society . However the law society is frequently  conflicted in their  roles of  membership organisation and a disciplinary body.

It is  after all lawyers controlling their own  and   this   too of deception  has been  part of a lawyers artillery for  centuries  so why should they   give away a tool of deception  ? It suits lawyers and the law society to be vague about law firms  as this way  they preserve their  fidelity fund  as no one  can bring a claim against a fictional law firm.

The rules of conduct are  found here You may be wondering why  we have brought this issue up   .. well it is for very good reason   it   is one of those  twisty  nasty tings which makes lawyers always right and you always wrong..    In our opinion it is  Identity  deception/fraud.

Our director  engages a lawyer  .. she met  him in what she  believed to be the offices of his law firm  Equity law Barristers Limited  , he sends away a staff member to complete the contract and a contract emerges in the name of Equity law Chambers .

The law practice is  referred to as Equity law regularly in  correspondence and the current  web page at the time  shows  the  People involved with what is referred to as Equity law.

Equity Law barristers  Limited started its life as Equity law 2007 limited.  there are no other companies on the  companies register  which  bear the name “equity law ”  and the company now known as Equity law barristers is shown as having been  co  directed by the   the  lawyers  wife    and she also held 50% shareholding of the company   up until 16 November 2011  this  means that by the legal definition of  Incorporated law firm  equity law barristers was not and could not have been an incorporated law firm at the time when  it agreed , under a trading name to provide me with legal services.

The agreement was that  Barristers from within the chambers  supervised by the head of chambers, were to do the work . However the staff who worked on my matter were generally  new graduates who  had neither been admitted to the bar  and therefore did not have a practicing certificate ( you will also find that the law society  claims  privacy  when you ask   who had a practicing certificate  when )

Inquiries with the law society   have complicated matters further , they   tell me that Equity law barristers limited  was an ” an incorporated barristers practice ” from November 2008  they will not go so far as to say  if it was incorporated law firm  and they will not say  on what basis  it is an incorporated law firm. – vagueness is protecting their fidelity fund.

On the other hand the court is very strict on identities   a company is a separate legal  identity from a person   but here were have a situation where a company is using a trading name  and the director  has now claimed the trading name  as his  own. The law society  in their wisdom made a decision  naming the   director  of Equity law barristers limited and  told him to reduce his invoices  and refund our director.  However   he refused  we now have a gigantic mess where by  the  incorporated  barristers firm may not have been an incorporated law firm  and could not have provided  andy legal services, but because there was a lawyer  hanging about in the side office it is not an offence.

Another point of interest with this law firm  is that  the   shareholder   and other director the  Lawyers common law wife  appears to have had her signature forged. But that wont matter either they will have some explanation for that like a   sprained wrist .

It appears that the law applies strictly to us and loosely to lawyers .. that has to change.

This brings about massive identity issues and made us focus on the organizations which the  law society lists.

Many of the  ” law firms ”   are  just trading names, unidentified trading names

some of the limited liability companies  listed  do  not qualify as  Incorporated law firms  because of the share holding issue.

Solicitors trust accounts which  do have lawyers as directors and share holders  are not  incorporated law firms  but  would  qualify on face value as such .

This  whole area is a  massive deception

Stewart & Associates Equity Law  still appears on the   ” organisation  list”  it is neither a company nor is it a firm as it only has one employee a  lawyer who is not capable due to her lack of seniority to practice on her own account.

Also look at Brookfields  and Brookfields – Wellington branch  , who is it a trading name for  ? it could be any of these  or none.

It is time that the law society   tidied up their  ” find a lawyer  data base.  we the public should be able to go to the database and identify   the law firms  and  the lawyers practicing  in their own name.

 


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