New Zealand lawyers and conveyancers disciplinary tribunal cases involving vulnerable clients, 2011–2017*

ABSTRACT

This research analyses disciplinary decisions of the New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal (NZLCDT) from 2011 to 2017 that involve vulnerable clients. Increasingly, scholarship discusses vulnerability as an ethical concept, including in the legal context. Based on published decisions, the present study inquires whether some legal clients’ vulnerability warrants special attention. Twenty-five of the 193 clients in the NZLCDT decisions qualified as vulnerable based upon age, gender, mental health/neuro-disability or immigrant status. The results may inform disciplinary bodies and inspire preventive strategies by lawyers, educators and regulatory bodies. Ultimately, this evidence-based analysis magnifies the importance of client-centred approaches to risk reduction in legal practice.     

THE RIGHT TO MARRY AND THE SAN FRANCISCO EXPERIENCE

This article chronicles the issuance of marriage licenses to lesbian and gay couples in San Francisco in the winter of 2004. The article explores the political and legal landscape in the fight for the right to marry nationally and examines the current legal status of lesbian and gay couples in the country.     

The Frontiers of Legal Analysis: Reframing the Transition in Northern Ireland

British constitutional legal discourse is structurally limited in its capacity to capture the complexity of the Good Friday Agreement. Rather than assessing the Agreement in narrow devolutionary terms, it should be seen as a hybrid domestic and international law instrument, making an important contribution to accepted international law norms in relation to self-determination. The Agreement transforms and partly transcends the Northern Ireland conflict by substituting political contestation for violent conflict, and by defining the modalities of conducting that contestation. This analysis complements classical international law perspectives, and opens up the application of legal discourses associated with 'transitional justice' to the legal and political transformation in Northern Ireland. These discourses focus on the problem of reconciling the demands of peace with the imperatives of justice. The Agreement sits squarely in this terrain with its provisions on 'dealing with the past' and 'institutional legacies'. The insights gained here challenge orthodox thinking about conflict-management and the ongoing political process.     

王某盗窃案：对刑事和解的主持者及和解后处理方式的探讨

未成年犯罪嫌疑人王某伙同他人潜至某建材市场，拉开某店面的玻璃门，钻门缝入室，窃得被害单位的新缆牌单芯电线38卷、熊猫牌单芯电线12卷，共计价值人民币6490元。犯罪嫌疑人王某后在转移赃物过程中被人赃俱获。     

"十一五"期间城市公共危机防范重点及思路

城市公共危机是指由于发生不可控制或未加控制的因素而对城市系统中的生命财产和物质财富造成损失和重大危害的自然和社会事件。“十一五”时期我国经济发展将进入加速阶段,同时也进入公共危机的高发期,因此,要努力提高城市公共危机总体防范能力。