CaseLoaders will recall the rebellious public bellowings of lawyer tenants in the society's Chancery Chambers when free Macaroons, Squiggles and Toffee Pops were culled from tea breaks.
All in all it was a hospitable get-together ... pity about the unrealistic drink driving limit.
But wait there's more...
Who should CaseLoad bump into while groping in the gloom for a way out of President Brian's Waterloo Quadrant tower block???
None other than vivacious former divorce diva and new High Court judge Anne Hinton QC, on her way in.
CaseLoad can't reveal exactly what was exchanged but Justice Hinton is clearly enjoying her new job and being "on the other side of the court..."
Looking stunning and relaxed in a little black skirt, off white top and smart hairdo, Her Honour felt sure CaseLoad would be in her court sooner or later...
"You're in for it now," said The Scunner.
Thought For The Day
A person's refusal to deny an allegation does not automatically mean the allegation is correct...Which is something stolen data mouthpiece Nicky Hager and his fellow travellers would do well to remember...
Seen & Heard
* A new husband and wife law firm - Lloyd Troon Law - has opened in Queenstown, providing - according to a news release - a range of specialist legal services relating to "court, people and property."
John Troon has been practising in Queenstown for 41 years, specialising in trusts, estates and asset planning. His wife Dale Lloyd has been in practice for 25 years and is an experienced civil and criminal litigator and family law specialist. (Source: NZ Law Society LawPoints Bulletin).
More On David Bain's Legal Aid
If David Cullen Bain - controversially found guilty then subsequently acquitted of the murders of his family - gets compensation from the Government, there is no legal authority to recover from it any of the $3.33 million legal aid previously spent on his case.
This will come as a surprise to those who think otherwise ...
Legal Aid Services general manager Michele McCreadie joined others, including Associate Justice Minister Simon Bridges, in refusing to answer specific questions about Bain's legal aid and what, if any, steps had been taken about repayment, citing "privacy". But McCreadie told CaseLoad that if compensation is awarded after a case has been finalised, the service does not have any legal authority to recover legal aid costs.
According to McCreadie, whether a legally aided person has a legal aid debt is assessed on their income and capital at the time legal aid is granted.
So, on the one hand, how much taxpayer money is granted a legally aided person is public information and when sought is released, but whether or not they pay it back is deemed by officials to be a matter of "privacy" and not open to public scrutiny.
Meanwhile, the Ombudsman's Office is investigating a decision of Legal Services Commissioner Sarah Turner to withhold from CaseLoad information requested relating to the repayment of Bain's legal aid, on the grounds of protecting his privacy.
A Minister's Reply Person Replies"
Dear (name withheld for personal reasons)
"The Hon Amy Adams, Minister of Justice and Courts, has asked me to thank you for your correspondence of April 9, 2015, regarding IPCA appointments." (See the last instalment of CaseLoad).
"You will receive a response as soon as possible.
"Yours sincerely
"Swati Bhim
"Private Secretary Justice and Courts
"Office of the Minister of Justice
"Hon Amy Adams
More On Schoolboy Rowers Row
Margot Saunders writes:
"You seem to have completely missed the point about why so many people are angry about the way the High Court intervened on behalf of the two St Bede's boys (CaseLoad April 10).
And I am not an 'occupational mouthpiece for headmasters/mistresses', although I can see where they are coming from.
You may argue 'natural justice, due process, individual circumstances' etc, ad infinitum, but schools should be free to discipline their students as they see fit, without lawyers and judges breathing down their necks.
If there has been a breach of disciplinary standards by the school, surely that is a matter for the Ministry of Education, not the courts.
Lawyers and judges clearly have no idea about the challenges schools face in managing student behaviour, and the intervention of the courts in this way only makes it harder for them.
When I was at school, students were routinely sent home if they misbehaved on school sports trips or other outings.
Nobody dreamt of calling in the lawyers then.
We have become far too lawyered up.
Everyone is running scared of litigation.
I have no doubt that if something happened to the boys on this trip - if their safety was seriously breached - the lawyers and the judges would have been involved again, pointing the finger of culpability at the school's management team.
No wonder they feel annoyed about this case. It seems they can't win."
CaseLoad replies:
The point, Margot - which you and others have yet to grasp - is not about misbehaviour, or running to lawyers or the courts.
It is, as Justice Dunningham rightly found and explained in her judgment, about the school's denial of justice by failing to adopt a proper process and shooting from the hip.
Such fundamental denial of justice by the school would not have been exposed if the matter had not gone to court.
Some folk still believe school is a good place to instil respect for justice, fair play and to caution against rushing to judgment.
That didn't work at St Bede's.
