@strictlyobiter
Going on a frolic of his own. Distinguished Fellow at the Robert Muldoon Centre for Constitutional Law. Please send all complaints c/- Rt Hon Dame Helen Winkelmann GNZM Supreme Court of New Zealand 85 Lambton Quay Wellington
Great appointments, and presumably leads to a change in judicial styles as the current Walker J will become Tracey Walker J and the new judge will be Natalie Walker J.
Carless days are slightly less serious than dangrous days, which are slightly less serious than rckless days.
Which is O'Gorman J on whether can you be an accessory after the fact to murder for acts done while the victim is mortally wounded but before they've died?
One of my favourite genres of decision is High Court ruling mid-criminal trial on a really important point of substantive criminal law but then the jury acquits so it's never appealed. They're always super-distilled - just pure focus.
Anyway, to that end, I recommend R v P [2025] NZHC 2412.
βWhereβs that in your pleadings?β
Yes, the recording should be uploaded in due course - maybe a small number of weeks?
Ideally on some sort of carrot and stick approach. If theyβre not going to respond to a gentle masterclass from Geoff then come the next directors duties case weβll send in Peter Watts.
I donβt think the SC was necessarily buying what Prof Geoff McLay was selling today, but it was genuinely warm, wonderful and thoughtful stuff about the relationship between statute and common law, and the Courtβs role. We should let more academics loose on the courts.
Katz J was a very natural fit on the Supreme Court bench today.
How I imagine all submissions in the BCCA go.
No New Zealand court has done what I'm arguing for. No English court either. Nor Australian. But when times are tough you'll always have a friend in the British Columbia Court of Appeal.
Cook Islands CA sitting in Wellington.
I'm doing the job I was born to do (proof reading the list of senior court judges names for the front of the hardcopy 2025 volumes of the NZLRs).
Really want even one of my reserved judgments back. As a little Friday treat.
Three young profs-goers waiting in this cafe and about to do their mock cross-examination. Much debate between them about whether they are meant to say good morning to the witness at the start.
I would rather resign as a Minister of the Crown than say this.
Beyond a lawyer's wildest dreams - the registry wrongly insists an affidavit is required and your client pays you to successfully review the registrar's decision even when doing so has become moot.
Chief Executive of the New Zealand Customs Service v Chinchiller Brewing Ltd [2026] NZHC 341
I finished my review and despite his better judgement @edwardmwillis.bsky.social will let it in his book review section for Public Law Review. His original email to me said he "couldnβt think of anyone better than [me] to ask", which really needed either a (complimentary) or (derogatory) after it.
What a way to learn Iβm mid.
A question heavily litigated over dinner. Much more talented wife wants a purposive reading and says no. Her arch-textualist husband says the answer is yes, on the basis that Wellington Zoo has scorpions.
In re John Richard Templin Scholarship Trust [2026] NZHC 351. Seeking the Court's amendment of a Canterbury and Lincoln scholarship trust deed from the 1950s which requires scholarship applicants to be "of the White Race or a MΔori".
Don't get me started.
Over time, certain legal work becomes less specialised and more commoditised due to the frequency with which it is performed - things like conveyancing, visa applications, and urgent injunctions against hackers who stole your patients' details.
Yes.
As Muldoon famously remarked about NZers who move to Australia, βIt doesn't give my opponents much time to run up to an election does it?β
I have once again been victimised by the District Court civil jurisdiction.
How Much Is That Doggy In The Window (Forcing The Council To Spend Defending This Case)?
βJustice Andrew Becroft described the case as incredibly unorthodox.β Well, yeah. Only because he couldnβt use swears.
Oh no, I am taking it into work but now my much more talented wife is just reading passages out to me and asking βis he related to [present day practitioner]?β. (The answer is always yes.)
