1 August 2025
Leigh
Email: [FYI request #31552 email]
Tēnā koe Leigh
Official information request regarding Luke Cunningham Clere
Our Ref: OIA353/1
1.
I refer to your official information request dated 11 July 2025 for the following.
1. Please confirm if Luke Cunningham and Clere (LCC) holds a warrant as a
Crown Solicitor as a requirement under the Crown Solicitors Regulations
1994
2. If so, provide a copy of the Crown Solicitor warrant for Wellington Luke
Cunningham and Clere, as warrants must be held by private practitioners
appointed as Crown Solicitors as this gives the lawyer (and their firm) the
legal authority to ACT as Crown Solicitor
3. If so, please provide a copy/link of the public notice of appointment that
was published in the New Zealand Gazette notifying LCC as a warranted
Crown Solicitor, that includes the name of the appointee, their firm, and of
their designation of the region they serve
4. A copy of a Crown Solicitor’s warrant of appointment by letters patented
by Queen Elizabeth II
5. Does Luke Cunningham Clere hold professional indemnity insurance?
6. If so, does it meet or exceed the minimum standards specified by the New
Zealand Law Society?
7. If so, it is requested the details about its insurers as a standard practice for
law firms in New Zealand
8. This request also includes, and is not limited to any limitations on the
extent of LCC obligations to their clients and or any limitation or exclusion of
liability, the current policy limit of indemnity, the current “minimum
standards” specified by the New Zealand Law Society applicable to a practice
Level 2 Justice
Centre, 19 Aitken Street, Wellington 6011 | PO Box 2858 or DX SP20208, Wellington 6140, New Zealand | +64 4 472 1719 | crownlaw.govt.nz
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link to page 2
2
Question 1
2.
Crown Solicitors are appointed by the Governor-General, on the recommendation
of the Attorney-General, by warrant under the Letters Patent
.1 Warrants are
issued to individual legal practitioners, not to the firm where they work. Grant
Burston holds the warrant of Crown Solicitor at Wellington. He is supported in his
role by the firm Luke Cunningham Clere where he is a partner.
Question 2
3.
Enclosed is a copy of the warrant for the Crown Solicitor at Wellington, Grant
Burston, dated 26 November 2007.
Question 3
4.
This aspect of your request is refused pursuant to section 18(d) of the Official
Information Act 1982 (
OIA) on the basis the information requested is publicly
available (at
www.gazette.govt.nz/notice/id/2008-go1027).
Question 4
5.
This appears to repeat your request for a copy of Grant Burston’s warrant of
appointment as Crown Solicitor at Wellington. Per paragraph [4] above, a copy is
enclosed.
Questions 5-8
6.
Pursuant to the
Crown Solicitors: Terms of Office at [30], the “Crown Solicitor or
the Crown Solicitor firm must maintain and keep current, for the period of the
appointment and for the period of two years commencing with the expiry of the
appointment at his or her own expense, professional indemnity insurance which
adequately covers any liability which might arise.”
7.
However, Crown Law does not hold information on Luke Cunningham Clere’s
professional indemnity insurance. These aspects of your request are therefore
refused pursuant to section 18(g) of the OIA. While the information you seek may
be held by Luke Cunningham Clere, Crown Solicitors are not subject to the OIA
(nor is the firm) so I am unable to transfer your request to them.
Proactive release
8.
Please note that we may publish this response (with your personal details
redacted), and any related documents, on Crown Law’s website if we decide
proactive release of this information is or may be in the public interest. If you have
any concerns about this, please let us know within 10 working days of the date of
this letter.
Your right to an investigation and review
9.
You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of this
decision. Information about how to make a complaint is available at
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or freephone 0800 802 602.
1
Crown Solicitors: Terms of Office at [6].
8735028_4
3
10.
If you wish to discuss this decision with us, please feel free to contact
[email address].
Nāku noa, nā
Crown Law
Philip Coffey
Manager, Public Prosecutions Unit
Encl
Warrant of appointment – Grant Burston, Wellington Crown Solicitor
8735028_4
