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The provisons and policies which relate to the discretion of the law society standards committee

Grace Haden made this Official Information request to Ministry of Justice

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From: Grace Haden

Dear Ministry of Justice,

section 138 Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006 provides for discretion of a standards committee to take no further action

please provide the policies relied on for the application and the limitation of that discretion

The Committee exercise its discretion to take no further action when complaints relate to matters which are, will be or have been, before the Court. this effectively means that a lawyers conduct is condoned and there is no accountbility for bad conduct.

it therefore appears that all a lawyer has to do to conceal crime or digressions is to take a matter to court and they are no longer under scrutiny of the rules of conduct .

Please provide any discussion papers and policies which consider this, effetively it provides for civil proceedigns to conceal criminal offending .. e,g, claiming defamtion when a person has identified a crime

Yours faithfully,

Grace Haden

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From: OIA@justice.govt.nz
Ministry of Justice

Tēnā koe,

 

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From: OIA@justice.govt.nz
Ministry of Justice


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Tēnā koe Grace,

Thank you for emailing the Ministry of Justice (the Ministry).

We acknowledge receipt of your request under the Official Information Act
1982 (the Act).

This has been forwarded onto the relevant business unit to respond to. 

The Ministry may publish the response to your request on our website, you
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and any other personal information will be withheld under Section 9(2)(a)
(protect the privacy of natural persons) of the Act. 

You can expect a response by 20 March 2026.

Ngā mihi nui,

 

Ministerial Services

   

Communications and Ministerial Services | Corporate Services

Ministry of Justice | Tāhū o te Ture [1]justice.govt.nz

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Grace Haden <[FOI #33790 email]>
Sent: Saturday, 21 February 2026 3:50 pm
To: [Ministry of Justice request email]
Subject: Official Information request - The provisons and policies which
relate to the discretion of the law society standards committee (ref:
130299)

 

Dear Ministry of Justice,

 

section 138  Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006 provides for discretion of 
a standards committee to take no further action

 

please provide   the policies relied on for the application  and the
limitation of that  discretion

 

The Committee exercise its discretion to take no further action when 
complaints relate to matters which are, will be or have  been, before the
Court.  this effectively means that  a lawyers   conduct is condoned  and
there is no accountbility   for bad conduct.

 

it therefore appears that  all a lawyer has to do to  conceal crime or
digressions is to  take a matter to court  and they are no longer under
scrutiny of the rules of conduct .

 

Please provide any   discussion papers and  policies which  consider 
this, effetively it provides for   civil proceedigns to  conceal criminal
offending .. e,g, claiming defamtion   when a person has identified a
crime

 

Yours faithfully,

 

Grace Haden

 

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