New Zealand Legislation: Acts
Acts are laws made by Parliament
(1) The Council may from time to time make rules providing for the regulation and good government of the Society and its members and its affairs, and also making any provision that may be necessary or desirable for the effective exercise of the Society's functions and powers.
(2) Without prejudice to subsection (1) of this section, the Council may make rules—
(a) Prescribing the number of Vice-Presidents of the Society; prescribing the circumstances in which a President-elect shall be elected and shall take office as President; prescribing the number of members of the Council to be elected by District Law Societies; and prescribing the manner and times of electing the President, Vice-Presidents, President-elect, Treasurer, and other members of the Council, the period or periods of their continuance in office, the manner in which any member of the Council may vacate office, and the manner and time in which any vacancy, however occurring, shall be filled:
(b) Providing for and regulating the holding of meetings of the Council, and prescribing the quorum and the procedure at meetings:
(c) Providing for the convening of general meetings of the Society and prescribing the procedure at such meetings:
(d) Regulating in respect of any matters the professional practice, conduct, and discipline of practitioners:
(e) Regulating the keeping of trust accounts by solicitors, and the receipt, banking, payment, investment, and recording of money entrusted to solicitors; and requiring the keeping of registers of property, authorities, and appointments held by solicitors:
(ea) Requiring that a solicitor who intends to set up on his or her own account, or who manages or administers trust accounts, must undertake training in trust account management and in the obligations of solicitors in relation to trust accounts. Such rules may, without limitation,—
(i) Provide that the training must be undertaken at specified times or frequencies, or in specified circumstances:
(ii) Require that a particular course or courses be undertaken, or (in addition, or as an alternative) require that the training comply with specified requirements or be provided by a particular agency or agencies:
(iii) Provide that satisfactory results from assessment or examination be required as part of the training:
(iv) Exempt, or provide for the exemption of, any solicitor or class of solicitor from all or any rules made under this paragraph:
(v) Provide that fees may be charged to any person applying for or undertaking the training required by rules made under this paragraph:
(f) Prescribing the duties of persons appointed to conduct examinations of solicitors' accounts under section 85 of this Act, and prescribing the duties of solicitors in relation to such examinations and the circumstances in which any such solicitor may be required to pay the cost of any such examination:
(fa) Requiring that holders of practising certificates, or any class of holders of practising certificates, undertake ongoing legal education relating to the law or the practice of law. Such rules may, without limitation,—
(i) Provide for the times or frequencies at which the legal education must be undertaken, and the topics to be addressed:
(ii) Require that particular legal education be undertaken, or (in addition, or as an alternative) require that the legal education comply with specified requirements:
(iii) Exempt, or provide for the exemption of, any holder or class of holder of a practising certificate, from all or any rules made under this paragraph:
(iv) Provide that fees may be charged to any person applying for or receiving legal education required by rules made under this paragraph:
(g) Regulating the formation, operation, management, and winding up of solicitors' nominee companies for the investment of money in contributory mortgages or other securities on behalf of clients:
(h) Empowering the Council to give rulings in respect of the application of any rules under this section and requiring the observance of such rulings by practitioners:
(i) Prescribing offences in respect of the contravention of or non-compliance with any rules made under this section, and the amounts of the fines that may be imposed by the Society in respect of any such offences, not exceeding,—
(i) In respect of any offence against a rule made under any of the provisions of paragraphs (d) to (h) of this subsection, $5,000; and
(ii) In respect of any offence against a rule made under any provision of this section (other than a provision of paragraphs (d) to (h) of this subsection), $500:
(j) Providing for the recovery, as a debt due to the Society, of any fine imposed by the Society under a rule made under this section.
(3) The Council may also make rules—
(a) Requiring practitioners or any class of practitioners to arrange, in such manner and for such minimum amounts as may be prescribed in the rules, indemnity against liability to pay claims made against them in respect of anything done or omitted to be done by them as practitioners:
(b) For the purpose of providing such indemnity, authorising or requiring the Council to do either or both of the following things:
(i) To establish and maintain such fund or funds that may be disbursed in such manner as may be provided in the rules:
(ii) To take out and maintain insurance with authorised insurers as agents for practitioners.
(4) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (3) of this section, any rules made for the purposes of that subsection may—
(a) Specify the terms and conditions on which indemnity is to be available, and any circumstances in which the right to it is to be excluded or modified:
(b) Provide for the management, administration, and protection of any fund maintained by virtue of paragraph (b)(i) of that subsection; provide for all costs and expenses incurred in the management, administration, and protection of the fund to be met out of the fund; and require practitioners or any class of practitioners to make payments to the fund:
(c) Require practitioners or any class of practitioners to make payments by way of premium on any insurance policy maintained by the Council by virtue of paragraph (b)(ii) of that subsection:
(d) Authorise the Council to determine the amount of any payments required by the rules, subject to such limits or in accordance with such provisions as may be prescribed by the rules:
(e) Require practitioners to supply to the Council from time to time such information and statistics as may be necessary for the purposes of that subsection:
(f) Authorise the Council to enter into contracts of reinsurance for the purposes of any scheme under that subsection:
(g) Specify circumstances in which, where a practitioner for whom indemnity is provided has failed to comply with the rules, the Council or insurers may take proceedings against him in respect of sums paid by way of indemnity in connection with a matter in relation to which he has so failed to comply:
(h) Specify circumstances in which practitioners or any class of practitioners are exempt from the rules or any provision of them:
(i) Empower the Council to take such reasonable steps as it considers necessary or desirable to ascertain whether or not the rules are being complied with:
(j) Make such incidental, procedural, or supplementary provisions as are necessary to give full effect to that subsection.
(5) No rule made under this section in respect of any matter shall be held to be invalid on the ground that power is conferred by some other provision of this Act to make a regulation in respect of that matter; but so far as any such rule conflicts with any regulation so made it shall be read subject to that regulation.
Compare: 1955 No 101 ss 100(1)(d), 118, 121
Subsection (2)(e) was substituted, as from 1 July 1994, by section 2(1) Law Practitioners Amendment Act 1994 (1994 No 44).
Subsection (2)(ea) was inserted, as from 7 May 1999, by section 2(1) Law Practitioners Amendment Act 1999 (1999 No 37).
Subsection (2)(fa) was inserted, as from 7 May 1999, by section 2(2) Law Practitioners Amendment Act 1999 (1999 No 37).
Subsection (2)(i) was substituted, and subsection (2)(j) was inserted, as from 1 July 1994, by section 2(2) Law Practitioners Amendment Act 1994 (1994 No 44).