Explanatory note

This Supplementary Order Paper amends the Lawyers and Conveyancers Amendment Bill (No 2) to clarify that a lawyer employed by an employer organisation or by a union may not provide legal services to a member of the organisation or the union if those services are not relevant to the person’s membership of the organisation or union. A new subsection (1B) is inserted into section 9 of the principal Act to specify cases of legal services that are relevant to a person’s membership of an employer organisation or a union. These are legal services that relate to—

• the member’s rights, obligations, or liabilities in his or her capacity as a member or as an employer or employee:

• any matter concerning or arising out of an employment relationship, as defined in the Employment Relations Act 2000. That term covers a number of relationships that are relevant in the context of employment law, such as relationships between a union and an employer, between unions bargaining for the same collective agreement, or between employers bargaining for the same collective agreement:

• any claim or action under an enactment specified in section 236 of the Employment Relations Act 2000. That section allows employers and employees to be represented by any person of their choice in claims and actions brought under a number of enactments listed in the section. The right to wider representation applies if the other party is the party’s employer or employee or if the action is taken in the Employment Relations Authority or the Employment Court. The enactments listed in the section are—

  • the Employment Relations Act 2000:

  • the Equal Pay Act 1972:

  • the Holidays Act 2003:

  • the Human Rights Act 1993:

  • Injury Prevention, Rehabilitation, and Compensation Act 2001:

  • the Minimum Wage Act 1983:

  • the Parental Leave and Employment Protection Act 1987:

  • the Police Act 1958:

  • the State Sector Act 1988:

  • the Wages Protection Act 1983:

• compliance with any enactment or other requirement governing the performance of duties of the member in the conduct of the member's normal business or profession (for example, the statutory duties relating to licensed premises):

• any question or matter concerning the member’s professional liability, entitlement under a contract of insurance, or compliance with professional standards.