NZFCA

Chairperson's Report for the AGM on Thursday 12 May 2016 at 6:15pm to be held in

The Hobson Room, Alexandra Park 

Dear Members,

We have had another busy year of dinner meetings and other functions.

In August 2015, Shane Harris from SAFE was our guest speaker.

Inspector Tusha Penny from the New Zealand Police spoke to us in November 2015, this was timely as it was the White Ribbon Appeal month as well.

Katriana Taufalele, a student at McAuley High School presented a poem she wrote entitled “Behind Closed Doors”, which was well received. There were about 100 attendees at this dinner.

For our Christmas function we combined with the Family Law Section of the New Zealand Law Society. This was held at The Cav in College Hill, Freemans Bay. We are looking to combine with them again.

Professor Mark Henaghan from Otago University was our guest speaker in February 2016. He talked about his research and the Family Court reforms. His Power Point presentation was very informative. Just over 120 people attended this dinner.

The numbers attending our dinner meetings has been increasing, which is good to see. Our average dinner attendance number is now 100. We have also had an increased number of non-lawyers attending.

The Chief Social Worker, Paul Nixon is our guest speaker at our dinner on 12 May 2016, which will follow the AGM.

New membership applications from the last AGM to this year’s AGM total 25.

Our next dinner meeting is on 11 August 2016. This will be a quiz night.

We are holding a special dinner on 5 September 2016 (invitations will be sent out shortly), to honour founding members of the Family Courts Association, and to recognise life-time members. The venue for this dinner is Five Knots (Tamaki Yacht Club).

Due to the extremely successful dinner meeting with Professor Mark Henaghan as our guest speaker in February of this year, the committee have decided to hold another dinner meeting with him as the guest. His topic will be “An update on research on Family Court Reforms”.

Applications for the Lynn Bevan Trust scholarship have been extended to the end of August 2016.

Our network is increasing largely thanks to our Facebook page. We also have a website (which isn’t as widely used by members as I would like), we are also on Twitter and LinkedIn. Facebook especially is a great way of networking and reaching new and also younger members.

I wish to thank all the committee members for their support. Please contact myself or any of the committee members if you have any ideas for future dinner meetings.

Jeremy Sutton

Chairperson

Email: jeremy@jeremysutton.co.nz

Mark Henaghan's Powerpoint - Family Court Reforms Feb 2016

Powerpoint download here. 

Talking Trouble Workshop

Download the event flyer here.

Visit Talking Trouble NZ's website here. 

"Talking Trouble Aotearoa NZ (TTANZ), the organisation I run, is putting on some workshops for a general audience of professionals who work with vulnerable children/youth. The focus of the workshop is on addressing children's speech, language and communication needs using practical strategies and tools for whatever work professionals do that involves talking and listening with children.

The Braveheart Trust has generously offered to sponsor two places at our next one day workshop on 1 April in Auckland (see attached flyer) and would like the places to be offered to professionals who work within the courts in NZ. 

I was wondering if there might be interest from a member of the Family Courts Association for one of these free tickets?  If you're interested, please email TTANZ (contact@talkingtroublenz.org) by 18 March, then a name will drawn from a hat to choose who gets the free ticket."

Sally Kedge

Acting District Court Judge Appointed - Her Honour E B Parsons

Emma Parsons, barrister of Auckland, has been appointed an acting District Court Judge with a Family Court warrant to be based in Tauranga. Ms Parsons has been a family law barrister on her own account since 2001 practising appellate work and Care of Children Act matters.

Ms Parsons is regularly appointed by the Family Court, the High Court and The Hague Central Authority to represent children, undertaking amicus curiae and counsel to assist roles.

Judge Parsons will be sworn in on 15 March 2016 in Auckland.

The New Zealand Law Society Auckland Branch and Branch Council congratulate Her Honour E B Parsons on her appointment.

Three members are now DC judges, one member a QC

Auckland barrister Antony Mahon has been appointed an acting District Court Judge with a Family Court warrant to serve in the Manukau District Court. Judge Mahon will be sworn in on 14 August in Auckland.

Auckland barrister Sharyn Otene has been appointed an acting District Court Judge with a Family Court warrant to serve in the Hamilton District Court. Judge Otene will be sworn in on 2 September in Manukau.

Auckland barrister Dianne Partridge has been appointed an acting District Court Judge with a Family Court warrant to serve in the North Shore District Court. Judge Partridge will be sworn in on 31 July in Manukau.