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Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006

Complaints and discipline - Complaints

143: Negotiation, conciliation, and mediation

You could also call this:

"Talking it out: resolving complaints about lawyers or conveyancers"

Illustration for Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006

You can make a complaint about a lawyer or conveyancer. A Standards Committee looks at your complaint. They might tell you and the other person to talk and try to resolve the issue. You and the other person must try to resolve the complaint by talking. You must tell the Standards Committee what happens. The Standards Committee will only tell you to do this if they think it will help. If the complaint is very serious, the Standards Committee can still look at it. They can do this even if you and the other person are talking. They can also do this if you reach an agreement. If you and the other person reach an agreement, the Standards Committee can write it down. They can also make the agreement part of their final decision. What you say when you are talking to try to resolve the complaint is private. It cannot be used as evidence in court or in front of a Standards Committee. But if you have other evidence, it can still be used. This is because it existed before you started talking to resolve the complaint.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM366181.

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142: Procedure of Standards Committee, or

"How a Standards Committee works and makes fair decisions"

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144: Power to appoint investigators, or

"People can be chosen to investigate complaints about lawyers or conveyancers."

Part 7Complaints and discipline
Complaints

143Negotiation, conciliation, and mediation

  1. A Standards Committee may give, in relation to any complaint received by it, a direction that, within a time or before a date fixed by the Standards Committee, the parties both—

  2. explore the possibility of resolving, by negotiation, conciliation, or mediation,—
    1. the complaint; or
      1. such issues relating to the complaint as the Standards Committee specifies; and
      2. report to the Standards Committee.

        1. A Standards Committee must not give a direction under subsection (1) if it considers that such a direction—

        2. would not contribute constructively to resolving the complaint; or
          1. would not, in all the circumstances, be in the public interest; or
            1. would undermine the urgent nature of the complaint.

              1. If a complaint involves an issue of misconduct or unsatisfactory conduct, a Standards Committee may deal with, or continue to deal with, that complaint despite—

              2. any direction given under subsection (1); and
                1. any negotiation, conciliation, or mediation in relation to the complaint or any issue involved in the complaint; and
                  1. any settlement agreed by the parties to the complaint.

                    1. If the parties reach an agreed settlement in relation to the complaint or any issue involved in the complaint, the Standards Committee—

                    2. may record the terms of the settlement; and
                      1. may, by consent of the parties, declare all or some of the terms of the settlement to be all or part of a final determination of the complaint by the Standards Committee.

                        1. No evidence is admissible in any court or before any person acting judicially or before a Standards Committee or before the Legal Complaints Review Officer or the Disciplinary Tribunal of any information, statement, or admission disclosed or made to any person in the course of any negotiation, conciliation, or mediation conducted, pursuant to a direction given under subsection (1), for the purpose of resolving a complaint or any issue involved in a complaint.

                        2. Nothing in this section prevents the discovery or affects the admissibility of any evidence (being evidence which is otherwise discoverable or admissible and which existed independently of any negotiation, conciliation, or mediation conducted pursuant to a direction given under subsection (1) for the purpose of resolving a complaint or any issue involved in a complaint) merely because the evidence was presented in the course of the negotiation, conciliation, or mediation.