Criminal Law Conference 2023
Now in its 7th year, the Criminal Law Conference is back to prepare you for the year to come. Receive practical insights from an esteemed panel of experts on the Ellis v R decision, sentencing updates, CP(MIP)Act 2003, litigation skills in judge alone trials, how to approach hostile witnesses and the criminal disclosure regime. Gain your CPD hours and arm yourself with the specific skills and knowledge that you need to ensure you are informed in your criminal law practice. WEB233NZA25Z
Description
Attend and earn 6 CPD hours
Session 1
Criminal Law Hot Spots and Significant Decisions
Chair: Philip Hamlin, Barrister, Hamlin Law
9.00am to 10.00am Ellis v R: The Potential Reach of the Supreme Court Decisions
Join Maree for a practical review of the latest word on the questions of:
- The proper bounds of expert evidence: avoiding imbalance, diagnostics, and improper bolstering of complainant evidence
- Contamination: the use of memory evidence, fairly informing a jury, and what cross-examination can (and cannot) achieve
- The “interests of justice” test for continuing a criminal appeal after death of the appellant
Other aspects from the decisions of potential use to practitioners will also be examined
Presented by Maree Cross, Barrister, Lorne Street Chambers
10.00am to 11.00am Moses, Methamphetamine, and MPIs
This session will provide an overview of recent relevant Court of Appeal decisions
Key takeaways:
- How to structure your sentencing under Moses in order to attract maximum discounts
- A survey of recent methamphetamine sentencings
- Discussion on MPIs, and how they might best be avoided
Presented by Marie Taylor Cyphers, Barrister, Verus Chambers
11.00am to 11.15am Morning Tea Break
11.15am to 12.15pm Criminal Procedure (Mentally Impaired Persons) Act 2003: A Practical Overview
- Fitness to stand trial
- Acquittals by reason of insanity
- Disposition / Court orders
- Detention, treatment and care of defendants who are convicted
Presented by Todd Simmonds, Barrister, Lorne Street Chambers
12.15pm to 1.15pm The SFO Donation Cases: Issues and Updates
This session will focus on:
- An overview of the 2022 donation cases brought by the Serious Fraud Office (in relation to alleged donations made to the New Zealand First Party, National Party and Labour Party)
- Issues and updates in relation to a key section for fraud prosecution, s 240 of the Crimes Act 1961 (obtaining by deception) arising from those cases
- Relevance of cultural and linguistic evidence in the context of criminal proceedings (which a feature of the National /Labour joint trial)
- Relevance of the so-called co-conspirators’ evidence in the context of serious fraud
Presented by Yvonne Mortimer-Wang, Barrister, Shortland Chambers
Learning Objectives:
- Receive an update on the Ellis v R case and its implications
- Be updated on recent sentencing decisions
- Hear a practical overview of the CP(MIP) Act 2023
- Learn about recent and important developments in criminal law
Session 2
Advocacy and Client Skills in Criminal Law Practice
Chair: Fletcher Pilditch KC
2.00pm to 3.00pm Dealing with Difficult and Hostile Witnesses
- When is a witness hostile?
- How to approach an application to the Judge?
- Strategy to get what you need from the witness
Presented by David Stevens, Barrister, Verus Chambers
3.00pm to 4.00pm Litigation Skills in Judge Alone Trials
Presented by Oliver Troon, Barrister, Blackstone Chambers
Learning Objectives:
- Gain important skills and techniques for running a Judge alone trial
- Learn how to approach a difficult or hostile witness
- Receive insights and a deeper understanding of the Criminal Disclosure Regime
Presenters
Philip Hamlin
Philip is an experienced Criminal Barrister with extensive involvement across a wide range of criminal trials, appeals, and related civil hearings. Philip is a former Crown Prosecutor with over 40 years’ of experience. Phil is recognised for his expertise in a number of important areas including sex crimes, child abuse and homicides, expert evidence cases, appeals, pornography and computer-internet crime. He has appeared in a number of significant trials including murder, attempted murder, serious assaults, drugs, fraud and sex crimes. Phil is an expert in defending his clients at trial, advising them on practical options in relation to each step in the process, engaging a range of experts to assist in their defence, and dealing with the many issues that arise when appearing in Court as a defendant.
Maree Cross
Maree practices civil and criminal law from Lorne Street Chambers in Auckland City. In addition to her LLB(Hons)/BA from the University of Auckland, she holds an LLM (graduating as a Scholar) from Columbia University in the City of New York, where she specialised in trial and appellate practice. Maree was previously a Senior Associate at MinterEllisonRuddWatts as well as full-time junior counsel to David PH Jones QC. She has acted for a number of high-profile individuals and appears regularly in the District and High Courts, with particular expertise in the criminal jury trial jurisdiction. She also writes the chapters on surveillance and the Privacy Act in the Thomson Reuters’ text, Privacy Law in New Zealand. Maree joined the Independent Bar in February 2016.
Marie Taylor Cyphers
Marie enjoys a busy appellate practice, and has had a number of successes in the Court of Appeal - including in the last couple of years in the area of sentencing. Arguing and attempting to craft new law in this area is her favourite aspect of practice. Marie's focus is predominantly on crime from simple matters of a first conviction needing a 106 discharge, through to methamphetamine and murder. She has a particular interest in financial transactions having previously worked at PwC and business strategy. Marie is a Youth Advocate and works a lot in the Criminal Procedure (Mentally Impaired Persons) Court.
Todd Simmonds
Todd was admitted to the bar in 1990 and specialises in criminal litigation both against and for the Crown. He has extensive trial experience in the High and District Courts and has appeared many times as lead counsel in the Court of Appeal. Prior to becoming a barrister sole in 2004, Todd was a senior prosecutor with Meredith Connell, the office of the Auckland Crown Solicitor. He has been a member of the Auckland Crown Solicitor's panel since 2004 and was appointed to the Manukau Crown Solicitor's panel upon its inception in 2015. Todd was appointed to the Serious Fraud Office prosecution panel in 2010. Todd is currently the Deputy Chair of the New Zealand Bar Association’s Criminal Law Committee and is a past convenor of the Auckland District Law Society's Criminal Law Committee.
Yvonne Mortimer-Wang
Yvonne is a Barrister at Shortland Chambers. She acts in criminal and civil proceedings with a particular interest in serious fraud, regulatory prosecutions, proceeds of crime, disciplinary proceedings, and other areas of public interest litigation. Yvonne began her career at the bar as an employed barrister and subsequently held tenancy as barrister sole at two sets of respected chambers in Auckland. Prior to joining Shortland Chambers, she also worked at Meredith Connell where she was a Crown prosecutor and acted for other government clients in civil proceedings. Yvonne has a degree in Law and Commerce (Finance) from the University of Auckland and a Master of Public and International Law from the University of Melbourne with First Class Honours. Yvonne was the 2016 Arthur Watts Fellowship intern at the British Institute of International and Comparative Law (London) and an Inner Temple Pegasus Scholar (London) in 2018. She has a keen academic interest in areas including comparative legal studies, corporate criminal law, proceeds of crime, civil fraud, administrative law, and human rights law. Born in Shanghai, and raised both there and in New Zealand, her cultural and linguistic background gives her an insight into the dimensions and nuances of the law as experienced by immigrant communities in New Zealand.
Fletcher Pilditch KC
Fletcher has over 22 years’ experience as an advocate in regulatory/criminal and public law litigation. He has extensive court experience at every level having conducted many jury and judge alone trials, appeals, tribunal and inquiry proceedings. His expertise spans a wide range of contentious enforcement cases including: fraud; financial market; fair trading; and other serious financial crime; aviation; workplace health and safety; resource management; maritime; fisheries; and animal welfare; as well as regularly conducting serious general criminal law cases. He represents and provides advice to clients who are subject to investigation by diverse Government agencies including the Serious Fraud Office, the Commerce Commission, the Financial Markets Authority, and Worksafe. He also accepts instructions to act in civil proceedings, particularly statutory actions, judicial review proceedings, professional disciplinary proceedings, and coronial inquests. Fletcher qualified as a Barrister and Solicitor in New Zealand in 1995. He was admitted as a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of the Pitcairn Islands in 2003. He is presently a Senior Magistrate of the Pitcairn Islands.
He commenced his career in London with Ashurst Morris Crisp. When he returned to New Zealand he worked as a Crown Prosecutor with Davys Burton, in Rotorua, and then Meredith Connell, Auckland, where he became an associate and senior prosecutor. He was appointed Crown Solicitor for Rotorua in 2006. From that time to the end of 2013, he was responsible for the conduct of all Crown prosecutions in the Western Bay of Plenty. He joined the independent bar in 2014. He was appointed King‘s Counsel in 2021.
Oliver Troon
Oliver specialises in criminal defence. He represents clients facing all manner of criminal charges. Oliver began his legal career as a litigation solicitor at a firm in Dunedin where he had a broad practise including criminal defence, relationship property, employment, resource management and civil litigation. Oliver then moved to Auckland and worked for the Public Defence Service for a number of years, focusing exclusively on representing clients in criminal proceedings. Oliver works from both Auckland and Queenstown. He regularly appears in the District and High Courts throughout the country. He can be instructed privately and also accepts assignments for clients on legal aid. Oliver is also a court-appointed Youth Advocate.
David Stevens
David is an experienced criminal lawyer specialising in serious crime. He acts for both the Crown and defence as lead counsel. David's appellate experience includes appeals to the Court of Appeal as well as numerous appeals in the High Court. Classified as senior Crown counsel in 2017, David has appeared as lead or sole counsel in more than 60 jury trials, including for charges of murder, sexual violation, and serious drug offences. David also has significant experience with departmental prosecutions, Parole Board work and Coronial inquiries. He has appeared on behalf of numerous prosecuting agencies, including the New Zealand Police, the Department of Corrections, the Inland Revenue Department, the Department of Conservation, the Ministry for Primary Industries, Statistics New Zealand, Immigration New Zealand, the Northland Fish and Game Council, and the SPCA. David is a member of the Crown prosecution panel for the Manukau Crown solicitor. He is an approved legal aid provider for Criminal PAL 4 matters, proceeds of crime cases, and appeals.