7 The Commission Who are we The Law Commission is an independent Crown entity governed by the Law Commission Act 1985 (LCA) and the Crown Entities Act 2004 (CEA). Our purpose is to promote the systematic review, reform and development of the law of New Zealand. The Board, for the purposes of the Crown Entities Act, are the members of the Commission. In the financial year under review Commissioners were as follows: President, Rt Hon Sir Geoffrey Palmer SC Deputy President, Dr Warren Young Commissioner, Emeritus Professor John Burrows QC Commissioner, George Tanner QC (commenced September 2007) Commissioner, Val Sim (commenced October 2008) At year end there were 30 staff in the Commission. This includes the General Manager, 22 legal and policy advisers (including six secondments) and seven support staff. The Commission also makes use of consultants with expertise in specialist areas. We have our own law library and operate from offices that we sub lease within a modern office building in the Wellington CBD. What do we do We are a law reform agency. The Commission has an established policy and legal research culture and our project work programme falls into two categories: those referred by government to the Commission under section 7 of the LCA; and those that, upon its own motion, the Commission decides to embark upon. In recent years we have not carried out any self-referred projects as the weight of government references has been very heavy. In addition to our core work programme, a principal function of the Commission under our Act is to advise the Minister of Justice and the Minister Responsible for the Law Commission on ways in which the law of New Zealand can be made as understandable and accessible as is practicable. The main way in which the Commission undertakes this function is through its servicing of two important executive