14 Annual Report
As part of emphasising an open approach to communication and to give
law reform a higher profile in the community, we have launched a new
website that provides forum discussion and survey functionality and
allows submissions on our issues papers to be received online.
In particular, in relation to our review of the liquor laws we are hoping
www.talklaw.co.n
z
will attract a younger demographic, as well as people
in the community who might not have contributed to Commission
reports in the past. If this approach is successful we will look to develop
it further and reduce our publication costs by publishing issues papers
online only.
The President and Commissioners continued to be invited to present at
a number of conferences and gave many speeches during the year about
the work of the Commission, the LAC and law reform more generally.
These presentations are part of our communication strategy emphasising
an open approach to communication with our stakeholders and
interested parties. A number of these speeches are posted on our website.
We continue to invite the media to the launch of our reports and post
links to the video briefings on our website.
We remain firm in our commitment to provide appropriate opportunities
for staff education and development. Three legal staff were sponsored
to complete their legal professionals training. An in house, level three,
Te Reo course was attended by eight staff during the year. In addition,
many staff have taken the opportunity to attend conferences and
seminars relevant to their areas of interest and/or expertise.
The Commissionfs in house seminar series this year was notable for
speakers such as Professor Fred Morrison from the University of
Minnesota Law School, speaking about the complexities of the legal and
jurisdictional issues in the Guantanamo camps,Mr Michael Hodgen,
a Wellington barrister speaking about his experiences as a lawyer in
South Africa in the early 90s, Trustee Professor Amy Boss, from Drexel
University, explaining her work on the development of software
principles by the American Institute of Law and Professor Roger Clark,
from Rutgers University School of Law speaking about the international
criminal court. There were also two very interesting staff presentations
covering consistency in sentencing, and the regulation of the use of flags
and emblems from Northern Ireland to the North Island.
