Kia ora,
I commenced my role as President of the Law Commission on 1 June this year. Where I come from Previously, my work has involved 21 years of legal practice, directorships in public companies and government agencies, including a term as Chair of the Casino Control Authority. My experience also included being President of the Auckland District Law Society (now The Law Association of New Zealand), Vice-President of the New Zealand Law Society and then 24 years as a Member of Parliament, including 8 general elections, 12 years in Opposition and 12 years in government with 18 separate ministerial portfolios (3 of them twice) and a term as Attorney-General, which is a Parliamentary rather than a political position. The Commission's role Having been the Minister responsible for the Law Commission, I consider myself well versed in the excellent work of the Commission and believe our work has an invaluable role to play in informing government and Parliament on legal research and changes to the law. As a former minister who has referred issues to the Commission, I believe the Commission’s work is best received when it is referred matters that are less, rather than more, political. As a Commission that exercises its judgment in a non-political way, it is important that, wherever possible, we are able to get to the legal research required without concern for political matters. That does not mean that the work of the Commission needs to be divorced from reality. Our work must be able to withstand scrutiny but must be seen as relevant and timely by government, Parliament, and others. Our work is often referenced by the judiciary and in Parliament, and we should be proud of that. For some years, the Commission has been operating with limited budgets, and we have restricted ourselves to primarily undertaking one major piece of work per Commissioner with a team of dedicated researchers producing excellent work. Where we are headed What we now see is that, with the adoption of mainstream AI available to assist in productivity and following the example of other comparable Law Commissions, we should be able to increase the role of Commissioners and researchers to undertake discrete pieces of work in addition to the larger projects. This is something we need to explore. For instance, there could be opportunities for us to assist our Pacific neighbours by working with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, to see if there are targeted projects that we might undertake since, even though we see our resources as limited, we are much better resourced than our Pacific neighbours. In addition, other government agencies might benefit from the efforts of our talented staff and commissioners to send us matters that need assistance in areas in that we have already produced complex and thorough work.
Every agency, even one whose work is independent, must been seen as adding value and to the highest standard. We will continue outreach to other agencies, to Parliament, to media, to business and others to speak about the excellent work of the Commission and the role that we play as the only independent law reform body in New Zealand. We are 40 years young, with a great history behind us and an even greater future if we adapt and adopt opportunities to serve law reform. As I have told you, I welcome your input into how we can do even better work with impact. 
Judith Collins KC
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