Former politician first lay observer

Press, 2 August 1983, Page 8

Former politician first lay observer

The former member of Parliament for Lyttelton, Miss Colleen Dewe, has been appointed the first lay observer for the Canterbury District Law Society. The appointment, made by the Governor-General, Sir David Beattie, on the recommendation of the Minister of Justice, Mr McLay, was made under the Law Practitioners Act, 1982, which came into force in April this year. Miss Dewe, who is also a member of the Commerce Commission, will examine complaints from the public against lawyers, if the complaints are referred to her by the council of the district law society. She will then report to the council and to the complainant, and the council will reconsider the complaint in the light of her report.

One of Miss Dewe’s other duties will be to present an annual report to Parliament. The Governor-General has also announced the appointment of Mr Charles

Waters and Mrs Margaret McCrostie as the two lay members of the District Disciplinary Tribunal of the Canterbury District Law Society.

Mr Waters is the secre-tary-manager of the Canterbury Aged People’s Welfare Council and a former director of the Social Welfare Department in Christchurch. Mrs McCrostie is the wife of a Christchurch gynaecologist and has done social work.

The tribunal system was also set up by the Law Practitioners Act, 1982. Mr McLay recommended the two appointees after consulting the council of the Canterbury District Law Society.

The tribunal will consist of between five and eight lawyers and two lay members. A quorum will comprise three persons, one of whom must be a lay member. The district tribunal has the power to impose a fine of up to $2OOO on a practitioner, or it may censure,

order compensation to be paid to the complainant, order a reduction in fees, or ban the practitioner from doing certain legal work.

The Canterbury District Law Society has decided not to publicly release the names of the practitioners it has appointed to the tribunal.

The society’s president, Mr C. E. W. Averill, said that the involvement of lay persons in the complaints procedure would do much to reassure the public that such matters were dealt withg “fully and objectively.” Only a few complaints were expected to proceed to the tribunal.