Companies call on Law Society to do better

Some of New Zealand's largest public companies are calling on the New Zealand Law Society to protect client rights in a new code of professional conduct due to come into force next year.

The criticism is that the draft code focuses on internal structural issues and ignores client care. It has been said that the lack of reassurance on client protection is a "major omission".

A code asserting client's rights similar to that introduced for the medical profession following the Cartwright Inquiry 20 years ago has been requested but it is suggested that such a code has implications for clients other than lawyers representing large corporates who are themselves clients of other lawyers.

The President of the Corporate Lawyers Association, Helen Mackay, has commented that an easily understood code of client rights would send a positive signal to the whole community.

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