It is with great sadness that we advise our clients and business friends that Ian Pringle recently passed away, after suffering a stroke whilst on holiday in Australia.

A funeral service was held for Ian at the new St Andrews College chapel and, as you would expect, the chapel was overflowing with hundreds of people who could not believe that this wonderful man would no longer be entertaining us with his stories or educating us with his incredible knowledge on nearly every subject imaginable.

Ian was a loved husband and father, wonderful friend and an incredible lawyer and mentor.  He transformed client service by lawyers in Christchurch from the 1960’s and grew Cavell Leitch Pringle and Boyle (as we were then known) from a small legal practice to a hugely successful law firm – paving the way for many of our subsequent partners to succeed in their own right.

It is not possible to do justice to all that Ian meant to our firm in this short note.  Jim Keegan, also a long serving and recently retired partner of Cavell Leitch, spoke on behalf of our firm at Ian’s funeral about what he meant to all of us (and also to the wider legal profession) and a copy of his Eulogy is attached here if you would like to read this yourself.

Our thoughts and condolences go out to Rosemary and Ian’s entire extended family who have been blessed to have had Ian in their lives and who will now, like us, miss him so much.  In his humble way, Ian would not want a fuss to be made, but it would not be fitting for us not to share how much he has meant and how sorry we are that he is gone. 

Ian, thank you for everything you were and have done for our firm.  We will never forget.

Raising capital from existing investors and the public can be challenging, particularly when you are facing the numerous requirements of the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) and related financial markets legislation. However, when done properly, the result can be massively successful for all involved. Cavell Leitch recently advised Shopping Centre Investments Limited (SCIL) with their public capital raise. SCIL owns ‘The Hub’ shopping mall in Hornby. The result was phenomenal with SCIL raising their target of nearly $14 million in less than 3 weeks on the market. This was achieved through great insight, planning and performance from the directors and their advisors.

SCIL engaged us early on in the project and this ensured that we could properly advise and guide their decisions from the outset. Early advisor involvement is necessary for a well-organized and successful capital raise. This means engaging legal and financial professionals to advise on the regulatory requirements, market factors and the different financial products you might offer. Our legal work for SCIL involved:

1. Providing this initial planning advice;
2. Investigating and completing due diligence on the company and its property;
3. Drafting a trust deed for the statutory supervisor;
4. Creating a Product Disclosure Statement (PDS); and
5. Working with the supervisor, SCIL’s bank and the FMA to obtain their approval of the PDS.

The feedback we received on our documents was extremely positive with most commenting that our documents were clear, concise and very easy to read/understand.

Read more here.

If you have been keeping up to date with central Christchurch developments, then you may already be aware of Regenerate Christchurch and its plans to develop a regeneration strategy for the central city area.

Regenerate Christchurch was established in 2016 to lead the regeneration of Christchurch. The organisation is made up of seven board members, three of whom are Christchurch City Council members and four of whom are appointed by the Minister supporting Greater Christchurch Regeneration. The organisation has a collaborative and interactive approach, welcoming feedback and working with other community members and stakeholders, towards the greater goal of supporting a vibrant and functioning city.

Read more here.

Recent Labour Inspectorate investigations found New Zealand employers are taking advantage of schemes such as Willing Workers on Organic Farms (WWOOFers).  These schemes generally involve seeking travellers working for free in exchange for accommodation, and sometimes food.

Many employers were incorrectly treating such workers as volunteers in order to save on labour costs, and circumvent the protections and benefits available to employees.
In some situations, workers will genuinely be volunteers, but in many, the lines are blurred and the worker is actually performing work as an employee.

Read more here.

There has been a lot of media comment about recent visa changes.  

What are these changes and how do they affect you and your employees?

Read more here.

Please join us for our next Immigration and Employment Seminar, Tuesday 13 September, 5.00pm

We will be discussing the recent changes to immigration law and how it could affect you and your business, and providing an update on employment law.
Please email Rebecca.Smith for more information and to register your interest for this event.

From 1 March 2017 new legislation has brought about change in civil procedure. Our District Court, High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court are now all governed by new Acts.
Whilst the overarching legislation concerning our courts has been reorganised, the substantive changes within the legislation are less monumental.

A key change affecting many of our clients is an increase in District Court jurisdiction, increasing the monetary claim limit from $200,000 to $350,000.  This offers an effective alternative to the High Court for higher value civil disputes.

Read more here.

We have developed presentations covering the legal topics you are interested in. This series will include presentations from a range of our specialist teams and cover both professional and personal areas.
There will be no charge for these events and drinks and nibbles will be provided. These presentations will offer you with the opportunity to learn and ask questions in a relaxed and social atmosphere.

Keeping up to date with employment law - Tuesday 3 October, 1pm
An update on the latest employment law developments, including how to manage personal grievances, as well as managing and disciplining underperforming employees.

Please email Rebecca Smith for more information and to register for our Illuminate series seminars.