News Blog @ Wellington City Libraries

with
Raewyn Fox, CEO, New Zealand Federation of Family Budgeting Services.

What actions can you take when you can’t pay your debts? Are there any legal options? How is personal insolvency administered in New Zealand?

All these questions and more will be answered by Raewyn during this week’s mini –seminar.

Raewyn is the CEO of the New Zealand Federation of Family Budgeting Services. Budgeting Services operate throughout New Zealand and have extensive experience working through insolvency issues with clients. Raewyn’s presentation will be focusing on:

• What happens when you can’t pay your debts on time or you owe more than you own?
• “No assets procedure” verses “bankruptcy”
• Get rid of your debts: how long will it take? What do I need to do? What if something goes wrong?
• How much money can you keep for yourself?

This mini-seminar will take place from 12noon to 1:00pm, on Wednesday, 23 March 2011 at the ground floor of the Central Library. All welcome

What are tenants’ and landlords’ rights and responsibilities and how to avoid problems?
“When good flatmates go bad and bad landlords get worse”: the new Tenancy Act and flatmate agreements is the theme of this week’s Law for Lunch, with Hannah Northover, Community Lawyer at the Wellington Community Law Centre.

Hannah is a community lawyer whose areas of practice include tenancy law. She regularly advises tenants about issues with their landlords and their flatmates.

In this presentation Hannah will be addressing the following issues:

• Tenants: your rights and responsibilities
• Problems with flatmates
• The new 2010 Tenancy Amendment Act: changes for boarding house tenants

If you are a tenant, a landlord or a property manager this will be the perfect opportunity to ask your questions about any issues and get legal advice from an expert.

This mini-seminar will take place from 12noon to 1:00pm, on Wednesday, 16 March 2011 at the ground floor of the Central Library. All welcome!

Pregnant teenagers? What’s the law got to do with it? with Leona McWilliam, Partner, McWilliam Rennie Lawyers.

LEONA graduated from Otago University in 2000. She worked initially in general practice in the Wairarapa, before travelling to the United Kingdom to work in the area of child protection. She returned to New Zealand in 2005 and has practised in both Criminal and Family Law in the Wellington region since then.

Her presentation this week will be focussing on the following issues:

• Teenage pregnancy
• Mother’s rights, father’s rights
• Domestic violence
• Foster care, whangai, adoption, abortion
• Benefits and child support

This mini-seminar coincides with the celebrations of the International Women’s Day – 8 March 2011. It will take place from 12noon to 1:00pm, on Wednesday, March 2, 2011, at the ground floor of the Central Library. All welcome.

Stand-downs, suspensions, exclusions: just how far can schools really go is the theme of this week’s Law for Lunch, with Felicity McNeill, Community Lawyer at the Wellington Community Law Centre.

Felicity supervises the legal team who operate the Parents Legal Information Line – 0800 499 488. PLINFO is a national freephone helpline for parents, caregivers and students seeking information and assistance on issues about children and young people at school. Felicity is also responsible for the companion publication Schools and the Right to Discipline.

Felicity will talk about the following points:

• Truancy, uniforms, behaviour management and more: students’ and parents’ rights and responsibilities
• Legal and illegal punishments at school
• Problems at school? Where to next?

This mini-seminar will take place from 12noon to 1:00pm, on Wednesday, 2 March 2011 at the ground floor of the Central Library. All welcome.

Every year during March, Wellington City Libraries, in partnership with the Community Law Centre, hold a series of free weekly lunchtime talks, with guest speakers on a range of law topics.

The program of seminars for March 2011 will include the following:

Wednesday 2 March, Stand-downs, suspensions, exclusions: just how far can schools really go? By Felicity McNeill, Lawyer at the Wellington Community Law Centre.

Wednesday 9 March, Young and Pregnant? What’s the law got to do with it?
By Leona McWilliam, Partner, McWilliam Rennie Lawyers.

Wednesday 16 March, When good flatmates go bad and bad landlords get worse: the new Tenancy Act and flatmate agreements. By Hannah Northover, Lawyer at the Wellington Community Law Centre.

Wednesday 23 March, Broke? How can insolvency law help? By Raewyn Fox, CEO, New Zealand Federation of Family Budgeting Services.

For more information, please check our online Event Calendar.

Good Bank Bad Bank? What the Banking Ombudsman can do for you  is the theme of this week’s Law for Lunch mini-seminar with Deborah Battell, New Zealand Banking Ombudsman.

Deborah Battell was appointed New Zealand Banking Ombudsman in July 2009. Her previous positions have included the Director of Competition, and Director of Fair Trading, both with the New Zealand Commerce Commission, and Senior Consultant with KPMG.

The presentation will include the following points: 

• How can the Banking Ombudsman help me?
• Problems with your Account? An ATM? Your EFTPOS or Credit Card?
• A Cheque? Fraud? Insurance? Internet banking? Lending?
• Superannuation? The list goes on…

This mini-seminar will take place on the groundfloor of the Central Library, from noon till 1pm, on Wednesday, October 27, 2010.

Law for Lunch – Dealing with workplace bullying will take place this week on Wednesday (tomorow), from noon till 1pm, on the groundfloor of the Central library.

Our speaker will be Colin Ross, Wellington Community Law Centre’s senior community lawyer, who specialises in employment law. Colin has extensive management experience and is expertly placed to discuss both sides of the workplace bullying coin: how to approach bullying as a manager, and how to respond effectively as a victim.

He will talk throught the following points:

• Tough manager or workplace bully?
• Organisational and personal consequences of workplace bullying
• Useful strategies to deal with bullying (for both staff and managers)
• How to be “bully-free”

For more information, check our online Event Calendar.

Thinking about the future? Come along to Law for Lunch at Central Library this Wednesday between 12-1pm for a guide to family trusts – politicians use them, so can you!

Topics include:

• Short-term savings versus long-term gains
• Keeping your trust in order
• Trust Busting (when courts overturn property transfers to trusts)
• Helping children buy houses
• How is a trust’s income taxed?

Our speaker will be John Stevens, who is a Managing Partner in the law firm Johnston Lawrence Lawyers, and is the author of To Trust or Not to Trust. John is also involved in offering legal advice to the wider community.

This is the third session in the current series of Law for Lunch – free lunchtime seminars brought to you by Wellington City Libraries and Wellington Community Law Centre.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Law for Lunch returns Wednesdays in March! Come along to a series of free lunchtime seminars brought to you by Wellington City Libraries and Wellington Community Law Centre.

Our first topic is Navigating the ACC, and our speaker is John Miller. John is a Wellington-based lawyer specialising in ACC matters and crime victims’ compensation. He is the recipient of the Human Rights Commission’s Millennium Human Rights Award, for his work in helping seriously injured people. He was 2002 Wellingtonian of the Year and in 2006, Victoria University dedicated an annual John Miller Community Service Award to the law student who demonstrates an outstanding community service contribution.

Interested? Come along to find out what your entitlements are, get information about the different kinds of ACC compensation, or find out about challenging an ACC decision.

Want to find out about upcoming seminars? Check out our Event Calendar for more information. Other seminar topics include family trusts, school bullies, and more.

We look forward to seeing you there!

The Law for Lunch series is back for another round in April. There are four mini seminars including:

8 April
Redundancy: get it right/know your rights
Speaker: Peter Cullen, Cullen – The Employment Law Firm

15 April
Buyer beware: possible trading pitfalls, including on Trade Me
Speaker: Joanne Kearney, Ministry of Consumer Affairs

22 April
Long distance separation: relocation, the ex and children
Speaker: Annette Gray, Family Lawyer, Buchanan Gray

29 April
Dying right: how to avoid leaving a legacy of legal problems
Speaker: Frank Handy, Wellington Community Law Centre

For more information, check out our online calendar here.