Jock Anderson

Nervous waiting will be over when the Supreme Court announces on Monday, September 11 if barristers can be sued for bad workmanship in court.

Justices Peter Blanchard and John McGrath are expected to announce the court’s judgment at 10 am in an appeal by law firm Chamberlains against an action brought by former market-gardening clients Sun Poi Lai and Hilda Lorraine Lai.

Last October Chamberlains appealed a four to one Court of Appeal decision from March 2005 that said Mr and Mrs Lai could sue Chamberlains for wrongly letting the High Court rule against them

In that decision the Court of Appeal rejected the defence of barristerial immunity, which traditionally protected lawyers from being sued for their courtroom performance, sending shock waves through the legal profession.

Mr and Mrs Lai want to sue Chamberlains over what they claim was dud courtroom advice in a mid-1990s High Court case that cost them about $750,000.

Because the Court of Appeal’s ruling struck at the heart of a lawyer’s accountability to clients the Supreme Court allowed the New Zealand Law Society and the New Zealand Bar Association to have a big say in proceedings.

CaseLoad will post a full analysis of the decision as soon as possible.

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