The ADLS CPD Committee is responsible for monitoring the ADLS CPD programme, its performance and generating future CPD topics of interest. For each topic devised, a sub-committee is formed to further formulate the topic with selected speakers. Given the breadth of CPD, the committee comprises of practitioners from various legal practice areas and members of the judiciary.
The Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Committee promotes "best practice" amongst members of the legal profession by delivering cost-effective, quality CPD events that are of relevance and immediate benefit to practitioners. As well as focusing on content, the committee also considers various appropriate methods of delivery such as seminars, webinars, workshops, forums, webcasts and the like to ensure that CPD is delivered in an interesting and accessible way.
Geoff Hardy has served on the Committee continuously since 2001, and became the Convenor in 2012. He is a commercial lawyer of 37 years' experience and has previously been a Vice President of ADLS Inc. and a director of the NZLS.
Brian is a barrister practising in the Family Law arena mainly relationship property, trust, estate and COCA litigation. He is a former partner at McVeagh Fleming, teacher of Family Property at Auckland University (three years) and regular presenter and chairman at seminars and conferences.
Joanne's experience spans over 10 years in property-related law and includes time at a large commercial firm in Auckland. She spent 3 years in London working for a large international law firm on a range of major property related transactions.
Dennis Jenkin has 36 years of legal experience, 24 years as a Barrister Sole at Shortland Chambers, Auckland. He has a broad experience in all types of Civil litigation including many appearances in the different courts. He has given advice in connection with Arbitrations and Judicial Settlement Conferences.
Ian has been in legal practise for more than 25 years where the majority of this time was spent at a leading Auckland commercial law firm. There he worked on numerous major and innovative development projects. Ian then spent time travelling and working as a paralegal in London. On his return in 2010 he commenced work in the legal profession again.
Andrew has 15 years' of partner level experience at leading New Zealand and international firms (12 years as a corporate partner at Simpson Grierson in Auckland and three years as a corporate partner at Norton Rose Group in Dubai). He is a commercial lawyer whose specialisations include M&A, investment transactions, fund establishment and joint ventures.
Sarah has over 20 years' experience as a commercial lawyer, dealing with all aspects of owning and operating businesses for clients, with a particular focus on franchise work. She has also worked as a HR Manager and a franchise consultant, and co-owned a commercial property services business. Sarah is mindful of balancing legal and practical advice.
Maxine has more than 18 years experience in both the civil and criminal jurisdictions and regularly appears in both the District and High Courts. She is a current faculty member for the Litigation Skills programme and has presented a number of seminars for the ADLS programme.