Sue Barker Charities Law Boutique Is Law Firm of the Year

Monday, 11 November 2013, 7:26 pm
Press Release: NZ Union of Students' Associations

Sue Barker Charities Law Boutique Voted Law Firm of the Year

Sue Barker Charities Law is honoured to have been voted New Zealand’s Boutique Law Firm of the Year at the 2013 New Zealand Law Awards. The firm is also honoured to have been voted first runner-up in the Tax Law Firm of the Year Award. “It is a privilege to work with the New Zealand charitable sector. We work hard for our clients, and it is wonderful to receive this recognition of the work that we do”, said Director, Sue Barker.

The firm was established in March 2012, and is based in Wellington, with 6 staff spread over Wellington and Auckland. “There is a lot of work to be done. The Charities Bill was amended in haste in 2005, and with the promised review of the Charities Act now cancelled, New Zealand charities are suffering with the legacy of a framework that isn’t working. The definition of charitable purpose is being interpreted so narrowly that many good charities are failing to obtain registered charitable status. Many have said this is causing a systematic deconstruction of the New Zealand charitable sector, and from what we are seeing daily in our practice, I do not think this is putting the point too highly. New Zealand is now out of step with charity regulation internationally, and worse, the mechanism by which charities can appeal decisions of the regulator effectively ties their hands behind their back. Worse still, the Minister is missing in action. None of this is in anyone’s interest”, said Sue Barker.

“It is to be hoped that with an election next year, some of these issues might be able to be addressed”.

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