Appointment of the first six family court associates
In 2023, the Government passed the Family Court (Family Court Associates) Legislation Act 2023, aiming to allow for the appointment of qualified barristers or barristers and solicitors to undertake much of the initial work relating to a case that a judge would normally have to undertake, freeing up judges and reducing the delays being experienced in the Family Court.
Six appointments have been made: Rachel Lohrey, Rebecca Murphy, Johan Niemand, Johanna Robertson, Sonya Singh and our own Family Law author, Mark Tolich.
Mark has been the author of the “Paternity” chapter in Thomson Reuters’ Child Law for many years, now. He started his working career in 1980 at McElroy Duncan and Prebble and left in 1983 to undertake post-graduate studies at Oxford University. He returned to New Zealand in 1986 and joined Rice Craig in Papakura as a solicitor and later partner, remaining with that firm until 2008. In 2009 he joined Corban Revell as a consultant and continues to hold that position.
We are very proud of Mark and wish him well in this important and necessary work. He will be kept pretty busy, but he has been told that he is not allowed to leave us at Family Law.
Clare Barrett is a Senior Legal Editor for the Analytical Law team in Thomson Reuters, and proudly responsible for the Family Law and the New Zealand Guide to Trusts/Working with Trusts products. Apart from a short spell with the Parliamentary Counsel Office, she has worked for over 20 years within the publishing side of Thomson Reuters in a number of different editorial and production roles.