Wellington, March 4 NZPA - Lawyer John Marshall, QC, has been appointed chief commissioner of the Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) for the next five years.

Wellington, Feb 22 NZPA - Justice Minister Simon Power and Attorney-General Chris Finlayson are working on a Law Society call for the Government to consider getting big law firms to do more pro bono work.

Wellington, Nov 27 NZPA - Legal aid is in for a major overhaul after a damning review report and a commitment from the Government to fix the serious problems it identified.

Wellington, Nov 27 NZPA - The New Zealand Law Society has welcomed today's damning review of legal aid which says a sea change is needed to fix the system.

By Maggie Tait of NZPA Wellington, Sept 10 NZPA - The Law Society says the defence of provocation should be kept until something better is developed to replace it. But gay rights advocates say the defence is legalised gay bashing and should have been ditched years ago.

Wellington, Sept 1 NZPA - Capping legal aid spending and reducing administration costs are being floated as ideas by a review.

Wellington, May 31 NZPA - A Treasury official has described the Government's decision to postpone payments to the New Zealand Superannuation Fund as a fraud which would cost $8 billion.

Wellington, April 16 NZPA - The Pacific Island Forum is poised to suspend Fiji, with New Zealand Prime Minister John Key saying he would back immediate action. Commodore Voreqe (Frank) Bainimarama was already facing a May 1 deadline for progress towards elections.

Wellington, April 15 - Further media sanctions and a significant currency devaluation were imposed by Fiji today as the nation continued to isolate itself from the international community.

Wellington, April 15 NZPA - New Zealand lawyers have been advised by the Law Society not to accept work for the Fiji regime.