Three Unusual Services Offered by South Auckland Lawyers
Exploring Unique Legal Offerings by South Auckland Lawyers
Manukau, located in south Auckland, is famous for its diverse cultures. It is home to a number of big communities like the Pasifika, Chinese, and Indian groups. There are also significant Maori and pakeha communities too. On the surface, it might seem that any legal issues would be quite standard. Property transactions, business issues like contract disputes, unpaid debts, and family law problems. All of those are common legal issues in the area, but there are many other less common ones too. Below we look at three of the issues South Auckland lawyers are called upon.
1. Cultural Mediation for Disputes
Cultural mediation is a service offered in the area by South Auckland lawyers. Disputes may arise between different ethnic or cultural groups. In these cases, a lawyer will be required to help resolve these disputes. In some cases, it will need them to explain the New Zealand law in regard to dispute resolution. Often it is simply a cases of one or both parties not knowing what is required of them, or their obligations.
However, there can also be disputes within a cultural group. This will require not just knowledge of New Zealand law, but also an understanding of cultural nuances or practices. Often these lawyers are from one of the ethnic groups so have an understanding of the traditions, customs, and cultural heritage.
They can facilitate discussion and mediate meetings with regard to those protocols. A good example of this is with the Pasifika community.
Here a lawyer can use talanoa (a traditional conversational process), that ensures all relevant voices are heard in an appropriate sensitive manner.
Using the combination of both legal and cultural knowledge can bring about a faster resolution and avoid the Anglo-Saxon adversarial court proceedings.
2. Legal Assistance for Migrant Entrepreneurs
Manukau is home to a thriving community of migrant entrepreneurs. Many of these people are not familiar with the New Zealand legal requirements for starting or buying a business. The laws here may be very different from those in their native lands.
Local South Auckland lawyers can help in the first instance with immigration compliance for the entrepreneur and also their family. They can explain the requirements for starting a business, or how to purchase an existing one.
They will also explain ongoing obligations such as tax reporting and payment, holiday entitlement, wage rates especially minimum wages, job descriptions, Employment Agreements, and more.
3. Community Advocacy for Social Causes
A final unusual legal issue for Manukau lawyers relates to community advocacy for social causes.
In this instance, the lawyer is not representing a single person but rather a community or an interest group. Many immigrants come from cultures where community is strong and an important aspect of daily life. They bring those heritages with them.
Further, immigrants are often looked on as a group that can be taken advantage of. They need protection under the law.
As a result, numerous interests can be represented such as housing, education, or social welfare.
A lawyer who is keen to develop close ties in the areas can organise workshops or community meetings to explain to the groups what their legal rights are. They will also say what their obligations or requirements are too.
On other occasions, they can act as advocate to for the groups to government agencies or land developers, and become the spokesperson, or point of contact, for that group.
An instance might be when a property developer wants to take over an apartment block to redevelop it. The tenants might not know their rights and meekly concede. However, a good South Auckland lawyer can advocate on their behalf, explaining the developer’s obligations, and help the occupiers get compensation, and hopefully, alternative accommodation.
Summing Up South Auckland Lawyers – Unsusal Services
Above we saw three less than common services offered by dedicated local South Auckland lawyers.
If you live in the area, and have any form of legal problem, a good law firm to contact is McVeagh Fleming.
Thay have a number of lawyers from a range of ethnic backgrounds, and so can offer not just up-to-date New Zealand legal advice but also appreciate and understand the various cultural or ethnic nuances. Click the link for more details.