North Shore District Court in Albany, Auckland, has now re-opened the library kiosk and lawyers’ room in a new space as part of its ongoing remediation works. The new location is gaining favour with local lawyers who find the access more convenient, despite the room being a little smaller. With a few essentials added by local lawyers, the space is now fulfilling its working function.
Joanne Price at the North Shore District Court library kioskRegional Library kiosk services are a mainstay for court lawyers outside the main cities and provide a valuable and convenient resource for their local court work. North Shore lawyer and sole practitioner Joanne Price of JPLegal is one of many lawyers using one of the thirty regional Library kiosks in District Courts across the motu. For Joanne, the most valuable aspects of the kiosk service are to assist with legal research for submissions and for advising clients on new legal issues.
Joanne’s personal experience is that “Regional Library kiosks are an integral part in being able to provide a service for our clients. I would struggle to undertake my legal research for written submissions, and even as a duty lawyer, it is sometimes necessary to look up an area of law when advising a client.”
“As a sole practitioner, it is so important to be able to access a Law Library to do our own legal research, and it makes a huge difference to my practice. I personally don't use any other Library services, but I value the services provided by the Library that are available. It would make a lawyer's job far more difficult if the service was not available."
The Library kiosk contains a computer, photocopier, tea and coffee-making facilities, and tables and chairs. The library computer offers access to leading legal databases that the New Zealand Law Society Libraries subscribe to, from LexisNexis, Thomson Reuters and Wolters Kluwer.
Databases can be accessed on own devices via the NZLS Wi-Fi whilst in the room, with the Wi-Fi password available on-site. The NZLS website's Databases page enables downloading judgments, reported cases and commentary when accessing via the Wi-Fi service.
Access to the Library kiosk and lawyers' room is by swipe card entry using your Library access card once registered with Court Security. Library cards can be applied for directly from the Law Library and take one to two days to process.