Faith@Work No 2
From Wellington Cathedral of St Paul
Faith@Work #2: 4th Septmber 2011: Francis Griffiths and Briar Gordon
- Psalm 115: 1 - 12
- Ezekiel 12: 21 – 13; 16
- Acts 19: 1 - 20
Frances Griffiths
I work as a Solicitor for the Ministry of Economic Development
As a solicitor in an in-house legal team, a lot of my work is primarily inwardly focussed. That is, advising my clients, who are people who work for MED, Ministers and Select Committees on legislation, Bills, policy and the law.
A little bit of background on what the MED does. MED is predominantly a policy shop. The Ministry’s role is to advise the government on a wide range of policy areas, these include, economic development policy, consumer policy, electricity, telecommunications, crown minerals, tourism, financial markets, competition law, international trade… as well as containing the intellectual property office of New Zealand, companies office. The varied nature of the work and being at the “coal face” of policy is very exciting and it means there’s never a dull moment. The way my team works is that we share the various areas of work around so we all get experience in different areas.
Some of the things my role involves, include supporting the passage of legislation through parliamentary processes including through the policy design stage, to drafting instructions for PCO to draft the legislation, Select Committee processes, Committee of the Whole, Drafting contracts, agreements. I have even been involved in litigation and commercial deals.
One aspect of my role and something that I think of as important from a Christian values perspective is the ability to help people, and share with them knowledge and legal advice, helping them to make policy decisions and solving problems. The education aspect of my role is also important in this way, it involves educating clients on different areas of the law, such as policy environment, contracting, legal professional privilege and the Official Information Act. I enjoy the questions and the challenges and the fact that you yourself are always learning about new areas of law, different problems, finding solutions.
One of the most rewarding aspects of the job is watching people learn from advice you have given them and when people come back to you after you’ve given advice, particularly advice that they may not like to hear.
My role also provides the opportunity to influence a range of different areas of work, by providing advice to decision makers. One of the more challenging aspects is when you give advice and the client chooses not to take the advice. some of the areas of work can be more challenging on a personal note, a policy area or decision that doesn’t quite sit comfortably with what your personal views are.
The way my team interacts with each other and the wider Ministry, shows a real caring that at times goes beyond the prescribed Ministry value of “respect” more towards Jesus’ commandment “to love one another as yourself.” This is shown by many interactions on a daily basis and through systems we have in place.
One of the more internally- focussed ways we do this is through a mentoring system in my team, which helps to support each other through our daily work and career development. Everyone in the team is either a coach or mentor or is coached by another team member. I count myself very lucky to work with what I regard as an amazing and supportive team and Manager. It makes the challenges of the role much more bearable. Really humble people who while really experienced are never too proud to take a moment to explain something and set a great example by being hugely encouraging and supportive.
On a wider plane, there is the real sense of community in the legal profession, the many training opportunities and how everyone is constantly learning and on the whole happy to help and share their knowledge.
Briar Gordon: Faith @ work for a law drafter
How many Acts of Parliament needle us, spend our taxes, and to some extent regulate our lives,- • in our homes • at work • on the roads • at the bank • through the tax gatherers • in our business dealings • in our investment decisions • in our family relations • protect our children • provide for their education • care for us in sickness • ensure our safety and health at work • regulate and manage the use of harmful products (alcohol and illegal drugs) • managing emergencies • provide for DOC to care for our birds, insects, and set Happy Feet back on his journey • enable the Crown to settle Treaty of Waitangi claims • provide for our relationship with our land lords • regulate our management of the environment • provide for offences and penalties for those who offend • ensure our cities can levy rates and regulate how those rates are spent • regulate our lawyers and our land agents and our medical practitioners and our pharmacists and our teachers and … • cover off how our democracy ought to work – on polling day, for the referendum, in the Courts, and in Parliament itself • manage our international relations and trade • protect our human rights
That’s enough to indicate that legislation is about finding a balance – the balance that the Government of the day thinks right – between the many competing interests against which we must lead our lives. The job of a law drafter is to give legal effect to policies that meet the Government’s political objectives.
Underlying the multitude of matters, some mundane, others high policy, that legislation is about lie the important concepts of • fairness • justice • the rule of law
Perhaps these boil down to a fair balancing of national interests and the interests of the citizens of NZ.
Not often does an overt Christian perspective or concepts come into the equation in this secular landscape.
But is that really true? Where do our sense of justice, fair play, taking all interests into account, caring for others, hearing the voices of the weak and the needy. These are the very core of Christ’s teachings which exemplify the values of justice, going the second mile, doing unto others, the so called “golden rule” and have been nurtured by Christian thinkers and kept alive by the Church through its compassion for those in need.
The law does, much of the time, meet my expectations for how a just society should be regulated. That is what being a law drafter means to me.
