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Alan Dormer

Contacts

Tel: +64 9 307 9807
Mob: +64 21 995 783
Fax: +64 9 309 1119
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Qualifications

LLB (Hons) (Auck)

MPP (Victoria University)

Barrister Sole: 1988

Areas of Practice

Administrative and Constitutional Law / Public Law

Electoral Law

Environmental and Local Government

Liquor Law

Resource Management

General Background

Prior to joining the Independent Bar, Alan was for 13 years, from the age of 26, a partner in the old Auckland firm of Nicholson Gribbin, which subsequently merged into Phillips Fox. The firm included amongst its clients a number of local authorities, an oil company and a brewery. Whilst at the firm Alan practised very largely in the fields of resource management, local government and liquor licensing. Since joining the Independent Bar his practice has been confined exclusively to the areas of practice listed above, together with electoral law.

Professional Background expand

Alan's eminence in his specialist fields is reflected in his having been:

  • an advisor to the last five Governments and the Law Commission;
  • retained by over 30 local authorities since joining the independent bar;
  • appointed as a Hearings Commissioner by nine local authorities;
  • retained by the University of Auckland and the Ministry for the Environment to teach the "Making Good Decisions" programme for Hearing Commissioners;
  • the only person to have been awarded both the RMLA's "Outstanding Person" award and the NZ Planning Institute's A.O. Glasse award for outstanding services to planning;
  • elected to three terms as President of the RMLA.

Publications and Relevant Activites expand

  • A member of the Editorial Panel of the NZ Environment Reports
  • One of the contributors to Resource Management an annotation of the RMA, the General Editor of which is Salmon J;
  • Sale of Liquor: A Dormer, A G Sherriff and J C Cookston, Brooker & Friend, 1990
  • The Liquor Laws of New Zealand: L H Southwick, A Dormer and G R Halford, Butterworths, 1983. (This book received the Legal Research Foundation's J F Northey prize for the best law text of the year.)
  • The author of the commentary to the former Rating Powers Act 1988 in McVeagh's Local Government Law in New Zealand;
  • Formerly Legal Editor of Local Government Magazine and for over ten years contributed a regular column to this monthly journal.

Appointments and Honours

  • 2011 - Appointed by the Minister for the Environment to chair the Technical Advisory Group to reveiw the Matters of National Importance under the Resource Management Act.
  • 2010 - Appointed by the Minister of Sport to the Rugby World Cup Authority.
  • 2010 - Appointed by the Minister for the Environment to the independent Board of Inquiry for the NZ Transport Agency's proposal for the Waterview Connection Project.
  • 2010 - Appointed by the Minister for the Environment to chair the Technical Advisory Group on Urban Issues under the Resource Management Act.
  • 2010 - Appointed by the Minister for the Environment as a member of the Technical Advisory Group to report on Infrastructure issues under the Resource Management Act 2010.
  • 2009 - Received the Outstanding Person Award from the Resource Management Law Association of New Zealand for his outstanding contribution to the resource management field and significant input in shaping central government policy. The citation on the Award describes Alan as "an inspirational benchmark to all of those who practice at the planning bar".
  • 2008 - Appointed by the Minister for the Environment to chair the Technical Advisory Group commissioned to report on reforms to the Resource Management Act. The Group's report was the basis of the policy reforms introduced by the amending legislation in 2009.
  • 2004 - Appointed by the Minister for the Environment to the Advisory Panel on Environmental Legal Aid. (Has been subsequently reappointed in 2007 and 2010).
  • 2003 to present - Hon Sec of the Queen St Cricket Club.
  • 1999 - Awarded the Planning Institute of New Zealand's A O Glasse Award. This is the Institute's highest award to non-planners, and recognises "significant services to planning". The only other lawyer to have previously been so honoured was Sir Geoffrey Palmer in 1993.
  • 1997 - Appointed by the MInister for the Environment to a Resource Management Act "Reference Group" to advise the Minister on proposed reform of the legislation and improvements in practice under it.
  • 1996 - Apppointed by the Minister of Justice to an advisory committee chaired by Sir John Robertson to recommend on further changes to the Sale of LIquor Act. The committee reported in March 1997 and its recommendations were largely adopted in the Sale of Liquor Amendment Act 1999.
  • 1991 - Appointed by the Minister of Health to a committee to review the operations of the Alcoholic Liquor Advisory Council.
  • 1985 - Appointed by the Minister of Justice to the "Laking Committee", formally known as the "Working Party to Review the Liquor Laws of New Zealand." The report of the committee provided the foundation for the significant changes to our liquor laws embodied in the Sale of Liquor Act 1989.