Chair
Helen Tyree, Director, McWilliamsTyree Lawyers
Learning Objectives:
- Learn how to structure and draft persuasive opening and closing submissions in family law proceedings, aligned with case theory
- Understand what content to include (and avoid), how to link to evidence, and how to present the facts and law clearly to the court
Description
Attend and earn 1 CPD hour
* This interactive online recording includes questions and quizzes requiring critical thinking about the topics, so you have no annual limits to the number of points/hours you can claim with this format of learning. Please verify with your CPD rules
Submissions: What Structure to Consider and What Should They Contain!
- Understanding your case theory: the thread that defines every step of your case
- Other questions to ask before putting your case to paper
- Drafting your Opening submissions
- Structure to consider: define the narrative for the Court (and your case)
- The law
- The facts
- The dispute(s)
- Content
- Chronology
- Structure to consider: define the narrative for the Court (and your case)
- Drafting your Closing submission
- When should you prepare
- Cross-reference (accurately and fairly) with evidence
- Link to opening
- Put your client’s case
- Common traps
- Instructions are not evidence
- Unnecessary verbosity/hyperbole/attacks on parties
Presented by Grant Tyrrell, Barrister, Plymouth Chambers
Presenters
Grant Tyrrell, Barrister, Plymouth Chambers
Grant has significant litigation experience across jurisdictions in the District and High Courts through to the Court of Appeal. He has been appearing as lead counsel in criminal trials, including those heard before a Judge and Jury and in the Family Court jurisdiction for nearly two decades. Grant has successfully argued high profile cases to the Court of Appeal including Surrey v Surrey the first, and leading case, argued before the Court of Appeal under the (then) Domestic Violence Act. Grant has been appointed to the Lawyer for Child Panel and is regularly asked to assist the Court as Lawyer to Assist or Amicus Curiae. He is known for his clear, honest and pragmatic advice and clients appreciate his straight forward and thorough advice often at the most stressful times of their lives. Grant has served on Law Society committees and as President of the Canterbury-Westland Branch of the New Zealand Law Society.
Helen Tyree, Director, McWilliams Tyree Lawyers
Helen is a Director of McWilliam Tyree Lawyers, having been an Associate and then Senior Associate at McWilliam Rennie (predecessor of McWilliam Tyree) since 2014. Helen has practiced all areas of family law since 2003. As well as acting for clients in all areas of family law, Helen has undertaken regular appointments as lawyer for child and as lawyer for subject persons under the Protection of Personal and Property Rights Act since 2008. Helen is also a contributing author for the legal publication “Brookers Family Law on Family Property”, writing about relationship property agreements (separation agreements, contracting-out agreements, and setting aside those agreements). She also contributed significantly to McWilliam Rennie’s submissions to the Law Commission in relation to their review of relationship property and then succession law. She has presented seminars for Legalwise on a range of relationship property matters, relationship property law developments and on the Protection of Personal and Property Rights Act.
