Friday, 27 February 2026
Chair
Helen Tyree, Director, McWilliam Tyree
Drafting Effective Pleadings and Submissions
- Craft your case from start to finish
- Learn how PRA drafting differs from other Family Court pleadings
- Get tips for focusing and structuring your written material so the Judge can actually give you what you want at the end of the case
Presented by Jodi Ryan, Barrister, Kumutoto Chambers
Learning Objectives:
- Understand the key differences between PRA drafting and other Family Court pleadings
- Develop practical strategies for preparing clear, focused and persuasive pleadings and written submissions in family law matters
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
Presenters
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Helen Tyree, Director, McWilliam Tyree
Helen became a Director of the McWilliam Tyree in Wellington in 2021, having previously been an Associate and then Senior Associate at McWilliam Rennie (predecessor of McWilliam Tyree) since 2014. She has been practicing all areas of family law since 2003, initially in Taranaki before moving to Wellington. Helen often acts in complex relationship property matters, including matters involving trusts, companies and economic disparity and maintenance claims. She also takes appointments from the Family Court to represent children in the Family Court, and also people who lack capacity in applications for welfare guardians and property managers pursuant to the Protection of Personal and Property Rights Act. Helen is a contributing author for the legal publication Westlaw, writing about relationship property agreements (separation agreements, contracting-out agreements, and setting aside those agreements). She also contributed significantly to McWilliam Rennie and McWilliam Tyree’s submissions to the Law Commission in relation to their reviews of relationship property, succession law and adult capacity law. She presents seminars for NZCLE and Legalwise on a range of family law matters, particularly relationship property and the Protection of Personal and Property Rights Act. Helen graduated from Otago University in 2000 with a Bachelor of Laws and from Brunel University of London in 2003 with a Master of Law in Child Law and Policy (with distinction).
Jodi Ryan, Barrister, Kumutoto Chambers
Jodi has been in practice since 2005 as a specialist family lawyer, commencing practice in Porirua, continuing in Tāmaki Makaurau, then settling in Te Whanganui a Tara. She set up her own practice as a barrister sole in 2015 and established Kumutoto Chambers with Shelley Stevenson and Frances Williams in 2020. Jodi’s main areas of practice are relationship property and care of children work, but she enjoys the wide variety of all aspects of Family Law. She is a former regional representative of the Family Law Section and a former member of the Executive Committee of that Section. Jodi receives appointments as lawyer for the child and particularly enjoys the privilege of advocating for tamariki Māori. Ahakoa te makaro o tōna whakapapa, he kakano ia i ruia mai i Rangiatea.
