First off the rank was the Second Edition of Williams & Kawharu on Arbitration whose authors include Sir David Williams QC and Anna Kirk of Bankside Chambers.  In the Preface to the book the Honourable Justice Stephen Kos, the President of the Court of Appeal in New Zealand said:

“Williams & Kawharu deservedly stands among the great New Zealand legal texts.  Its vivid scholarship is the direct product of profound knowledge and experience of the daily practice of arbitration now only in New Zealand but in other jurisdiction.  It is attuned also to public policy currents that disturb the surface of the subject many think of, wrongly, as engaging purely private law considerations.  It is acutely reflective of the history of its subject, but also gazes forward clear sightedly to assist shape its future.  This new, Second Edition, will be welcomed by Judges and practitioners in New Zealand and so, too, in other jurisdictions.  The dimensions of this fine work transcend merely domestic boundaries.”  Since publication the Second Edition has already been cited twice in judgments first by the Court of Appeal of New Zealand in Greymouth Petroleum Holdings Ltd v Empresa Nacional del Petróleo [2017] NZCA 490, [2017] NZAR 1617 and also by the High Court, Home Builder BOP Ltd v Forman [2017] NZHC 2155.  LexisNexis will be promoting the Second Edition of Williams & Kawharu in Queenstown at the upcoming AMINZ-ICCA International Arbitration Day on Friday 20 April 2018, attended by arbitration practitioners from around the globe.

The second work is Bowstead & Reynolds on Agency the General Editor of which is Peter Watts QC of Bankside Chambers.  This is the 21st edition of this classic text, which was first published in 1896 and which has long been regarded as the outstanding legal treatise on Agency. Peter assumed the editorship of the work in 2009 and has been responsible for three editions.  The work is frequently cited in courts around the Commonwealth, and is referred to in numerous places in the United States Restatement, Agency 3d. The present edition was published in December 2017 and garnered its first judicial citation in the Chancery Division of England and Wales on 12 January 2018.

Finally, in early 2018 the latest edition of Environmental and Resource Management Law has been published.  This work is in its 6th Edition and the Editor and one of the authors is Derek Nolan QC of Bankside, a leading specialist in the environmental law field.

Ever since the first edition was published in 1980, it has been the leading text in the field in New Zealand. It is widely used by legal practitioners and others, as well as being a prescribed text for many university courses, and is regularly cited in judicial decisions including by the Supreme Court. The 6th edition includes and provides commentary on many recent decisions and changes to legislation, especially the comprehensive reforms in the Resource Legislation Amendment Act 2017.

Derek Nolan QC is also the Editor for the online and loose-leaf versions of the work which keep the text right up to date. Judges of the High Court and Environment Court, along with other specialist lawyers, make up the rest of the author group with Derek for the 6th edition and these other versions.

‍