Legal Services Unit

The Legal Services Unit (LSU) has had a particularly busy year accompanied by several changes in personnel. The key role for LSU is to contribute towards projects managed by other teams within Te Rūnanga, in particular those managed by Strategy and Influence (e.g. fisheries and aquaculture), Toitū te Whenua (e.g. resource management and tribal property issues) and Toitū te Kāinga (e.g. pounamu and regional development). That said, a significant part of LSU's work over the last year has been in providing advice and oversight of the election process being run to elect appointment committees which will in turn appoint Te Rūnanga representatives and alternate representatives. This process is ongoing and a key output from this project will be to analyse the process and how the Charter, policies and procedures can be adapted to ensure that future elections can be improved. A success over the period has been the registration of the Te Rūnanga Group entities with the Charities Commission, a significant piece of work and one that is crucial to the ongoing success of Ngāi Tahu Holdings Corporation's commercial operations. LSU continues to provide assistance and support to Papatipu Rūnanga and to individual members of Ngāi Tahu Whānui.