The immigration partner takes time out of his mornings to give advice – at no cost
Arran Hunt makes it a point to allocate a chunk of his mornings to getting on immigration forums and sharing some free advice to posters. This simple act means that the Lane Neave partner is sometimes replying to posts at 4:30 in the morning on Sundays, but he’s happy to give up an extra hour of sleep to help someone achieve a dream.
In the second part of this interview, Hunt tells NZ Lawyer one lawyer myth he wants to debunk and explains how AI affects trust in evidence.
What’s one misconception you think people have about lawyers, and how would you correct that misconception?
That our sole focus is money when that is often not the case. I spend at least one hour a day, often longer, each morning, seven days a week, answering questions and commenting on posts in immigration forums. I don’t do this for income, as there isn’t any.
I do it because five minutes of my time could prevent this person from making a massive mistake, possibly saving them thousands of dollars or their right to be, or remain, in New Zealand. It means getting up earlier, with people often seeing me responding at 4:30 am on a Sunday morning, but an hour less sleep for me could mean them getting their dream realised.
What challenges are particularly pressing in the country’s legal industry?
I’d probably list two. First is the challenge of the legislature and executive against the court. In immigration, we are seeing rights to appeal to the court being removed for many people, on the basis that a small number of bad actors may have misused those rights. It moves authority away from the higher trained courts and tribunals and puts it into the hands of bureaucrats.
Second is the impact of AI on evidence. We’re now at a point where something shouldn’t be trusted unless it is right in front of you, live and not on a screen. I see it increasingly in my work with online harm, especially in parts of society where they seem to have a disconnect between the internet and reality, when the internet is part of reality. When presenting at conferences, I’ve faked my own voice, created fake videos of other presenters, and done it all with minimal effort or cost. While I’m likely better at it than most people, in the hands of a true expert emulating someone on the other side of a video call would not be impossible.
For the legal industry, it calls into question every piece of evidence we may receive or want to provide, and how that evidence can be shown to be genuine. I expect we will need to see the court being more open in introducing evidence, while at the same time giving less weight to it.
