Lawyer Anoushka Bloem set up her own law firm and has covered some of the country's toughest cases. Photo / Sylvie Whinray
From the Unruly Tourists to a gruesome prison murder trial, Anoushka Bloem has represented some of the least popular people in New Zealand.
Courts can be depressing places. Apart from the graphic violence of some cases, it’s demoralising to see the same people or entire families stuck in cycles of crime.
But Bloem says courts can also be the catalysts for change. And the criminal defence lawyer, who set up her own firm, rates the chance to turn somebody’s life around as one of the job’s best aspects.
Still, although most law students are female, women are under-represented in the profession’s senior and leadership roles.
“The dial hasn’t changed much at all. In terms of senior positions, the judiciary, there’s been no real significant change in recent times,” Bloem says.
One King’s Counsel recently suggested gender bias, where male clients think only men are best to represent them, played a role.
Bloem says she doesn’t really have a clear answer to why the gender gap persists, but in some cases the demands of family life might be incompatible with the demands of the legal profession.
“It’s incredibly hard to do the job and also have kids. Things are changing obviously but it’s still not reflected in the numbers.”
The New Zealand Bar Association found women comprised 55% of the profession in 2023.
Two years ago, 66.1% of new admissions to the profession were female but women comprised just a third of equity partners in law firms and only 26% of all King’s Counsel practising.
The stereotype of a senior lawyer being an older male might be grounded in facts then, but what about that of lawyers being workaholics?
“It is fairly accurate but it’s not how I like to practise. It is generally the case that it’s a demanding job. You do have periods like that when you have to work a lot. We have trials where you just need full attention.”
Bloem says she tries to take regular breaks.
“Criminal defence is obviously a really difficult job anyway. I don’t do back-to-back trials.”
At her company, Bloem Law on Auckland’s North Shore, she says there’s a more flexible approach than at some older firms and probably greater appreciation of at least some work-life balance.
She says the profession has more awareness now that workaholism, or even giving the impression of it, is not really a badge of honour.
That doesn’t make the job less serious, she says.
One reason murder trials might be so captivating is because the stakes could not be higher. Top lawyers have to rise to the challenge, and it must be a mentally and emotionally taxing project to take on.
“You’ve got people’s lives in your hands at times. But in our office I don’t expect people to be working every night and weekend.”
She said her approach was more “You do it when you need to do it” and she wanted staff to manage caseloads as best they could.
There’s a virtually unlimited workload but Bloem says she’s careful of not taking on too much.
Technology used in the drug trade has made some cases more demanding.
“We’re getting thousands and thousands of pages of disclosure. Certainly the gangs are thriving.”
Methamphetamine is the biggest factor in that, she says.
Police in March said the National Drugs in Wastewater Testing Programme found meth consumption rose by an unprecedented 96% last year compared with 2023.
Meth is being imported in huge amounts, Bloem says, eclipsing domestic manufacturing of the drug.
“Some of the cases we have are way more complex than they used to be. They’re quite sophisticated. There are lots of devices and encryption.”
But new technology might help manage high workloads too.
“With these bigger cases, AI [artificial intelligence] can really help with summarising the disclosure we receive.”
A complex case might include hundreds or thousands of PDF files, which can be very time-consuming.
Bloem says AI can help decrease the stress load and assist with laborious tasks, but whatever work it does still needs to be checked by a lawyer. And for other reasons, AI lawyers will not likely replace humans.
“Our job has a lot of people contact, advocacy, people in court.”
Bloem says she hasn’t experienced hassles from red tape when starting and growing her business, although she finds banks incredibly complicated to deal with.
“Running a business is tough, especially the last five years.”
But she says the constant flow of work means law doesn’t have the high degree of risk you see in some other industries.
That might make the law more appealing to young people, especially in times of economic turbulence, but the emotional toll of some cases remains.
One client Bloem defended was in a prison shanking case where the High Court at Auckland saw video footage of a frenzied attack on a prisoner who was punched, stomped on and repeatedly stabbed.
“That’s probably a pretty graphic example that most people would find extremely distressing.”
Suppressing any visceral response to that could make a person callous, desensitised or reliant on crutches like booze to numb the emotion. Bloem says it’s important to see the humanity in the tough cases.
“I think nothing really shocks me any more. I just have to process it as we go.”
Most people she deals with come from difficult backgrounds. Some have been raised in families where violence or crime are normalised.
“We don’t judge people. That’s not our job. Our job is to do the best we can for them legally. Nobody wants to see people stuck in these cycles of crime.”
Bloem says seeing courts work with rehab centres such as The Grace Foundation can be rewarding and help break cycles of offending and dysfunction.
The foundation established by Dave Letele snr takes people on bail, people serving community-based sentences, and those who have self-referred. Last year it received 3488 referrals.
“They do a lot of work not just in dealing with an addiction ... We have some amazing stories of whole families turned around,” Bloem says.
Bloem says one of her children recently mentioned becoming a lawyer.
She says she remembers thinking: “I’m not sure how I feel about that because it’s not an easy job. You’ve got to be able to deal with the emotional impact.”
The law is one of those professions people sometimes refer to as a calling.
“I see it more as a lifestyle – not that it takes over my whole life.
“I’m definitely positive. The more I do the job, the more passionate I get.”
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