Bianca Mueller, LL.M. from LawDownUnder and solicitor Michael Witt, LL.M have published their book on New Zealand
Criminal Law. The book provides a set of structured and organised outlines of all main offences and defenses under the
New Zealand Crimes Act 1961.
About the Book
LexisNexis Study Guide: Criminal Law is the first book of its kind and format. The book primarily addresses law students
and overseas qualified practitioners who are preparing for the New Zealand Council of Legal Education (NZCLE) Law and
Practice Examination. It equally provides helpful assistance to legal practitioners.
The book provides a detailed introduction to and systematic guidance on the main offences and defences under the Crimes Act 1961.
This book provides clearly arranged and systematic outlines of these offences and defences, and integrates the relevant
definitions, interpretations, case law and correlation with other relevant offences/defences directly into the outlines.
Readers can go through the book’s methodically arranged outlines that follow a step-by-step format — like a roadmap —
and utilise relevant definitions, interpretations and relevant case law for solving problem questions. These outlines
also highlight the interrelationships of offences and defences.
Throughout the book the presentation of offences and defences is divided into three sections: ‘I. Preliminary Notes’,
‘II. Structure’ and ‘III. Outline’. Preliminary Notes gives the user general information about the given offence, such
as the main purpose of the offence, general legal concepts and how the offence fits into the wider context of the Crimes
Act 1961.
Structure sets out the legal requirements (ie, statutory requirements) of a given legal concept, offence and defence.
These are the essential points that must be worked through in providing legal opinions or in exams.
Outline provides relevant definitions, interpretations and case law in relation to each statutory requirement set out in
the Structure. Outlines contained in this section are interlinked to enable the reader to anticipate frequent problems.
LexisNexis Study Guide: Criminal Law does not replace course attendance and/ or study of the relevant criminal law
textbooks and cases.
LexisNexis Study Guide: Criminal Law can provide significant assistance with how to answer problem questions in exams.
The outlines can be used as checklists for the particular offences and defences. In addition, they can be used in
conjunction with course materials and textbooks when preparing for criminal law exams.
About the Author
Bianca M Mueller LLM (Wellington) is a qualified judge from Germany, a German barrister (Rechtsanwältin) and a New Zealand qualified solicitor. Bianca
has worked as an in-house lawyer for agencies in New Zealand and Europe. She routinely presents and publishes both
nationally and internationally on a variety of topics, including criminal law, intellectual property and international
law issues. She is the managing director of the boutique law firm LawDownUnder, which specialises in IT law, trademark,
copyright, and international trade law.
© Bianca Mueller, LL.M.
ENDS