Constitutional expert to represent landowner?

The application for declaratory orders in a case involving two sisters and their tug of war over family land originally given as an occupation right for a turanga are (house site) on the land in Arorangi.. The sister did have a family home there but subsequently leased the land for development as a beachside resort.
The issues at hand appear to be that the change from private home to commercial use has cancelled the family arrangement and thus entitle the other sister to receive a share of the monies received from the resort, and whether the new Property Law Amendment Act is now operational in the lease.
Under the amendments, no matter what the original lease may say, the landowner is now deemed to be entitled to a percentage of the turnover of any commercial or industrial concern being operated on their land.
The purpose is so that any landowner who may have entered into agreements which were not to their advantage, would by law be able to claim a better return on their lands. The intention of Parliament may have been so, but getting the High Court to interpret it in such a manner has been an entirely different experience.
The applicant is Paula Lineen, represented by Charles Little who told Justice Grice that it was a ‘simple matter’ which did not require land to be reinvestigated and that the matter was currently being arbitrated. The respondent is her sister, Mary Macquarie whose counsel, Tina Browne repeated her call for the law to be amended.
Justice Grice said her mind was open on the issues and is keen to see the fate of this piece of legislation which will now be transferred to the Land Division of the High Court rather than being dealt with as a purely civil matter.
The question is obviously very important because Browne told the court that Macquarie will be represented by constitutional law expert, Dr Alex Frame QC. Browne said that Dr Frame usually advises the Cook Islands governments on constitutional matters and asked Crown Law for dispensation to take on the case for the landowner.
The call for a law change ought to be approached with caution as it is basically a call to allow commercial lessees to continue to profit on the land without proper recompense to the landowners. It is also problematic that a top lawyer who usually advises Crown Law on government matters, should be engaged in a land issue which is effectively challenging the validity of an Act of Parliament.

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