- 3 May 2023 – First wānanga on “Tikanga and the Law”
- 7 June 2023 – Second wānanga on Tikanga and the Law with a panel of top practitioners sharing wisdom on how to successfully argue such cases
- 21 July 2023 – Dean of Law at Oxford University ‘Is there a bamboo ceiling in the profession, academia and the judiciary?’
- 9 February 2023 inaugural event of the New Zealand Asian Women Lawyers Committee
- Thanks to Millennium & Copthorne Hotels New Zealand and Simpson Grierson for sponsorship of New Zealand Asian Lawyers
Wānanga on Tikanga and the Law 3 May 2023
New Zealand Asian Lawyers is hosting a wānanga on “Tikanga and the Law” with the support of the Ngā Ahorangi Motuhake o te Ture / New Zealand Bar Association. The wānanga will be on 3 May 2023 from 2:00pm – 5:30pm at the Buddle Findlay Auckland office with drinks to follow.
Those speaking at the wānanga are:
- Justice Williams of the Supreme Court of New Zealand;
- Justice Whata of the High Court of New Zealand who is currently writing a paper on Tikanga and the Law for Te Aka Matua o te Ture / the New Zealand Law Commission;
- Justice Powell of the High Court of New Zealand who will speak on tikanga, including as it is dealt with through the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act 2011;
- Judge Taumaunu, Chief Judge of the District Court of New Zealand;
- Judge Fox, Deputy Chief Judge of the Māori Land Court of New Zealand; and
- Judge Doogan of the Māori Land Court of New Zealand and alternate Judge of the Environment Court of New Zealand.
Both the president of the New Zealand Bar Association, Maria Dew KC, and president of the New Zealand Law Society, Frazer Barton, will be attending the wānanga.
It will be a CPD event that is open to all in the profession and the judiciary. There is no charge to attend. Please RSVP in the link here to register your interest to attend (either in person (for catering purposes) or online).
Second wānanga on Tikanga and the Law – Panel of Top Practitioners share wisdom on how to argue such cases
Following the Judges wānanga on ‘Tikanga and the Law’ on 3 May 2023, New Zealand Asian Lawyers will host a second wānanga where a panel of top panel of practitioners will share their wisdom on how to argue tikanga and the law cases successfully. The wānanga will be held on 7 June 2023 from 3:00pm – 5:30pm.
Practitioners speaking will include:
- Annette Sykes from Annette Sykes & Co Ltd;
- Karen Feint KC from Thorndon Chambers; and
- Natalie Coates from Kāhui Legal.
It will be a CPD event that is open to all in the profession. If you would like to host this session at your law firm, can you please get in touch with New Zealand Asian Lawyers board member, Pam Davidson at pam.davidson@lambtonchambers.co.nz
More details, including the venue for the wānanga, will be announced soon.
Save the date – Dean of Law at Oxford University: Is there a bamboo ceiling in the profession, legal academia, and the judiciary?
New Zealand Asian Lawyers is delighted to announce that Professor Mindy Chen-Wishart, Dean of Law at Oxford University, will be speaking in Auckland on 21 July 2023.
As the first Asian Dean of Law at Oxford University, she will speak on the topic: ‘Is there a Bamboo ceiling in the profession, academia and the judiciary?’
Professor Chen-Wishart will coincide her talk with a scheduled trip to New Zealand to speak at the 150th celebration of Otago Law School. Any interest in sponsorship for this event will assist New Zealand Asian Lawyers to fly Professor Chen-Wishart to Auckland and to host a face to face session (also available online) as opposed to just online event.
This is a CPD event. If you would like to host this session at your law firm, can you please get in touch with New Zealand Asian Lawyers board member, Pam Davidson at pam.davidson@lambtonchambers.co.nz
Asian Women Lawyers Committee Event – 9 February 2023
Mai Chen and Karen Ngan – more photos can be found here.
On Thursday night, 9 February 2023, the Asian Women Lawyers Committee of NZ Asian Lawyers led by Karen Ngan held its inaugural Women in Law panel discussion at Simpson Grierson. Mai Chen (President of NZ Asian Lawyers welcomed the attendees to the first event in her life where Asian women lawyers were the overwhelming majority and talked about the unique contribution we had to make and the intersectional double disadvantage we sometimes experience in the law. She and Karen encouraged all to support and prefer one another where possible given these challenges.
This was followed by an engaging and insightful conversation between the panellists Seil Kimberley (criminal defence and prosecution), Lucy Luo (tech and start-ups, including First AML) and Lyn Lim (from partnership to governance), facilitated by Kitty Lin as moderator. The event received hugely positive feedback, from the topics covered (including therapeutic jurisprudence, working with start-ups, board and governance, as well as more personal experiences that were shared honestly and openly by each speaker from mentoring, quitting law, fear of failures and relationship-building through “networking”) to the structure and venue of the event.
There was great energy in the room and the sense that the event, and what the speakers shared, really resonated with people in the room. It sparked discussions that continued long after the panel session had formally ended. The event provided the opportunity for real connections to be formed, and highlighted the need for more interaction, support, and a general presence of Asian Women lawyers in the field especially for younger students and junior lawyers. This will undoubtedly be reinforced in future events to come.
The committee, which includes Nova Huang aka event photographer, Alice Kim, Catharina Chung, Celina Chang, Christina Lee, Karen Ngan, Kitty Lin, Sarah Lee, Seil Kimberley, Susan Hur and Tina Hwang, is both pleased to have attendees volunteer to join the committee, and grateful for all the support and contribution that made the event successful, including from New Zealand Asian Lawyers and the team at Simpson Grierson.
Thanks to Karen, New Zealand Asian Lawyers board member, Yvonne Mortimer-Wang who attended in support, and to the following current members of the Asian Women Lawyers subcommittee are:
| Alice Kim | Davenports |
| Catharina Chung | Tompkins Wake |
| Celina Chang | Simpson Grierson |
| Karen Ngan (Chair/NZAL Board) | Simpson Grierson |
| Kitty Lin | Simpson Grierson |
| Nova Huang | Simpson Grierson |
| Sarah Lee | Simpson Grierson |
| Seil Kimberley | MSD |
| Susan Hur | GMP Pharmaceuticals |
| Tina Hwang | Queen City Law |
New Zealand Asian Lawyers thanks Takeshi Ito, Secretary of New Zealand Asian Lawyers and Vice President and Legal & Company Secretary of Millennium & Copthorne Hotels New Zealand Limited, and Millennium & Copthrone Hotels for their kind sponsorship to provide banners for New Zealand Asian Lawyers – see below.
New Zealand Asian Lawyers would also like to thank Simpson Grierson for their sponsorship to create a standalone website for New Zealand Asian Lawyers as the current information about New Zealand Asian Lawyers is hosted on the website for the Superdiversity Institute. Pam Davidson is leading this work with Takeshi Ito.