New Zealand Asian Lawyers is delighted to announce the winners of the 2025 New Zealand Asian Lawyer of the Year award and the 2025 New Zealand Asian Legal Community Contribution award both of which were presented at a ceremony held at Meredith Connell in Auckland last night.
The joint winners of the 2025 New Zealand Asian Lawyer of the Year award were Auckland barrister Hannah Kim and Karen Chang, Director and Chief Executive of the Serious Fraud Office. The judging panel, comprising of NZLS President Frazer Barton and NZAL Board Members Takeshi Ito and Ayush Sharma, wanted to recognise the outstanding contributions both of the winners have made and will continue to make in upholding the rule of law, often in very difficult and challenging circumstances while being role models for lawyers of all ethnicities across New Zealand. In particular, the judging panel wanted to emphasise the importance of the role that lawyers such as Hannah play in the courts throughout the country every day.
The winner of the 2025 New Zealand Legal Community Contribution award was Jochebed Mabazza, one of the lawyers from the Auckland Community Law Centre whose contributions to the wider community across a diverse range of areas and ethnicities was particularly noted by the judging panel.
The finalists for both awards were also recognised with the presentation of certificates by Gaanesh Seger on behalf of Tompkins Wake and David Liu on behalf of Heritage Law.
MC’d by Vice President Pam Davidson, attendees heard from Sir Anand Satyanand, patron of New Zealand Asian Lawyers, who spoke about the need for community and solidarity within the profession and from NZLS President Frazer Barton who chaired the judging panel and as well as speaking about the judging process, also spoke about very topical issues such as challenges to the rule of law and the impact Asian lawyers in New Zealand were having on the profession.
We would like to acknowledge the continued support of the New Zealand Law Society and our generous award sponsors Tompkins Wake and Heritage Law. Our thanks also go to Meredith Connell for hosting the awards this year.
