On Wednesday 3 May 2023, the New Zealand Asian Lawyers hosted a wānanga on “Tikanga and the Law” with the support of the Ngā Ahorangi Motuhake o te Ture / New Zealand Bar Association, at Buddle Findlay. There was an overwhelming attendance at the event, with 80 people attending in-person and 360 online. The reason for the wānanga…
On 19 April 2023, The NZ Asian Lawyers Litigators Committee, led by Augustine Choi, hosted a lively panel discussion and social function at Bankside Chambers. Our panelists, Bankside barristers Christine Meechan KC, Julie Ding and Sam Lowery, and moderator Augustine Choi, shared their thoughts on the language, cultural and knowledge barriers often faced by Asian clients and parties when…
On 13 April 2023, NZ Asian Lawyers Young Lawyer’s Committee, led by Danielle Cooper, had its first social networking event at Dr Rudis. The event was a great success, with a diverse range of Asian lawyers from many different practice areas joining to share drinks, nibbles and make new connections. We would like to thank Pam Davidson…
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…
On 17 November 2022, the NZ Asian Lawyers Criminal Law Committee led by Karun Lakshman held a webinar with Marie Dyhrberg KC, on how to recognise or identify and deal with Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Clients (CALD) to ensure that they and their case is fully understood and properly dealt with and therefore their right to access to justice and to competent legal representation…
On 8 November 2022, at an event hosted jointly by NZAL and Russell McVeagh, Justice Susan Glazebrook, Supreme Court judge and President of the International Association of Women Judges, gave an address entitled “Tikanga and Culture in the Supreme Court”. Justice Glazebrook discussed the recent Supreme Court decisions of Deng v Zheng [2022] NZSC 76 and Ellis v R [2022]…
Following the welcoming of Yvonne Mortimer-Wang (Barrister at Shortland Chambers) and Kavita Deobhakta (Litigation Partner at Morgan Coakle) to the New Zealand Asian Lawyers Litigation Committee, the Committee invited Asian litigators to an informal gathering at Shortland Chambers on the 20th October 2022. This event afforded members the opportunity to meet with Augustine Choi (Co-Chair), Yvonne and Kavita to get to…
Mai Chen (Chair of NZ Asian Lawyers), Alison Dymond (Chair of the Young Asian Lawyers Committee) and New Zealand Young Asian Lawyers presented the “Asian Experiences in the Legal Profession” event at Meredith Connell in Auckland. Attendees were invited to relax and mingle, as Danielle Cooper (Solicitor at Minter Ellison Rudd Watts) chaired the panel, consisting of Edwina Ma (Tax Director of KPMG), Michael Ip (Criminal…
On 2 August 2022, the Honourable Justice Goddard, Mai Chen, Jacque Lethbridge and Paul Radich QC presented a seminar on the Supreme Court decision in Deng v Zheng: Guidance on bringing relevant social cultural information to the Court’s attention. This in-person and online event in Wellington had over 350 attendees. This event was run in conjunction with…
On 17 February 2020, NZ Asian Lawyers and the New Zealand Law Society’s Auckland branch co-hosted a seminar on judges’ perspectives on representing culturally, linguistically and ethnically diverse (CALD) parties in court. Judges of the Court of Appeal and High Court gave visibility of the issues and challenges raised by CALD parties and practical suggestions…