The Wellington-based Whaia Legal law associate and former Supreme Court law clerk is one of two outstanding women in legal research who recently won New Zealand Law Foundation Ethel Benjamin Scholarships, and she plans to do a master’s degree in law on the subject at Harvard University.
She said New Zealand’s courts were becoming increasingly willing to recognise and enforce tikanga Maori, both as an independent source of law and as part of the values of our common law.
"In parallel, the constitutional significance of the Treaty of Waitangi continues to grow, with major legal implications for the Crown and for Maori.
"This period of transformation raises a number of important questions for Maori and for the nation.
"How can our constitutional arrangements create space for indigenous self-determination, while at the same time developing a legal system that draws on both English and Maori traditions?
"How can the integrity of tikanga be maintained if it is to be interpreted and applied by existing, largely non-Maori institutions?"
She said the questions would be central to her proposed study at Harvard.
Afterwards, she intends to return to New Zealand to continue her work as an advocate for Maori clients in private practice.
"Additionally, a postgraduate qualification will allow me to contribute in other ways, through teaching and lecturing, as well as by contributing to significant policy and law reform projects."
Charlotte Agnew-Harrington, of Auckland, also received an Ethel Benjamin Scholarship and will look at ways to use litigation to remedy bias in public decision-making, while studying for a master of laws degree in North America.
Trailblazing Otago alumna Ethel Benjamin was the first woman to be admitted to law school in New Zealand and Australia.
After graduating from Otago in 1897, she established a successful law practice and was the first woman to appear as counsel in any case in the British Empire.
