Enriching minds, honouring legacies, and celebrating milestones
Central to this are a number of philanthropically funded lectures which both commemorate those who have made an outstanding contribution to New Zealand law and bring distinguished international scholars to New Zealand.
The Faculty thanks the generous individuals and organisations who contribute to the success of these activities.
Each of these events can be watched by selecting the tiles below.
Ian Borrin Lecture
The Ian Borrin Lecture is given in honour of the late Judge Ian Borrin, an alumnus and major supporter of this lecture and the Victoria University of Wellington Law Review. The 2024 lecture was given by Professor James Lee —a Professor of English Law at The Dickson Poon School of Law, King’s College, London, and the 2024 Ian Borrin Visiting Fellow.
Lecretia Seales Memorial Lecture in Law Reform
Given in honour of lawyer and law reform advocate Lecretia Seales, the Lecretia Seales Memorial Lecture is generously supported by Lecretia’s family and friends. The 2024 lecture was given by lawyer and former cabinet minister the Honourable Christopher Finlayson KC.
Donate to the Lecretia Seales Memorial Lecture in Law Reform and honour lawyer and law reform advocate Lecretia Seales.
Robin Cooke Lecture
The Robin Cooke lecture continues to be the pinnacle of the calendar of events and is generously supported by the Cooke family. It is given in honour of the late Lord Cooke of Thorndon, a Law School alumnus who is widely considered New Zealand’s most eminent jurist. The 2024 lecture was given by the Right Honourable Lord Sales, Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.
Watch our philanthropically-funded lectures
Te Kauhanganui Tātai Ture—Faculty of Law Inaugural lectures
Inaugural lectures celebrate a key milestone in the academic journey. This year, the Faculty of Law had the privilege of welcoming Dr Dean Knight and Dr Catherine Iorns to the rank of Professor.
In his lecture, Of wise decisions, government accountability and a small-ish democracy, Professor Knight analysed Aotearoa New Zealand's public law and its role in promoting decision-making and accountability within our small democracy. He highlighted how the process of judicial review provides a framework for ministers, officials, and public bodies to explain and justify their decisions, and explored how it ensures that government decisions are wise and informed.
Professor Iorns's inaugural lecture, Unplanned, unconfined and the unseen—Precaution and protection in environmental law, took her audience on a journey from childhood, to academic research, through to legal practice and activism— featuring New Zealand's pristine Te Waikoropupū Springs.
Watch our 2024 Inaugural Lectures
Te Kauhanganui Tātai Ture: Finding purpose through a shared community
This year, as always, my brilliant colleagues have produced world-leading research, taught over 2000 extraordinary students, and engaged widely to make Aotearoa and the world a better place. I know of no law school with fewer than 30 academic staff and as many students that manages such excellent teaching and research. Our equally amazing professional staff have done an extraordinary job in not just keeping things working but also making students’ lives just a little easier.
Our students are our future, and I tell them they are better versions of us—in some of the tough times this year, it is they who have helped us get through. I am constantly amazed at what our students get up to after they leave here, and just sometimes I like to claim a little bit of the credit that properly belongs to you!
But Tātai Ture is not just made up of those lucky enough to work or study here in the Old Government Buildings (OGB)—it is made up of all of you, wherever and whenever you get to read this.
We have decided to do V.Alum a bit differently so we can tell stories from within and from outside OGB. Please take a few minutes to read about our wonderful research, student leaders, and the achievements of some of our alumni.
The last couple of years have been unsettled for Te Herenga Waka, and I suspect that the next couple will be challenging for all our universities. The Law Faculty, however, has continued to be a thriving part of a university that is beginning to flourish again. We have five new academic staff who either have just started with us or will soon be here for us to nurture—emerging scholars in international trade, intellectual property, and comparative constitutional law; a leading mergers and acquisitions scholar from the US; and a new Professor of Public Health.
I am still getting used to working in the Dean’s office. Being Dean of the faculty that I have worked in for 30 years is a privilege and an honour but also, to be honest, a bit daunting. I have been amazed by all the goodwill and offers of help that I have received. I genuinely believe that despite the challenges 2025 will bring, we really can build an even better law school for our community. Priorities for next year include emphasising our links with the main University, joining with our friends across Bunny Street in Wellington School of Business and Government to create a unique Pipitea experience at the heart of our capital, emphasising the ‘place-based’ experience of learning law at VUW, and working to raise Pasifika achievement. Next year also is the first year of the new integrated tikanga curriculum that all students will study—we can’t wait to get started.
If we can do all this, it will be in no small part due to the tireless work of my predecessor, Lee Godden, who worked harder than any person I have ever known at the Law School. Lee had to return to Australia in August to care for whānau, but not before she had secured the funding for our new appointments.
It is summer, at least for those in Aotearoa. Just before Christmas, I will be in one of my happy places, Fiordland, walking the Kepler Track with my best man (whom I met in second-year law) and his family. On my to-do list are reading all the books that I missed out on during the year, fighting the ivy in our garden, and mostly just sitting in the sun—which is guaranteed this Wellington summer. I hope to finally make it in February to the top of Angelus Peak in Nelson Lakes. I also plan to catch up on some of my colleagues’ excellent research (really truly!)—you should too! Pick something from the list—it is all great.
One book I’m currently learning a lot from is Zest, written by my old torts student Daniel Kalderimis KC, who courageously writes about his recovery from depression, with the help of not only psychology but also philosophy. Daniel’s book is not so much about how to do law but is a lot about how we should choose to be more purposeful in those things that give us meaning. Daniel reminds me, though, that law is all about the narratives that connect people. Outside my family and friends, it has also been this university and our shared law community that have given me a sense of purpose and meaning. So I can’t wait for 2025.
Whiti te rā
Geoff