Lecretia Seales Memorial Lecture in Law Reform

Lecretia Seales was a New Zealand lawyer who, upon suffering a brain tumour and enduring treatments for it, became an advocate of physician-assisted dying.

In 2015, Lecretia went to the high court to seek a ruling that would allow a doctor to assist her to die with her consent. Her court case initiated a national debate and helped galvanise a parliamentary inquiry into assisted dying.

The End-of-Life Choice Act was passed in November 2019, and a public referendum secured support for the Act which was implemented in 2020.

The lecture is generously supported by Lecretia’s family and friends.

Past lectures have been given by:

• 2026:  Te Herenga Waka Centre for Justice Innovation - A problem is solved by continuing to find solutions: reforming remand in prison
• 2025: Māmari Stephens - Neither Dead nor Lost—uncovering critical law stories at a critical time. Reflections on current tikanga Māori research at the Law School
• 2024:  Hon. Christopher Finlayson -  Reforming New Zealand's Legal Infrastructure
• 2023: Brendan Sydes - A Long and Winding Journey—Development of a National Environmental Law in Australia
• 2022: Chlöe Swarbrick - In the Legal and Political Weeds: The 2020 Cannabis Referendum and Beyond
• 2021: Dr Warren Young - Trials, Tribulations and Occasional Triumphs of Criminal Justice Reform
• 2020: Panel discussion on Seales v Attorney General and subsequent law reform
• 2019: Frances M Kamm - Assisting Someone To End Their Life: For and Against
• 2018: Julian Gardner and Tricia Malowney - Assisted Dying In Practice—Lessons from Australia's Victorian Inquiry
• 2017: Professor J Douglas Sellman - Law, Liquor and Love
• 2016: Sir Geoffrey Palmer - Law and Life