New Zealand Law Society - Speakers and panellists
Time is running out to renew your practising certificate for 2025/26. Your payment and declaration must be made before midnight 30 June 2025.
Rez Gardi is a human rights lawyer and activist. She was born in a United Nations refugee camp in Pakistan as her Kurdish family escaped persecution in their home land of Kurdistan.
Arriving in New Zealand with nothing, Rez sought to use her difficult start in life as motivation to succeed, becoming New Zealand's first Kurdish female lawyer. In 2019 she graduated as a Fulbright Scholar with a Master of Laws from Harvard Law School. She is the first Kurd in history to graduate from Harvard Law.
She is currently working as a Harvard Human Rights Fellow on the border of Iraq and Turkey to gather evidence of the targeted genocidal campaign carried out by ISIS against the Yezidis, including mass executions, kidnapping, torture, sexual violence, and other egregious human rights abuses, using a victim-centric approach. This evidence will be used to build cases to prosecute the ISIS perpetrators.
She is passionate about supporting young refugees and believes education is pivotal to changing the future for refugees. She is the founder of Empower - a youth-led organisation to empower and enable refugee youth through education, leadership, and capacity-building, so that young refugees can pursue a meaningful future. Empower provides a mentoring initiative to address the underrepresentation of refugees in higher education and provides workshops to foster participation, leadership, and empowerment opportunities for young refugees. She is working on projects with refugee youth in camps across Uganda and Kenya to find innovative ways to access education because there simply aren't enough schools to accommodate all the youth in the camps. Through her work she has reached over 10,000 refugee youth.
Rez was awarded the Young New Zealander of the Year in 2017 for her services to human rights and is an Eisenhower Youth Fellow. She was a Women of Influence Finalist and NEXT Woman of the Year Finalist in 2018 and in 2021, Rez was recognised as one of the Top 25 Most Influential Lawyers for her work in Human Rights, Advocacy and Criminal Law.
Rez has been inspiring audiences around the globe including representing New Zealand in the first ever Global Refugee Youth Consultations, and helped form the Global Youth Advisory Council to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. She has represented refugee youth at the UNHCR-NGO Consultations, and the High Commissioners Dialogue on Protection Challenges of Children on the Move, all in Geneva, the Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Conference in Bangkok, the Women Deliver Conference in Copenhagen and the OECD Forum in Paris.
Dr Sarah Anticich is a clinical psychologist with a PhD in Psychology from the University of Queensland, where her doctoral research focused on building emotional resilience and preventing anxiety in children and adolescents. She holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Clinical Psychology, a Master of Science with First Class Honours, a Bachelor of Science, and a First Class Honours degree in Child and Famqily Psychology.
Dr Anticich brings over two decades of interdisciplinary experience spanning healthcare, education, justice, sport, insurance, and corporate sectors. Her clinical expertise includes the assessment and treatment of trauma, emotional dysregulation, executive dysfunction, and ADHD. She is an approved ACC Sensitive Claims provider and co-founder of Studio Mindspace, a specialised intervention programme for adult ADHD based on Russell Barkley’s executive functioning model.
In addition to her clinical work, Dr Anticich consults to legal professionals, executive leaders, and organisations on psychological safety, sustainable performance, and emotional intelligence through her Executive Frame model. Her approach integrates clinical science, developmental psychology, and organisational frameworks to support both individual and systemic transformation.
Known for her clarity, warmth, and evidence-informed practice, Dr Anticich is committed to bridging science and strategy to create meaningful, real-world outcomes across therapeutic, educational, and leadership settings.
Derek Roth-Biester, Director, Criterion Law
Derek is the founder of Criterion Law, a boutique technology and corporate / commercial law firm based in Queenstown. His technology practice ranges from advising on technology procurement to data privacy issues, digital assets and artificial intelligence, where he consults with lawyers and firms starting out on their AI journey. He also helps tech startups with raising capital, from seed funding through to VC, international expansion and exit.
Derek’s journey to Criterion started in the UK with Gowling WLG and Merrill Lynch, followed by 12 years in Hong Kong with international firms Sidley Austin and Pinsent Masons, and four years at offshore firms in Bermuda and the Cayman Islands. He was a partner at Meredith Connell in Auckland from 2017 to 2019 and at Anderson Lloyd in Queenstown from 2019 to 2024.
He is recognised as a ‘leading individual’ for New Zealand TMT in the most recent edition of the Legal 500.
Sam Lindsay - Legal Search Partner, Chisholm Clarke
Director at Chisholm Clarke, Sam Lindsay is known for his strategic and thoughtful approach to helping lawyers. With a focus on understanding each lawyer’s unique skills, background, aspirations and personalities, he offers measured advice to help find suitable opportunities, evaluate workplaces and help make the right decisions.
His decade of experience, combined with his dedication to search experience, makes him a trusted advisor committed to delivering great outcomes. Sam is easygoing, reliable and manages communication and expectations openly for all parties. He also enjoys hosting the What a Lawyer podcast, discussing career stories and current affairs with leading senior lawyers around the country. Sam and his business partner Sarah Wilson don't just finish there, at Chisholm Clarke they also help lawyers with market and salary information, preparing for performance reviews or promotions and are always an easy ear to bounce ideas off.
Joe Consedine - Co-founder, Mobilise – Inclusive Leadership and Allyship
Joe is one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s leading voices on inclusion. A highly engaging and in-demand speaker and consultant to a range of organisations and industries in New Zealand and globally, Joe has a unique ability to unite audiences around why inclusion is such a critical capability for individuals and organisations to adopt to survive and thrive in a diverse and complex future of work.
Joe is a former Director of Champions for Change with Global Women where he worked with New Zealand’s leading 80 Chief Executives and Board Chairs on scaled Diversity Equity and Inclusion strategies for Aotearoa, New Zealand.
Prior to Champions for Change Joe was the New Zealand General Manger for Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand where he led the development of the accounting profession’s first ever inclusion strategy, developed a playbook on the gender pay gap with a reach of over 850k and was recognised by the NZ Minister for Women.
Joe is also the co-founder of Mobilise – New Zealand’s first dedicated leadership development and allyship program specifically for men.
Jenna Adamson - CEO, Former Commercial Property Partner
Jenna is the CEO of one of Australasia’s largest and most diverse private family offices, managing a broad portfolio that includes property development, venture capital, philanthropic initiatives, and technology ventures. Under her leadership, the family office is delivering large-scale, purpose-driven property and infrastructure projects and investing in high-growth sectors such as energy, healthcare, biotechnology, and defence technology. It is also scaling software companies and advancing initiatives that foster stronger government engagement across Australia and New Zealand - aimed at driving meaningful, long-term change.
Jenna is a former Partner and AI Lead at top-tier New Zealand law firm Wynn Williams, where she specialised in commercial and property law. Her expertise included complex property developments, portfolio management, leasing, acquisitions, and legal innovation in technology, including AI. Her international legal career also spans senior roles at leading Australian law firms and serving as Counsel for L’Oréal Australia and New Zealand.
Jenna’s accomplishments have earned her widespread recognition, including listings in the Legal 500 Asia Pacific 2025 (Real Estate and Construction), NZ Lawyer Rising Stars 2023, and an appointment to the Property Council of NZ’s Retail Committee. She has also been a judge and finalist in several Australian legal awards, including the Lawyers Weekly and Australian Property Council.
Gemma Wragg - Head of Strategic People Development
As Head of Strategic People Development at Tavendale + Partners, Gemma is the author of the firm’s industry-leading people development program, designed to elevate early performance and fast-track career progression. She is also a key member of the Tavendale + Partners leadership team.
Stepping into this new role, Gemma brings a unique blend of experience as a former lawyer and the previous CEO of Tavendale + Partners. Her deep understanding of both law as a vocation and law as a business allows her to drive people-focused initiatives and outcomes for our people. Her passion for culture, talent development, and mentoring young professionals plays a pivotal role in our continued evolution as a firm.
Since joining Tavendale + Partners in 2018 as a solicitor, Gemma has been instrumental in our growth and success. Appointed CEO in 2021, Gemma championed the firm through a period of significant expansion.
In recognition of her strategic vision and commitment to people, Gemma received the Australasian Legal Practice Management Association’s Future Leader Award in 2022 – a testament to her leadership and impact within the profession.
Jeremy Johnson - Barrister and Arbitrator
Jeremy is one of New Zealand’s leading barristers, with expertise in private wealth, relationship property, equity and trusts, arbitration, and commercial law. He acts in cases across New Zealand and the Asia-Pacific, regularly appearing as lead counsel in courts and arbitral tribunals. Known for his discretion and skill, Jeremy is highly regarded for his work with high-profile individuals and families, particularly in cross-border private wealth matters.
Jeremy has received numerous accolades, including rankings in The Legal 500 Asia Pacific (2019, 2024) and Chambers Asia-Pacific (2022–2025), where he is ranked Band 1 for 2025. He is based at Bankside Chambers in Auckland and Singapore and is registered with the Singapore International Commercial Court. He serves on the Advisory Board of the International Trust Arbitration Organisation and is a member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP), holding an Advanced Certificate in Trust Disputes, in which he placed first globally.
A Fellow of the Arbitrators’ and Mediators’ Institute of New Zealand and the International Academy of Family Lawyers, Jeremy also contributes to the community as Chancellor of the Diocese of Waiapu and Chair of Christ’s College. He was awarded the King’s Service Medal in 2025 for his community service.