Being bettered by a laughing female opponent while fighting for his karate senior black belt didn't discourage Ezekiel "Zeke" Hudspith – two years ago they married and now have "kids on the horizon…"
Ezekiel and his wife Anna – an obstetrics and gynaecology doctor – met at karate classes and both hold black belts.
- Name
- Ezekiel James (Zeke) Hudspith
- Born
- Nelson.
- Age
- 33.
- Entry to law
- Graduated BSc, LLB from Victoria University in 2006 and LLM (First Class Hons in Environmental Law) from Auckland University in 2011. Admitted in 2007.
- Workplace
- Senior Associate at Kensington Swan, Wellington.
- Speciality area
- Environmental and planning law.
"My first memories of Anna are sparring with her and we continue to spar together…When I was going for my senior black belt grading I had to do 25 fights…"
"It's hard to say what I might do if I wasn't a lawyer..."
"She got me at fight 23 and managed to push me around the floor laughing…"
Recently promoted to senior associate with Kensington Swan in Wellington, Ezekiel studied kyukoshin (full contact) karate from age 11 and got his first black belt at 15, moving up to his senior black belt while a junior lawyer at Chapman Tripp.
"As a junior lawyer I was able to leave work at 5 and be at training by 6, but more recently that's not really feasible…"
"I came second a few times in competitions but never focused on tournament fighting and didn't win any nationals…"
Raised as an only child of a psychologist father and nurse mother, Ezekiel says he was attracted to law from an early age "because I was quite argumentative… a good quality in a lawyer…"
"With no other lawyers in the family my father initially told me I should not be a lawyer because they were a pack of w*nkers… Later on when I was 12 or 13 he said maybe I could be a lawyer but would have to be an environmental lawyer…
"I guess I liked the sound of that, and did science, geography, biology and environmental studies at university…
"I grew up in Hawke's Bay and went to a Rudolf Steiner school… I don't think many lawyers came out of there…
"When younger I thought about being architect or a doctor… And I liked TV shows with lawyers – such as Ally McBeal and Boston Legal…
"I like going to the gym, reading books - Sci Fi and fantasy with no favourite author – and watching TV…
"Anna and I are both suckers for dumb action so we quite like our Marvel Superheroes movies… Avengers, or similar, with super powers…
"I used to draw comics as a kid and was obsessed with superheroes… The grown up version of me still likes to go to those movies…
"I probably don't handle work/life balance particularly well… In your 20s it's ok to work hard and not have much of a life… And it's hard to get ahead in a big firm without putting in a few silly hours…
"I have an understanding wife because her hours are quite ridiculous as well… So we make time to go away for a weekend and spend time together, rather than be home at 6 o'clock…
"After I did my masters in 2011 Anna and I did a round the world trip, including two months in South America, a month in Japan and two months in Europe riding everywhere on their fabulous train network – a great way to see Europe…
"Our favourite holiday spot in New Zealand is Lake Ohau, where I inherited my late father's log cabin bach by the lakeside…
"I played the flute at school but gave that up when I went to university… If I want to get some work done I listen to classical music – I like most classical composers - and at the gym something angry…
"My car is a 1996 Toyota Corolla – I think I inherited that too but I only drive once a week, the rest of the time I bus… I'm only 20 minutes from work…
"It's hard to say what I might do if I wasn't a lawyer… I had thought about architecture and medicine… But having lived with a doctor and hearing what she does every day I'm not sure I could stomach that…
"I'd probably work for an environment NGO… If money, having a house and raising a family were not more pressing things, that's what I would be doing…
"My first dinner guest pick would by Barack Obama, which is surprising to me… Then Plato and Aristotle…
"And we would have fish and chips… Even bad fish and chips is still fish and chips…"
Timaru-based Jock Anderson has been writing and commenting on New Zealand lawyers and New Zealand's courts for most of his career in journalism. Contact Jock at jockanderson123@gmail.com.