Auckland lawyers Ashiq Hamid and Alexandra Sinclair have won the 2015 New Zealand Law Foundation Cleary Memorial Prize.

The $5,000 Prize is awarded annually to a young barrister or solicitor who shows outstanding future promise in the legal profession.

 
Ashiq Hamid.

Ashiq Hamid graduated from the University of Waikato in 2011 with an LLB with first class honours. In 2014 he was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship, and earlier this year completed his LLM at Columbia University, where he was the President and Founder of the Columbia Law Students Negotiation Association which has hosted notable speakers on the topic of negotiation. 

Law was not his initial career choice; in 2006 he completed a BSc majoring in Cell Biology and Biotechnology from the University of Melbourne. Mr Hamid is committed to advocating for increasing cultural diversity in New Zealand's legal community and to raising awareness of issues that affect ethnically diverse people in the profession.

While he has a keen interest in litigation and in corporate and competition law, he is leaving his options open to consider future opportunities within the legal profession.

 
Alexandra Sinclair.

Alexandra Sinclair graduated from  Victoria University of Wellington in 2013 with an LLB with first class honours and a BA in international relations and Pacific studies. She has won numerous awards at mooting competitions both nationally and internationally.

In 2007 Ms Sinclair was Dux and Deputy Head Girl of St Matthews Collegiate, Masterton.

She is currently employed as a junior barrister at Shortland Chambers in Auckland.

After completing her post-graduate study Ms Sinclair intends returning to New Zealand to gain trial experience as a criminal prosecutor before returning to civil litigation.