The Executive Officer of ILANZ, Helen Mackay, has resigned from her role, effective in the middle of October. Helen has served in this capacity for the last seven years, and her contribution has been considerable. She leaves with the best wishes of the New Zealand Law Society.
Russell McVeagh solicitor Nathalie Harrington is one of 10 recipients of the 2016 Minister for Youth’s International Leadership Awards. “This award supports outstanding young New Zealanders to access an international opportunity to further develop their leadership skills,” Youth Minister Nikki Kaye says. The award enabled the recipients to travel to China from 5 to 11 September, where they attended the second New Zealand China Young Leaders Forum in Beijing. At eight years old, Nathalie moved from New Zealand to Liuyang city in the Hunan province of China. By the time she returned to New Zealand aged 12, she was fluent in Mandarin. Nathalie continued to study Mandarin at university, graduating with an LLB and a BA in Chinese and Public Policy. Nathalie is an active volunteer, and is a member of the board at Volunteer Wellington.
Law firm news
Brian Geary of Brian Geary Law Office has merged his practice with Stephens Lawyers and will practice as a consultant at Stephens Lawyers from their Wellington offices. Brian has over 45 years’ experience as a lawyer and specialises in property, commercial, family trusts, immigration, and wills and estates. Brian is a past President of CLANZ (now ILANZ) and is a former member of Chartered Secretaries New Zealand Inc (now Governance New Zealand).
Law firm highly commended for diversity
MinterEllisonRuddWatts has been awarded “highly commended” in the Empowerment category at the Diversity NZ Awards, announced on 24 August. The award celebrates innovative responses to gender balance in the workforce.
The judges recognised the firm’s “Leading by Example” initiative, which was created to empower females and inspire all staff by demonstrating that success can look different depending on who you are, and that there is no one right way.
Strong competition was a feature of the Empowerment category, one of nine categories in the Diversity NZ Awards. New Zealand Police headed MinterEllisonRuddWatts to win the category, and was also named the Supreme Winner for 2016.
IPBA Scholarship
The Inter-Pacific Bar Association (IPBA) is now accepting applications for the 2017 IPBA Scholarship Programme.
This scholarship enables practising lawyers to attend next year’s IPBA annual meeting and conference, which will be held in Auckland from 6 to 9 April.
Christchurch lawyer Maria Pozza was a recipient of a scholarship to attend the 2016 conference.
To find out more about the scholarship and the scholarship application form, visit ipba.org/about-us/scholarships/ipba-scholarship-program/156/166/. More information about the 2017 annual meeting and conference is at www.ipba2017.com.
The closing date for applications is 31 October.