Nerissa Barber began her fourth term as the New Zealand Law Society's Wellington branch President at the branch's annual meeting on 24 June.
Ms Barber was first elected the branch's President in 2010 and served in that role for two terms until June 2012. In April 2012 Ms Barber was appointed as one of the Law Society's four Vice-Presidents and very much enjoyed serving on the Law Society's Board over her two-year term. Then again in 2014 Ms Barber was elected for her third term as Wellington branch President.
Chief Legal Advisor at the Ministry for Culture and Heritage, Ms Barber finds that one of the many highlights of her current role is working with other people who also love working in the arts and heritage sectors, and who enjoy making a contribution and a difference.
Nerissa Barber
Visual art is a passion of hers. Ms Barber is a friend or member of just about every art gallery in the country including Auckland Art Gallery, City Gallery Wellington, The Dowse Art Museum, Christchurch Art Gallery (life friend), Dunedin Art Gallery (life friend), the Govett Brewster (Life Friend), and Te Papa.
After graduating BA LLB from Victoria University, with a double major in German and History, Ms Barber was admitted in 1990. She worked for Brandon Brookfield, which became Simpson Grierson, before moving to Crown Law and then into the State Services Commission and other in-house roles.
Ms Barber's involvement in Law Society governance began when she was elected to the Wellington District Law Society Council in 2007.
She has served in both the district law society and Wellington branch in many roles, including as convenor of the Legal Assistance Committee, co-convenor of the Women in Law Committee and Council member liaison of the Library Committee. She continues her membership of the Women in Law Committee, and has also enjoyed serving as the branch Council liaison for the Wellington Immigration Committee.
Ms Barber is on the Board of the Government Legal Network and is a member of the Chief Legal Advisors' Forum. From 2006 to 2009 Ms Barber was a board member of the Institute of Public Administration New Zealand. She has also been involved in a number of community organisations over the years, including being a volunteer with the Wellington Community Law Centre.
David Dunbar and Catherine (Cathy) Rodgers were confirmed at this year's branch annual meeting as Vice-Presidents.
An in-house lawyer, Mr Dunbar is Registrar at the Medical Council of New Zealand.
Like Ms Barber and Mr Dunbar, Ms Rodgers is an in-house lawyer. She is a Parliamentary Counsel with the Parliamentary Counsel Office.
The branch Council for 2015-16 is: Melanie Baker, Susan (Sue) Barker, Stephanie (Steph) Dyhrberg, Felix Geiringer, Annette Gray, Jessie Hunt, Steven Li, Julius Maskell, Mary More, Julia White, Jeremy Ford (ILANZ representative), Julie Millar (Wairarapa representative) and Rebecca Garden (Young Lawyers representative).