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Winner of 2015 NZ Law Foundation International Research Fellowship

Neil Boister, Professor in Law at University of Waikato, was awarded the 2015 New Zealand Law Foundation International Research Fellowship at the Foundation’s Annual Awards Dinner held at Te Papa last night.

The Simplification of New Zealand’s Law of Extradition is the title of Professor Boister’s research.

The aim of his research is to analyse New Zealand’s law of extradition within the context of the global trend towards simplification of extradition through simplification of the conditions for and process of extradition. The project will determine whether New Zealand’s extradition law provides an acceptable basis for the extradition of individuals to and from New Zealand. It is anticipated this project will be completed near mid-2017.

Read more about the winner and his research

Winners of the Cleary Memorial Prize

Two Auckland lawyers, Ashiq Hamid and Alexandra Sinclair, have won the New Zealand Law Foundation Cleary Memorial Prize. Both have outstanding academic records and impressive backgrounds in community service; to their law schools, the profession and the wider community.

Mr 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 which 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.

Ms Sinclair graduated from Victoria University of Wellington (VUW) 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 she was Dux and Deputy Head Girl of St Matthews Collegiate, Masterton. Ms Sinclair is presently employed as a junior barrister at Shortland Chambers in Auckland. Prior to that she was a judges’ clerk at the Auckland High Court; an experience she found extremely valuable. Her next goal is to complete her post-graduate study overseas, after which she intends coming back to New Zealand to gain trial experience as a criminal prosecutor before returning to civil litigation.

The New Zealand Law Foundation awards $5,000 annually for the Clearly Memorial Prize.

This is given to a young barrister or solicitor who shows outstanding future promise in the legal profession.

The New Zealand Law Foundation’s International Research Fellowship, Te Karahipi Rangahau ? Taiao, is New Zealand’s premier legal research award, valued at up to $125,000 each year.