Every year Law Foundation support enables many eminent international legal experts to visit New Zealand and speak at conferences, seminars and lectures. We also fund law student attendance at some of these events. In 2018 the Law Foundation is providing up to $174,351 in support of these visits and the dissemination of knowledge that comes from them.
Here’s a snapshot of events and speakers the Law Foundation is supporting in 2018:
12-14 FEB 2018, UNIVERSITY OF AUCKLAND
13-14 FEB 2018, VUW, WELLINGTON
14-15 FEB 2018, WELLINGTON
21-23 FEB 2018, VUW (VENUE TE PAPA), WELLINGTON
13-15 MARCH 2018, UNIVERSITY OF AUCKLAND
19-20 APRIL 2018, QUEENSTOWN
2-4 JULY 2018, UNIVERSITY OF CANTERBURY, CHRISTCHURCH
5-7 JULY 2018, VUW, WELLINGTON
29-31 AUG 2018, UNIVERSITY OF AUCKLAND
30 AUG-1 SEPT 2018, WELLINGTON
Pacific Law, Custom and Constitutionalism Conference Part I:
Aotearoa NZ and Samoa in Dialogue:
Law Reforms in Customary Land Tenure, Religious Rights and Traditional Leadership
12-14 FEB 2018, UNIVERSITY OF AUCKLAND
This conference is Part 1 of a three-part conference series that recognises the inextricable ties between the New Zealand-based Pasifika diaspora and their Pacific Island homelands and the historical and contemporary influence New Zealand still has on the political and legal infrastructures of Pacific nations. This initial conference is a dialogue between Aotearoa NZ and Samoa and takes advantage of Samoa’s recent public debates on constitutional law reform in the areas of land law, law and religion, and traditional leadership; and its relevance to Samoan and Pasifika communities in Aotearoa. Samoans make up just under half of the total New Zealand-resident Pasifika population.
Part-2 conference will cover dialogue between NZ and Tonga, and Part-3 between NZ and its self-governing territories – Cook Islands, Tokelau and Niue.
NZ Law Foundation has granted up to $24,300 to bring Samoan and domestic speakers to the conference, to support 80 student registration fees, and to provide research assistance to prepare conference papers for publication.
Conference – Cross-Border Issues in Australasian Courts
13-14 FEB 2018, VUW, WELLINGTON
This symposium centres on the treatment of cross-border issues by the domestic courts of Australia and New Zealand, encompassing a wide range of public and private international law topics.
This one-and-a-half-day event consists of a public lecture on the afternoon of 13 Feb and a full day workshop on 14 Feb. The workshop is being hosted at Victoria University of Wellington Law School and jointly organised with Otago Law School under the auspices of the NZ Centre of International Economic Law.
13 February 2018 – Public lecture – 2pm in GBLT2 – Professor Jürgen Basedow (Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law, Hamburg) will give a public lecture providing a European perspective on the legal challenges posed by Brexit, with a response from a common law perspective from Professor Mary Keyes (Griffith University, Queensland).
14 February 2018 – an invite-only workshop – encompassing aspects of both private and public international law, but with a focus on the impact of cross-border issues within the domestic courts. Cross-border issues are an under-explored aspect of law in Australasia. The keynote speaker is Professor Jürgen Basedow.
NZ Law Foundation has awarded up to $7,500 towards bringing Professor Basedow and Professor Keyes to New Zealand for this event.
Workshop on Public Inquiry into Children in State Care
14-15 FEB 2018, WELLINGTON
This two-day symposium will evaluate and make recommendations on the Government’s draft terms of reference for their inquiry into the abuse of children in state care. It will focus on the scope of the inquiry, compensation and apology. It will consider the views of those with experience with similar inquiries overseas, as well as the views of local experts working on justice for survivors, legal practitioners/scholars and the survivors themselves.
The symposium will also consider the operations and “manner of working” of the inquiry.
This event is being hosted by The Aotearoa New Zealand Centre for Indigenous Peoples and the Faculty of Law at Auckland University; New Zealand Centre for Human Rights Law, Policy and Practice; and Institute of Criminology School of Social and Cultural Studies.
NZ Law Foundation has awarded up to $10,500 towards the costs of bringing three Australian speakers, travel for domestic speakers and survivors, and preparation costs for the public report on workshop findings.
2nd Pacific Climate Change Conference & associated events
21-23 FEB 2018, TE PAPA, WELLINGTON
Nowhere is climate change, and ocean change, a more urgent issue than across the Pacific, home to many low-lying island nations and sensitive to large swings in climate from year to year. This conference, hosted by Victoria University of Wellington (VUW) and SPREP*, will bring together a broad range of voices on climate change covering from the science to the laws, to the impacts on policy and public implications. Sir Geoffrey Palmer is the keynote speaker for the conference strand on Law.
Law Foundation is supporting bringing two indigenous keynote speakers from the Pacific who are well recognised in the areas of both legal practice and academic scholarship on indigenous rights and climate change:
Founder of Blue Ocean Law in Guam, will speak on the intersection between deep seabed mining, methane emissions and indigenous rights in the Pacific.
Director of Environmental Law Clinic, Acting Director of the Ka Huli Ao Centre for Excellence in Native Hawaiian Law, and Associate Professor of Law at the William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawaii. Professor Sproat’s presentation will address the question “As a matter of environmental justice for indigenous peoples, do state and local governments have an affirmative restorative justice obligation to address the deleterious impacts of global warming? If so, what does that obligation look like?
In addition to the conference a Public Lecture titled “Law as an Activism Strategy” will be given on Tues 20th Feb by Professor Sproat, Julian Aguon and Ani Mikaere – 5.30pm at VUW’s Rutherford House, Lecture Theatre 1. They will talk about the role the law can play in addressing climate change and other pressing crises we face today.
NZ Law Foundation has awarded up to $16,960 towards the costs of bringing speakers and preparing the conference publication.
*Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme
Symposium – The Future of Class Actions
15 MARCH 2018, UNIVERSITY OF AUCKLAND
The current law relating to class actions in New Zealand is significantly under developed when compared to other jurisdictions. The lack of legislative guidance on class action litigation is problematic to the judiciary, practitioners and, most importantly, class action parties in a climate where class action litigation is increasing. The need for legislative intervention has been widely discussed.
The University of Auckland in conjunction with the New Zealand Centre for Law and Business will host a one-day symposium to provide a forum for international class action academics, practitioners and members of the judiciary to discuss the future of class actions in New Zealand. Speaking topics include the economic implications of class-wide actions, the future of class actions in Australia, the United States and New Zealand, litigation funding in class actions and security for costs where a litigation funder is involved.
The Law Foundation is providing support to bring two speakers to this event:
– Professor Brian Fitzpatrick, Faculty of Law, Vanderbilt University, USA
– Dr Malcolm Stewart, Law and Economics Consultant, England
NZ Law Foundation has awarded up to $20,000 towards the costs of bringing two keynote speakers to this symposium.
AMINZ-ICCA International Arbitration Day
19-20 APRIL 2018, QUEENSTOWN
AMINZ-ICCA International Arbitration Day is being held in Queenstown from 19 – 20 April 2018, following immediately from the ICCA Congress being held in Sydney from 15 – 18 April 2018. It will focus on developments in international commercial arbitration in the Pacific region, with special attention on introducing young law professionals to the challenges of this growing area of law. There will be a training skills workshop held as part of the programme, which features eminent practitioners of international arbitration from across the globe.
NZ Law Foundation has awarded up to $4,900 towards registrations for ten young law professionals to attend.
*ICCA is the International Council for Commercial Arbitration
Pacific Law and Culture Conference 2018
2-4 JULY 2018, UNIVERSITY OF CANTERBURY, CHRISTCHURCH
The University of Canterbury School of Law is hosting the 2018 Pacific Law and Culture Conference. The Conference theme “Voices of the Pacific in a Globalised World,” is intended to increase understanding of Pacific legal issues and to strengthen relationships between Pacific legal scholars and students in New Zealand and beyond. The Conference provides a platform for emerging and established Pacific legal scholars to consider the critical question of how to make law operate effectively whilst remaining culturally appropriate to the Pacific context and responsive to the needs of Pacific peoples.
NZ Law Foundation has awarded up to $19,331 towards bringing three keynote speakers and a number of international students; and travel for domestic students; plus a student prize.
2018 Australian & New Zealand Society of International Law Conference – From the Local to the Global
5-7 JULY 2018, VUW, WELLINGTON
The Australian and New Zealand Society of International Law (ANZSIL) and the New Zealand Centre for Public Law (NZCPL), in conjunction with the Faculty of Law at Victoria University of Wellington (VUW), will host the ANZSIL 2018 annual conference in Wellington on 5-7 July 2018.
The conference will bring together legal scholars, practitioners, government officials and civil society stakeholders to explore current and future issues in international law. The international setting is transforming rapidly, with significant changes in the national political scene of many countries creating new challenges and opportunities for international law.
The 26th ANZSIL Annual Conference will be an opportunity to explore a range of themes:
- The intersection of domestic law and politics with international law
- The intersection between regionalism and globalism
- The emergence of new (and old) global challenges
NZ Law Foundation has awarded up to $29,500 towards the costs of bringing international and Australian keynote speakers and towards the preparation costs for publishing the conference papers.
AMINZ Conference 2018
30 AUG-1 SEPT 2018, WELLINGTON
The 2018 Arbitrators’ and Mediators’ Institute of New Zealand (AMINZ) annual conference is being held in Wellington from 30 Aug to 1 Sept 2018. The Law Foundation is providing funding to bring keynote speaker Mr Lee Jay Berman, a commercial mediator of over 23 years experience, from the United States.
The conference provides an opportunity for delegates to exchange ideas and information on emerging trends, developments, skills and practical nuances of dispute resolution. This event will be of interest to AMINZ members, the judiciary, the legal profession, government, academia, business, media and other sectors of the community.
NZ Law Foundation has awarded up to $6,000 towards the costs of bringing keynote speaker Lee Jay Berman to the conference.
Conference: New Horizons for Torrens – Current Reforms, Emerging Issues
29-31 AUG 2018, UNIVERSITY OF AUCKLAND
This is a major international conference on the new Land Transfer Act 2017 (NZ) that will apply from later in 2018. The Act substantially reforms New Zealand’s Torrens system of land registration – a system that is also used in Australia, Canada, the US, the UK (in a modified form), and other jurisdictions.
The modern automated system of land registration is fully incorporated in the Act, and other important changes to principles such as indefeasibility of title, State guarantee, and the availability of compensation are made. A major reform is a discretion for the courts to override indefeasibility of title in appropriate cases. These changes are important in the practice of property law, and judicial decision-making. The reforms will also provide a useful model to law-makers in other Torrens jurisdictions. The conference will provide a unique and authoritative forum for description, analysis and discussion of these many reforms. A book of edited papers will be produced after the conference.
Law Foundation is contributing towards bringing the following speakers:
NZ Law Foundation has awarded up to $24,000 towards the costs of bringing international speakers and editing of the conference publication.
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