News Item

We are pleased to announce the award of three NZ Law Foundation Ethel Benjamin Scholarships for 2019.

The winners are Nichola Hodge, Harriet Farquhar and Rosalind Kos:

Nichola Hodge will study for her LLM at Cambridge University focussing on issues of constitutional and human rights law, particularly litigation aspects, in order to broaden her understanding of contemporary issues of social justice. Nichola is a former top graduate of the University of Canterbury Law School and is currently working as a solicitor at the Wellington branch of Meredith Connell. Prior to this she clerked for Justice Glazebrook in the Supreme Court.

Harriet Farquhar will study for her LLM at NYU, focussing on human rights, constitutional and international law, in particular on issues of climate change-related displacement and migration in the Pacific region. Harriet is an Assistant Crown Counsel in the Constitutional and Human Rights Team at Crown Law. She is a former top graduate of the Law Faculty at Victoria University of Wellington and clerked for Justice Arnold in the Supreme Court.

Rosalind Kos will undertake study for her LLM at the University of Chicago exploring a comparative and pragmatic approach to the prosecution of family violence cases. Rosalind aims to identify possible reforms to New Zealand’s criminal procedure in family violence cases. Rosalind is currently a Senior Solicitor at Crown Solicitors Luke Cunningham Clere, Wellington. She is a former top graduate of the University of Canterbury Law School and former clerk to Justice French at the Court of Appeal.

We congratulate Nichola, Harriet and Rosalind and wish them well with their studies and future careers.

This annual award honours NZ’s first woman barrister and solicitor, Ethel Benjamin, admitted to the Bar in 1897. The scholarship was established in 1997 to mark the centenary of her admission, and supports postgraduate research in the law that will protect and promote the legal interests of the New Zealand public.

The award is worth up to $50,000 and details of the award and previous winners can be found on the Ethel Benjamin Scholarship page of the Foundation’s website.