A range of stories showing how our grants for New Zealand legal research have helped shape developments in legal thinking, policy and action.
Making environment law fit to handle challenges of growth
There is an environmental downside to New Zealand’s strong economy and growing population. Our resource management law, world-leading when enacted in 1991, is now struggling to protect our treasured natural environment from the challenges of growth such as expanding cities, pollution, and threatened species.
> Read this success storyNZLII opens doors to law for all
Thousands of New Zealanders – lawyers and non-lawyers alike – are benefiting from access to decisions by courts and other legal bodies, thanks to a remarkable Foundation-supported initiative.
> Read this success storyMaking the Treaty work
The Treaty of Waitangi is our nation’s founding document – but what does it mean to our lives today?
Ongoing debate over interpreting the Treaty has made its legal status unclear and inconsistent.
> Read this success storyLaw Foundation project helps retain specialist youth advocates
A Law Foundation-funded project provided critical evidence that helped overturn plans to remove the specialist training requirement for people who work with youth offenders.
> Read this success storyForeign Relations Law study wins international acclaim
The rapid pace of globalisation is producing an exploding range of practical legal problems. Now, a New Zealand-authored study is being acclaimed as filling a major gap in international legal literature on the subject.
> Read this success storyLost Cases Project reveals our rich colonial legal heritage
Back in New Zealand’s early colonial days, court proceedings were not formally recorded
> Read this success storyNew technologies – taking on the challenge – Part One
About a decade ago, Law Foundation Executive Director Lynda Hagen decided it was time the Foundation stepped up a gear. “We wanted to take on a project that could make a lasting difference
> Read this success storySeeking justice for ACC claimants
The plight of hundreds of thousands of injured New Zealanders denied ACC support has been highlighted in a series of Law Foundation-backed reports.
> Read this success storyFellowship gives recipients a mid-career boost
Winners of the Law Foundation’s International Research Fellowship credit the award for lifting their legal careers in a surprising variety of ways.
> Read this success storyNew Technologies – taking on the challenge – Part Two
From the first moments of conception, new technologies are changing the way we live – and raising complex, controversial legal and ethical questions.
> Read this success storyPutting mental capacity on the map
Gaps in the law protecting people with impaired decision-making capacity have been brought out into the open in a ground-breaking Law Foundation-backed study.
> Read this success storyCommunity projects help minority groups
The Law Foundation has a strong track record of supporting projects that help specific social groups better understand the law and their rights and obligations.
> Read this success storyLaw schools value Distinguished Visiting Fellowship
New Zealand’s law schools have gained huge benefit from a Law Foundation programme enabling them to host a distinguished international scholar for up to two months each year.
> Read this success storyCompetitions sharpen young lawyers’ skills
Stirring courtroom advocacy is often seen as the stock-in-trade of good lawyers. It’s the glamorous public face of law that inspires bright, socially-conscious young people to enter the profession.
> Read this success storyChild relocation – looking after children’s best interests
A major Otago University study provided valuable real-life experiences for local and international jurists trying to reach common ground on controversial issues around child relocation following parental separation.
> Read this success storyNew Toolkit aids better regulation in New Zealand
An important new weapon in the ongoing battle to achieve effective regulation in New Zealand is now freely available online, thanks to Law Foundation support.
> Read this success storyGovernment plans child witness rule changes following Law Foundation-backed studies
Law Foundation-funded studies have helped prompt the Government to propose major changes making it easier for children to testify in court.
> Read this success storyThe Cartwright Inquiry – learning the lessons
In the words of eminent epidemiologist Sir David Skegg, the Cartwright Inquiry was “a watershed in the history of medicine and health care in New Zealand.”
> Read this success storyFoundation-backed study helps patients
Law Foundation-funded research on improving regulation of doctors to better inform and protect the public is making an impact in New Zealand and overseas.
> Read this success storyParliament rule changes follow study on Urgency
A Law Foundation-backed study has led to changes in the way Urgency is used in Parliament.
> Read this success storyPractising lawyers benefit from Foundation support
Legal education funded by the Law Foundation has benefited literally thousands of lawyers throughout New Zealand, says the head of the Law Society’s continuing legal education programme.
> Read this success storyLaw Commission supports study’s call for new sex offending responses
The Law Commission has supported calls in a Law Foundation-backed study for alternative ways of dealing with sexual offending.
