News Item

Two lawyers have won the 2012 New Zealand Law Foundation Cleary Memorial Prize.

Catherine Harwood and Rebecca Rose were announced as this year’s winners at the Law Foundation’s 2012 Annual Awards Dinner, hosted by Justice Minister Judith Collins at Parliament’s Grand Hall on 29 November.

Ms Harwood, who has a strong interest in human rights law, was recently offered a position as a PhD researcher at Leiden University in the Netherlands.

The PhD position is part of a project exploring multiple investigations of international crimes in conflict and post-conflict situations. It takes her back to the university where she recently graduated LLM cum laude in advanced legal studies in public international law.

Ms Harwood graduated from Victoria University in 2009 with an LLB with first class honours and a BA in sociology. She represented Victoria University at the 2008 Vis Moot in Vienna, where the team placed third of the 203 teams entered.

In 2010 she established the mentoring scheme Learner to Lawyer, which matches students with young lawyers in Wellington. She also mentored Porirua College students in the Professional Pathways programme, was a student mentor to first year law students, and an active member of the Wellington Young Lawyers’ Association.

As well as being a student editor of law journals published by both Victoria and Leiden Universities, Ms Harwood wrote the Rotary Scholars’ Handbook, which assists scholarship students preparing to move to New Zealand.

Ms Harwood is currently an unfunded intern in Chambers at the International Criminal Court in The Hague and has previously interned at the IBA programme on the ICC. Before that she held various roles at Victoria University and commercial law firms, including being a litigation paralegal at Freehills in Sydney. From February 2009 to February 2011, she was a judge’s clerk at the Court of Appeal.

Her long-term goals include working to achieve greater co-operation between New Zealand and other Pacific nations to strengthen human rights protections in the region.

Ms Rose graduated from Waikato University with a conjoint LLB (first class honours) and Bachelor of Management Studies (Economics) degree in 2009, coming top in both degrees. She was admitted in New Zealand in October 2009.

From 2010 to 2011, Ms Rose took her LLM at Cambridge University as a W M Tapp Scholar. This year she was admitted in the Cook Islands, where she has worked largely on a pro bono basis in connection with the Cook Islands Crown Law Office since 2008.

Of M?ori and Dutch descent, Ms Rose enjoys teaching and has pursued this in Wellington principally through teaching fellow roles. She has worked as a tutor and as a M?ori mentor at Victoria and Waikato Universities. Although Ms Rose is yet to finally decide on her preferred time-split between legal practice and academic teaching, she is determined to contribute meaningfully to academic discussion and professional debate in New Zealand.

Ms Rose has been involved in various community activities and professional organisations, such as the Environmental Defence Society and LEANZ, an organisation dedicated to the advancement of the understanding of law and economics.

Judging student competitions is another feature of her involvement in the profession. She has judged mooting competitions at Auckland University and at various Victoria University and national-level mooting, client interviewing and negotiation competitions.

Ms Rose is a former student of Fairfield College, Hamilton, where she was Dux and deputy Head Girl. She is currently a solicitor in the general litigation and dispute resolution team at Chapman Tripp in Auckland. Before that she was intern to the Solicitor-General, David Collins QC, at the Crown Law Office, Wellington. From February 2008 to February 2010, she was a judge’s clerk in the Supreme Court to Justice Blanchard.