Keep Running Up That Hill: The Challenge of Educating a Legal Profession Fit For The Next 150 Years

• Author: Helen Winkelmann
• Position: Chief Justice
• Pages: 5-20

5

KEEP RUNNING UP THAT HILL:

THE CHALLENGE OF EDUCATING

A LEGAL PROFESSION FIT FOR THE

NEXT 150 YEARS

*

E ngā mate o t e wā,

E ngā hunga or a,

E huihui ma i nei

I raro i te korow ai o Ngāi Tahu,

Ki te wha kanui i tēnei wha re wānanga ,

I tēnei kete māt auranga tu atinitin i,

Ko ngā kaiw hakawā, ko ngā r ōia, ko ngā ahoran gi, ko ngā tauir a

O ngā rā o mua, o t ēnei rā, o ngā rā kei te heke m ai hoki

Tēnā koutou, tē nā koutou, tēna tāt ou katoa

I. Introduction

It is an honour t o give this lec ture as par t of the progra mme of events celebrat ing

the 150th a nniversar y of this gr eat University. I ackn owledge the Chan cellor, the Hon

Amy Adam s, and Vice C hancellor, Pr ofessor Cheryl de l a Rey. I also acknowl edge

sta a nd students of this L aw School – past and present .

It is right we a lso mark th is very specia l occasion for the Law Sc hool. Canterbur y

Law School has pr oduced many of t he giants of our profession. A mongst its roll of

teachi ng sta past a nd present are several le gal legends – Professor s John Burrows,

Jeremy Finn , Philip Jo seph, Ursul a Cheer, Gerry O rchard a nd Stephen Todd, to

name but a few. And it s alumn i have made imp orta nt contribut ions to the la w. I

cannot do ju stice to the extent of t hat contribution t oday – time does not allow. But

some indicat ion can be gained by noti ng that the 6th Chief Ju stice of New Zealand,

Sir Michael Myer s, graduat ed from th is Law School i n 1897, and th at Presidents of

the Court of A ppeal who were educat ed here include Sir Kennet h Gresson, Sir A lfred

* Chief Just ice of New Zea land. Pub lic Lecture to C elebrate 150 Years o f Legal Educat ion at Canterb ury

Te Pae Convention C entre, Chr istchurch , 13 July 2023. I w ish to tha nk my clerk, Bronw yn Wilde,

as someone who wa s recently a law s tudent, for her help i n preparing t his speech.

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North, Si r Ivor Richa rdson, and Si r Will ie Young. Many mor e alumn i have served

on the court s, in the profes sion and th rough govern ment. The firs t Māori to be

admit ted as a barri ster and solicit or, Tā Āpirana Ngat a, was educated at Ca nterbury

College, al though, as many d id at the time, he complete d his degree extr amurally –

today we would refer t o it as remote learn ing.1

Chris tchurch wa s early in oer ing lega l education at t ertia ry level. A lthough

it was not the fi rst city to do so (that honour f alls to Otago Un iversity in Dunedi n),

Canterbu ry can boast of bei ng the place where law has b een taught continuous ly in

New Zeala nd for the longest time.2

This Univers ity, and the L aw School has bee n throug h its own ha rd times.

The 2011 ear thqua kes caused di cult y and disr uption to t his ins titut ion. But

Canterbu ry students were able t o continue wit h their studies t hroughout, t hanks to

the commi tment and ma naakitang a of the academic a nd administr ative sta , and

of course to t he resilience of the s tudents. This exp erience has stood t he Law School

in good ste ad for the challenges of t he pandemic.

Given the pedi gree and acc omplishment a ssociate d with th is inst itution , the

responsibi lity to honour it on its 150t h birthday is heavy. I con fess, and I feel i t is a

confession in t his setti ng, that I am not a Ca nterbury a lumnus, and I ha ve not taught

at this in stitution. But I re assure myself th at as a judge, and more recentl y as Chief

Justice, I a m in a sense a scrut iniser and rev iewer of the qual ity of the product of t his

and other law sch ools – that perhaps give s me standing.

Judges see the fr uits of t hat legal e ducation. When we pl ace confidence i n

a lawyer’s conduct of a t rial or hea ring we a re in par t placing c onfidence in t he

education the y have received at Law S chool. In the c ases we hear, we al so see the

fingerpri nts of lawyers who work outside of t he courts – i n the “policy shops” and

legal depar tments of govern ment department s, in Parl iamenta ry Counsel’s oce,

in the oce of Cabi net, and t he clerk of the house , lawyers who work a s part of

the inhou se legal t eam of loca l authorit ies or large cor porate ent ities. We see the

work of the many l awyers in su burban pr actices, ha ndli ng tran sactions a nd legal

documentat ion for fami lies – the sa le and purch ase of fam ily homes, a nd small

businesses, t he document ation of test amenta ry dis positions a nd livi ng wil ls. We

benefit from the a ssista nce provided b y lawyers t hrough Com munit y Law and

Citizens A dvice.

In each of these r oles, lawyers p erform the con stitut ional ly signi ficant ta sk of

enabling p eople to comply with the law a nd enabling them to a ccess its protection.

1 Je remy Finn Educatin g for the Profession: Law at Can terbury 1873–1973 (Canterbur y University

Press, Ch ristchur ch, 2010) at 33.

2 The t eaching of la w at Otago was i nterrupte d twice before W WI.