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 Adams, and Vice Chancellor, Professor Cheryl de la Rey. I also acknowledge

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 produced 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 Joseph, Ursula Cheer, Gerry Orchard and Stephen Todd, to

name but a few. And its alumni have made important contributions to the law. 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 Myers, graduated from this Law School in 1897, and that 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.

6[Vol 30, 2023]

North, Sir Ivor Richardson, and Sir Willie Young. Many more alumni have served

on the courts, in the profession and through government. The first 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

Christchurch was early in oering legal education at tertiary level. Although

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 University, and the Law School has been through its own hard times.

The 2011 earthquakes caused diculty and disruption to this institution. But

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

the commitment and ma naakitanga of the academic a nd administrative 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 pedigree and accomplishment associated with this institution, 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 fruits of that legal education. When we place confidence in

a lawyer’s conduct of a trial or hearing we are in part placing confidence in the

education they have received at Law School. In the cases we hear, we also see the

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

legal departments of government departments, in Parliamentary Counsel’s oce,

in the oce of Cabinet, and the clerk of the house, lawyers who work as part of

the inhouse legal team of local authorities or large corporate entities. We see the

work of the many lawyers in suburban practices, handling transactions and legal

documentation for families – the sale and purchase of family homes, and small

businesses, the documentation of testamentary dispositions and living wills. We

benefit from the assistance provided by lawyers through Community Law and

Citizens A dvice.

In each of these roles, lawyers perform the constitutionally significant task 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.