News
On this page:
- Law at Victoria scores well in international ranking system
- The Power of Two
- Two more electives added to the summer trimester
- Victoria’s Law Faculty tops rankings for research quality
- New book explores youth justice in New Zealand
- The Robin Cooke Lecture 2013
- Debating the Constitution
- A Legal Feast
Law at Victoria scores well in international ranking system
20 May 2013
The Victoria University of Wellington Law Faculty.
The Faculty of Law at Victoria University continues its success in university rankings, being placed 19th in the world in the 2013 QS World University Rankings.
Other subjects in which Victoria is in the top 50 are Politics and International Relations (41), English Language and Literature (44), and Psychology (49).
The results follow the recent Performance-Based Research Fund (PBRF) Evaluation, which ranked Victoria first among New Zealand universities for research.
The Power of Two
20 May 2013
David Jones and Tai Ahu.
Warmest congratulations to Faculty staff members David Jones and Tai Ahu.
Tai Ahu has completed his LLM with Distinction.
David, after a successful examination has now filed his completed LLM Dissertation: Whakapapa membership and post settlement governance entities : the erosion of whakapapa as the heart of Māori institutions?
The thesis has been catalogued and an electronic version deposited in the Institutional Repository’s Restricted Archive. Link to the catalogue: http://victoria.lconz.ac.nz/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=1553497
Two more electives added to the summer trimester
15 May 2013
LAWS 313 Maori Customary Law and LAWS 363 Securities Regulation are now available for enrolment in the November-December part of summer.
Victoria’s Law Faculty tops rankings for research quality
16 April 2013
High quality research undertaken by staff at Victoria University’s Faculty of Law has contributed to the University’s ranking as the number one tertiary institution in New Zealand.
“Research by Faculty of Law staff led to our academic unit (the Law Faculty) being ranked the number one law school in New Zealand for research quality,” says Dean of Law, Professor Tony Smith. “This is the result of an enormous amount of hard work.
“It reaffirms the current international recognition that we are the top Law Faculty as judged by the QS World University Rankings by Subject, 2012.
“I would like to thank the academic staff, and the general staff who support them, for their dedication. There is so much talent and commitment here and it is wonderful to see it recognised.”
In addition to this faculty specific result, the University was ranked first or second in 24 of the subject areas measured during the PBRF Quality Evaluation. Victoria was ranked second in New Zealand for the subject area of law based on legal research from faculties throughout the University.
New book explores youth justice in New Zealand
19 March 2013
A new book exploring the New Zealand youth justice system has been launched at Victoria University’s Faculty of Law.
“New Zealand is a world leader in its approach to offending by children and youth, but there has been an absence of commentary from a legal perspective,” says Victoria University’s Dr Nessa Lynch, the book’s author.
Ian McIntosh from Thomson Reuters with Dr Nessa Lynch
Youth Justice in New Zealand was written by Dr Lynch, a Senior Lecturer in Victoria’s faculty of Law where she teaches criminal law and criminal justice.
Dr Lynch says the book analyses the operation of the youth justice system, including areas such as the age of criminal responsibility through to interactions with the adult criminal justice system.
It also discusses recent major reforms to the youth justice system, including the changes to prosecution powers for children, and the new and expanded Youth Court orders.
Professor Tony Smith, Dean of the law faculty, says: “Nessa’s book is a wonderful example of the kind of legal research taking place at Victoria, which is grounded in the New Zealand experience, but also has a wider-reaching audience.”
The book will be a valuable resource for lawyers, police, policy-makers and students of the law, as well those working in related fields such as criminology and public policy.
“It will also be of interest to international readers, given New Zealand’s considerable influence in the area of youth justice policy.”
Youth Justice in New Zealand was published by Thomson Reuters NZ Ltd.
For more information, contact Dr Nessa Lynch on (04) 463 6394 or nessa.lynch@vuw.ac.nz.
The Robin Cooke Lecture 2013
19 March 2013
Dame Mary Arden delivers the lecture “Press, Privacy and Proportionality” in RH LT1 on March 20 at 5.30pm, followed by refreshments in the Salmond Room, Old Government Buildings.
For more about Dame Mary, click here.
To watch the lecture, click here.
Debating the Constitution
19 March 2013
During April and May, the NZ Centre for Public Law (with generous support and funding from the NZ Law Foundation) will host a series of debates on issues raised by the Government’s review of the New Zealand constitution. The debates will be broadcast on Radio NZ National. Join us on VUW Kelburn campus to be part of our live public audience.
Moderator: Steven Price, barrister
“What’s the problem?” Monday 8 April, Hunter Council Chamber, 6:30pm
Speakers: Professor Bruce Harris, Moana Jackson, Dame Claudia Orange, Dr Matthew Palmer An examination of the origins of the constitutional review, and the process set up to support it. Should we be cynical about its political motives, embrace it as an opportunity for public engagement, neither or both? Do its terms of reference make sense? Is a process like this necessary or desirable? Has the process been set up in a way that could support real change?
“Reforming our democratic institutions” Monday 15 April, Hunter Council Chamber, 6:30pm
Speakers: Dr Maria Bargh, Colin James, Professor Elizabeth McLeay, Sir Geoffrey Palmer QC The constitutional review’s terms of reference include the term of Parliament (and whether it should be fixed), the size of Parliament, the size and number of electorates, and issues relating to Māori electoral representation. The debatees will cover these issues and others that they consider important to the quality and effectiveness of our democratic system.
“Māori aspirations for constitutional change” Monday 22 April, Te Herenga Waka Marae, 6:30pm
Speakers: Tai Ahu, Dr Rawinia Higgins, Veronica Tawhai, Valmaine Toki Four newer voices from the Māori community discuss the nature of Māori aspirations for constitutional change, broadly conceived. The discussion will move well beyond the status of the Treaty of Waitangi, and include consideration of alternative models of Māori-Crown relationships, the development of a kaupapa Māori or tikanga-based constitution, and Māori constitutional aspirations in the context of indigenous peoples’ rights at the international level.
“Human rights in the constitution” Monday 29 April, Hunter Council Chamber, 6:30pm
Speakers: Professor Andrew Geddis, Jack Hodder QC, Stephen Whittington, Professor Margaret Wilson New Zealand has no formal written constitution and its bill of rights is an ordinary law that cannot be used to strike down other laws. Should our Bill of Rights be entrenched and supreme law, or not? Should we have one at all? If so, what other rights should it include? Or not include? In broader terms, what steps ought to be taken to protect the human rights of New Zealanders?
“Time to be a Republic?” Monday 6 May, Hunter Council Chamber, 6:30pm
Speakers: Jim Bolger, Professor Janet McLean, Michael Mabbitt Is it time to replace the Queen as our head of state and become a republic? If not, will it ever be? What would that involve, and what will be the major issues confronting us if and when we do so?
The NZ Centre for Public Law wishes to acknowledge the generous financial support of the NZ Law Foundation for this event.
A Legal Feast
22 February 2013
The Law Faculty of Victoria University is welcoming a trio of illustrious legal personalities in March:
Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers
The Rt Hon. Lady Justice Arden is a judge of the UK Court of Appeal, the third female judge to be appointed to sit of this court.
Lady Arden read law at Girton College, Cambridge and took an LLM degree at Harvard Law School in 1970 as a Kennedy Scholar.
She was called to the bar at Gray’s Inn in 1971 and joined Lincoln’s Inn in 1973. She practised at Erskine Chambers from 1971 to 1993, mainly in company law. She became a QC in 1986 and served as Attorney-General of the Duchy of Lancaster. She is an Honorary Fellow of Royal Holloway, University of London.
From 1996 to 1999 she was Chairperson of the Law Commission.
She will deliver the Robin Cooke Lecture in Rutherford House LT1 on March 20 at 5.30pm: “Press, Privacy and Proportionality.” There will be refreshments afterwards.
Sir Paul Walker is the second Borrin Visiting Fellow.
Born in Wellington, he was educated at St Peter’s College, Adelaide and Magdalen College, Oxford.
He was called to the bar of England and Wales in 1979, took silk in 1999 and was appointed as a Justice of the High Court of England and Wales in 2004. He was President of the Administrative Appeals Chamber of the Upper Tribunal from 2009 to 2012 and is a bencher of Gray’s Inn."
From 1994 to 1996 he was a Senior Lecturer at Victoria University’s Faculty of Law and was the first Director of the New Zealand Centre for Public Law in 1996. Sir Paul will give a public lecture, “Rights, Wrongs and Proportionality” in Rutherford House LT2 on 25 March at 5.45pm. There will be refreshments afterwards.