Amokura Kawharu

FRSNZ
Known forFirst woman to be President of the New Zealand Law Commission
First Māori to be President of the New Zealand Law Commission
Academic background
Alma materUniversity of Cambridge
Academic work
InstitutionsUniversity of Auckland
New Zealand Law Commission
Notable worksWilliams & Kawharu on Arbitration

Amokura Kawharu FRSNZ is a New Zealand legal academic and barrister. Kawharu was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society Te Apārangi in 2021. She is the first woman and the first Māori to be president of the New Zealand Law Commission.

Kawharu earned a BA/LLB(Hons) degree from the University of Auckland, followed by a Master of Laws at the University of Cambridge with a major in international law, and a PhD from Victoria University of Wellington.[1] From 1997 to 2004 she practised commercial law in Sydney and Auckland, and between 2005 and 2020 worked at the University of Auckland, specialising in arbitration, property law and international economic regulation. She is a barrister of the High Court of New Zealand.[1][2]

In 2020 she was appointed as President of the New Zealand Law Commission, and is both the first woman and the first Māori appointed to the role.[3] Kawharu is part of New Zealand's Māori Centre of Research Excellence, Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga.[4]

Kawharu has published widely in the arbitration law field, and is co-author with Sir David Williams KC of the leading text on arbitration law in New Zealand, Williams & Kawharu on Arbitration. Now on its second edition, the first won the Legal Research Foundation's JF Northey Memorial Book Award for 2011.[5][6]

Awards

Kawharu is a Fellow of the Arbitrators’ and Mediators’ Institute of New Zealand.[1] In 2021 she was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society Te Apārangi. The citation said Kawharu "is the foremost scholar of New Zealand arbitration law. ...Although an established field elsewhere, New Zealand had no tradition of arbitration scholarship. With new laws adopted in 1996 and the re-birth of arbitration practice, Kawharu established arbitration as a field of academic study in New Zealand, has led reform and development of arbitration law through her scholarship and advocacy, and raised its profile internationally. As President of the Law Commission, she is now also leading the consideration of te ao Māori in the process of law reform."[7]

Personal life

She is affiliated with Ngāti Whātua and Ngāpuhi iwi.[1]

She is the daughter of the late Sir Hugh and Lady Freda Kawharu. [8]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Amokura Kawharu | Law Commission". www.lawcom.govt.nz. Retrieved 18 November 2022.
  2. ↑ "Associate Professor Amokura Kawharu Appointed Law Commission President". The Beehive. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
  3. ↑ "New law appointment makes history – The University of Auckland". www.auckland.ac.nz. Retrieved 18 November 2022.
  4. ↑ "Associate Professor Amokura Kawharu | Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga". www.maramatanga.co.nz. Retrieved 18 November 2022.
  5. ↑ "Williams & Kawharu on Arbitration, 2nd edition : ADLS". adls.org.nz. Retrieved 18 November 2022.
  6. ↑ "New Year Honours 2017 – Citations for Knights Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit". New Year Honours 2017 – Citations for Knights Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit. Retrieved 18 November 2022.
  7. ↑ "Researchers and scholars at the top of their fields elected as Fellows". Royal Society Te Apārangi. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
  8. ↑ https://waateanews.com/2020/02/12/kawharu-to-lead-law-commission/
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