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The Faculty of Law's Rhodes Scholars

The Rhodes Scholarships were established early in the 20th century and, in 1935, Francis Moller became the first Otago law graduate to be elected a Rhodes Scholar. He later became a judge of the Supreme Court (as the High Court was then called).

In 1981, Christine French, now a judge in the Court of Appeal, became the Faculty's second Rhodes Scholar.

Since 1992, ten Otago law graduates have proceeded to Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship. This is more than any other faculty or school, across all disciplines and New Zealand universities.

The Faculty of Law's most recent Rhodes Scholars are:

  • Louis Chambers (2013)
  • Alice Irving (2010)
  • Laura Fraser (2009)
  • Jesse Wall (2008)
  • Glen Goldsmith (2004)
  • Christopher Curran (2002)
  • Sally McKechnie (2000)
  • Damen Ward (1999)
  • Jenny Cooper (1995)
  • Susan Lamb (1992)

Some recent prestigious scholarships and awards

Graduate Hugo Dobson was awarded a highly prestigious W.M. Tapp Studentship in 2018 to study at Gonville & Caius, Cambridge. After graduating Hugo clerked at the Court of Appeal and is working in commercial litigation before heading off to Cambridge

Alumna Rachael Jones was awarded the Fulbright-Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga Graduate Award in 2018, to undertake postgraduate study at a US institution in the field of Indigenous development.

Alumnus Oliver Hailes was awarded a Woolf Fisher Scholarship to study at Cambridge in 2017. The primary emphasis for the for the award is academic excellence and it is one of New Zealand's most prestigious scholarships. Oliver also won the The Honourable Rex Mason Prize for Excellence in Legal Writing, together with Professor Andrew Geddis.

Danielle Duffield was awarded a Frank Knox Memorial Fellowship to Harvard in 2017. Danielle set up the successful Animal Legal Defence Group in the Faculty of Law.

Otago Law graduate Holly Hedley was jointly awarded the 2016 Law Foundation Ethel Benjamin Scholarship, to study for her Masters of Law in Global Health Law at Georgetown University in Washington DC.

Aphra Green was named as the 2015 Harkness Fellowship, which is valued at $30,000 and reinforces New Zealand-United States links by enabling aspiring leaders to benefit from a programme of personal study at a US research institution or other organisation. Aphra visited agencies in the US justice sector early in 2016 to report to justice sector leadership on how New Zealand could deliver better evidence and decision-making tools to criminal justice system decision-makers, particularly for bail.

Otago Law alumna, Rebecca Thomson was joint winner of the 2015 New Zealand Law Foundation Ethel Benjamin Scholarship.

James Watson won the 2014 Legal Research Foundation Unpublished Undergraduate Student Paper award for his Honours Dissertation 'The Performance Interest in New Zealand Law of Contract'.

Kari Schmidt was awarded the Loman Friedlander Award for her Honours Dissertation titled 'Appropriation in the Fine Arts: Fair Use, Fair Dealing and Copyright Law'.

Naomi Johnstone was awarded a regional AMP scholarship at the National 'Do Your Thing' awards in 2014.

Law graduates, Tim Cochrane and Holly Hedley, were two of the three recipients of the New Zealand Pegasus Scholarship for 2014.

Sarah Watson was a joint winner of the 2013 Banking and Financial Services Law Association Scholarship.

Charlotte Greenfield won a Fulbright General Graduate Award to attend Columbia University where she will complete a Masters in Journalism.

Graduate Emma Peart was joint winner of the NZ Law Foundation Ethel Benjamin Scholarship 2013.

PhD candidate Maria Pozza was appointed the Lauterpact visiting fellow at the Lauterpact Center for International law which is the scholarly home of international law at Cambridge University. She will take up the position in August 2013.

Danielle Duffield received a 2012 Animal Legal Defence Fund Scholarship for her outstanding work in the field of animal law. She was the only student outside of North America to receive the scholarship.

Peter Martin and Alex Latu have both received Fulbright New Zealand Graduate Student Awards in 2012 in recognition of their outstanding work.

Lan Pham, an MSc candidate won the The Environmental Defence Society student writing competition for her essay "The travesty of native fish 'protection' in NZ: How the expiry of historic mining rights in Otago highlights Otago Regional Council's inadequacies in protecting the threatened galaxiids in their own backyard", undertaken as part Ceri Warnock's Resource Management Law papers.

In 2012 Louis Chambers and James Mountier received a Freemason's scholarship. In 2011 Leah Hamilton received a Freemason's scholarship.

During 2007-2013, Rachel Kennard, Jesse Wall, Laura Fraser, Rachel Laing, Sam Wevers, William Cheyne and Stephen Thomson were awarded the Legal Research Foundation prize for the best research and legal writing by a New Zealand law student.

Sam Wevers won the NZ Law Commission's Bill Sewell Prize for writing on legislation in 2012.

Competition successes

Over the years, University of Otago Faculty of Law students have won many national and international competitions. Recent successes include:

2018

  • Isabella Hawkins and Erin Gourley won the 2018 Australia New Zealand Inter-varsity Moot on Animal Law (ANIMAL). The Moot was held at Griffith University and is organised by The Animal Law Institute.
  • Phoebe Clifford and Sam Becroft won the 2018 Allen & Overy Private Law Moot in Sydney. This moot is a prestigious inter-varsity competition, bringing together some of the best mooters from Australia and around the world.

2017

  • Olivia Klinkum and Zared Wall-Manning won the 2017 National NZLSA mooting competition. In 2018 they were joined by Patrick O'Boyle and Matthias Schorer to represent NZ in the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition in Washington D.C.
  • Jessica Hayes and Rachael Monkhouse jointly won the 2017 EC Adams Memorial Prize in Land Law.
  • The Student Animal Legal Defense Fund Otago chapter (SALDF), led by law student Oska Rego, was jointly awarded (along with Vermont SALDF) the 2017 Student Animal Legal Defense Fund Chapter of the Year Award.
  • Tim Shiels and Olivia Klinkum were the winners of the written memorials at the 2016 Air Law Moot, hosted by the University of Auckland in September this year. Olivia was also named the best oralist in the competition.
  • Ellen Domigan and Jamie Rohan represented New Zealand the World Negotiation Competitions in Switzerland in 2016.

2016

  • Mitch East and Taoran Li won the Mahony Cup for the New Zealand Law Foundation National Family Law Moot.
  • Alice Tiffany and Amalie Blackman won the Mooting Competition at the Pasifika Law and Culture Conference. Alice was also named best speaker.
  • Zared Wall-Manning and Nicola Southall made it to the finals of The Australia New Zealand Intervarsity Moot on Animal Law (ANIMAL) which was held at Flinders University in Adelaide.

2015

  • Ben Bielski and George Meale placed second at the International Negotiation Competition held in Dublin, Ireland.
  • Megan Paterson won the Allen's Witness Examination Competition at the Australian Law Students Association Conference (ALSA), in Sydney.

2014

  • Ben Bielski and George Meale won the final of the Negotiation Competition at the New Zealand Law Students Association (NZLSA) Conference.
  • Henry Benson-Pope and Tom Jemson, placed third overall in the International Negotiation Competition held in South Korea.

2013

  • Tom Jemson and Henry Benson-Pope won the Buddle Findlay Negotiation Competition.
  • Amber Hosking and Alicia Rosevear won the National Red Cross International Humanitarian Law Moot.
  • Jayne O'Connell and Matthew Mortimer won the Mahony Cup for the New Zealand National Family Law Moot.
  • University of Otago Debating Society Otago A team reaches the final in World Universities Debating Championships in Berlin. Law student Alec Dawson was in the team.

2012

  • The University of Otago team came second at the Australian Law Students Association Mooting Competition. William Cheyne was judged best speaker.
  • The University of Otago team won the President's Cup at the New Zealand Law Students Association Competition
  • Michael Blaschke and Sarah Baillie won the New Zealand Law Foundation National Family Law Moot Competition
  • Alex Boock and Rob Clarke (along with their coach Selene Mize) won the Brown-Mosten International Client Counselling Competition in Dublin
  • Sarah Baillie, Rosa Reynolds and Charlotte Greenfield reached the semi finals in the Asia Pacific Regional round of the ELSA WTO Mooting Competition

2011

  • Louis Chambers and Alice Osman won the mooting and Alex Boock and Robert Clarke won the client interviewing at the Australian Law Students Association Competitions
  • Ollie Hornbrook (Finance & Law), Emma Hoksbergen (Marketing), Will Skeggs (Finance & Law), Nathan Blane (PHPE & Law), Mrin Patil (USA Exchange student) and Laura Goudie (ACCT,MGMT) were the New Zealand Business Case Competition Champions
  • Nic Blumsky-Gibbs and Sean Conway took third place in the Brown-Mosten International Client Consultation Competition
  • Brierly Broad, Emma Foley, and Jeremy Stewart were World Trade Organisation Mooting finalists
  • The University of Otago team won the President's Cup for the best overall university team (negotiation, mooting, client interviewing and witness examination) at the New Zealand Law Students Association Competition for the third year in a row

2010

  • Mitch Singh and Roshni Kaur won the World Negotiation Competition, Brisbane, Australia
  • Aimee Gulliver received the Outstanding Presentation Award in the 2010 Latin Moot Corp Competition, Sao Paolo, Brazil
  • Maia Wikaira won the Maori National Mooting Competition, Mooting in Te Reo Maori
  • Nic Blumsky-Gibbs and Sean Conway won the National Client Interviewing Competition
  • The University of Otago team won the President's Cup for the best overall university team at the New Zealand Law Students Association Competition

2009

  • Mitch Singh and Roshni Kaur won the final of the Buddle Findlay Negotiation Competition
  • University of Otago students were World Trade Organisation Mooting finalists
  • The University of Otago team won the President's Cup for the best overall university team at the New Zealand Law Students Association Competition

2008

  • Honor Lanham and Emma Peart represented New Zealand in the world Negotiation Competition in London finishing fourth
  • Katherine Barker and Annabelle Robb won the Mahony Cup for the National Family Law Moot Competition

2007

  • Daniel Pannett and Laura Fraser won the Mahony Cup for the National Family Law Moot Competition

2006

  • Marcelo Rodgriguez-Ferrere and Daniel Pannett won the Mahony Cup for the National Family Law Moot Competition
  • The Otago Negotiation team (national champions Charlotte Kirkcaldie and Sophia Atkinson, coached by Selene Mize) won the International Negotiation Competition in Orlando, Florida

2004

  • The University of Otago team (Simon Peart, Jarrod Clyne, Jo Murdoch, Matt Gillett and Neena Ullal, coached by Professor Dawkins) represented New Zealand and finished eighth out of 529 teams in the Philip C Jessup International Moot Court Competition
  • Matthew Smith won the cup for best mooter at the Australasian Moot Competition

2002

  • The University of Otago Mooting team (Christopher Curran, Hamish Forsyth, Reuven Young, Philippa Jones and Alexandra Smithyman, coached by Professor Kevin Dawkins), representing New Zealand, won the prestigious Richard R Baxter Award at the Philip C Jessup International Moot Court Competition. The award was for the best-written submission for the applicant in the competition. 375 law faculties from around the world contested the competition
  • Christopher Curran was awarded a scholarship to Georgetown University in Washington DC for being best non-United States oralist in the Philip C Jessup International Moot Court Competition
  • The University of Otago Mooting team finished third equal with Harvard in the oral arguments in the Philip C Jessup International Moot Court Competition held in Washington

2001

  • The University of Otago Client Interviewing team (Hamish Forsyth and Amanda Jenkins, coached by Selene Mize) finished third in the Louis M Brown International Client Counseling Competition
  • The University of Otago Negotiation team (Katie Evans and Tanya Pitchforth, coached by Selene Mize) finished third in the International Negotiation Competition
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