WAIKATO LAW REVIEW TAUMAURI VOLUME 18, 2010 From Privy Council to Supreme Court: A Rite of Passage for New Zealand’s Legal System 1 Professor Margaret Wilson Challenges to Legal Education: The Waikato Law School Experience 15 Professor Margaret Wilson Principles of Professionalism in Law Teaching and Judicial Practice 26 Judge Peter Spiller A Pakeha Working-Class Mature Male Student’s Recollection of His Legal Education: The Waikato Law School Experience 40 Stuart Robertson Studying the Law in Context: Exploring an International Dimension of New Zealand Law 53 Professor Margaret Bedggood Te Piringa 66 Matiu Dickson A Realistic Professionalism – The Next Step? 72 Thomas Gibbons Living with the Waikato Foundation Principles, 20 Years On 83 Professor John H Farrar Editors in Chief: Juliet Chevalier-Watts and Associate Professor Claire Breen Administrative and Editorial Support: Janine Pickering The Waikato Law Review is published annually by the University of Waikato, Te Piringa – Faculty of Law. Subscription to the Review costs $40 (domestic) and $45 (international) per year; and advertising space is available at a cost of $200 for a full page or $100 for a half page. Back numbers are available. Communications should be addressed to: The Editors in Chief Waikato Law Review Te Piringa – Faculty of Law The University of Waikato Private Bag 3105 Hamilton 3240 New Zealand North American readers should obtain subscriptions direct from the North American agents: Wm W Gault & Sons Inc 3011 Gulf Drive Holmes Beach Florida 34217-2199 USA This issue may be cited as (2010) 18 Wai L Rev. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be produced or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any retrieval system, without permission from the editor. ISSN 1172-9597 EDITORS’ IN CHIEF INTRODUCTION We are particularly pleased to present the 2010 edition of the Waikato Law Review. This is a very special edition of the Review because it is a celebration of the 20th Anniversary of Te Piringa – Faculty of Law and commemorates the foundation of what was then the School of Law in 1990. Although the School of Law became Te Piringa - Faculty of Law in 2010, the principles of profes- sionalism, biculturalism and the study of law in context remain the foundational principles of the Faculty. The commitment of Te Piringa - Faculty of Law to professionalism requires continuous con- sideration of what this commitment entails in the light of developments such as the communica- tions revolution, globalisation and the changing market for legal services. Biculturalism remains a foundational principle of the Faculty with the challenge being to further a bicultural goal within an increasingly multicultural society. The focus on law in context reflects a broad approach to legal education and legal scholarship enabling an examination of law in a social, cultural, political and economic context. In order to celebrate the Faculty’s Anniversary, submissions were invited from eminent schol- ars, the judiciary and practitioners, all of whom have valued connections with Te Piringa - Faculty of Law, to reflect upon how these founding principles have been, and may continue to be inter- preted against a changing background of socio-economic and political change. In this celebratory edition, we are pleased to present a compilation of articles that represent the insights, views and reflections of the authors in relation to the founding principles of Te Piringa – Faculty of Law; this anthology is collectively poignant, celebratory and reflective. The prestigious Harkness Henry Lecture was given by the eminent Professor Margaret Wil- son, who needs little in the way of introduction, and was entitled From Privy Council to Supreme Court: A Rite of Passage for New Zealand’s Legal System. Professor Wilson’s lecture was in- sightful and thought-provoking, as well as being very well received by the audience. We would like to extend our thanks to Professor Wilson for her valuable contribution and also to Harkness Henry Lawyers for its continued support. This edition of the Review has involved the hard work of many individuals and thanks must first of all go to all the authors who provided such valuable contributions, and without whom this commemorative edition would not have been possible. We would also like to thank Janine Picker- ing, who, as ever, has worked tirelessly and with patience in order to bring this edition to fruition. Thanks must also go to Amanda Colmer from A2Z Design for all her hard work and efficiency. Juliet Chevalier-Watts and Associate Professor Claire Breen Editors in Chief FOREWORD BY PROFESSOR BRADFORD MORSE, DEAN OF LAW TE PIRINGA – FACULTY OF LAW Tënä koutou, tënä koutou, tënä koutou katoa. It is a great pleasure and distinct honour to provide a brief Foreword to this special issue of the Waikato Law Review in my capacity as Dean of Te Piringa - Faculty of Law. Although I only left the University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law in August 2009 to become a part of the University of Waikato, I have been an interested, yet distant, observ- er of this unique institution since 1990. I followed Professor Margaret Wilson’s vigorous efforts to overcome the many challenges inherent in the creation of any new law school that were com- pounded by the promise that legal education at the University of Waikato would be like no other. The University decided not merely to launch the first new law school in Aotearoa since the 19th Century, but it chose to create one that would be markedly different from the longstanding and rather traditional approach to legal education then prevailing in New Zealand. Te Whare Wänanga o Waikato instead felt it must bring its unique relationship with the iwi of central North Island, and of placing its commitment to honouring the Treaty of Waitangi along with its principles of Mäori-Crown partnership and biculturalism, at the forefront of its approach to what the School of Law should be about. This approach was already evident in the initial law papers being delivered by Ruth Busch for several years before the then Deputy Prime Minister Helen Clark had even an- nounced the Government’s decision to support New Zealand’s fifth Law School being established at the University of Waikato late in 1989. From the outset, then, legal education at this University has been grounded in a belief that teaching and learning the law in Aotearoa should reflect the contributions of both tikanga Mäori and the common law to the emergence of what is uniquely the jurisprudence of New Zealand. This goal was further buttressed by a commitment to foster the highest possible standards of legal professionalism and practice achieved in part through making Dispute Resolution a compulsory paper for all LLB students. Finally, the philosophy of legal education was grounded upon a belief that law does not exist in a vacuum and should not be learned as such; rather one must explore the important intersections of economic, social, political, cultural and racial dimensions of society with “the Law” in order to comprehend properly what the impact of jurisprudence and legislation may be and how it might change in the future. The many teachers and students over the past two decades have struggled to continue to hon- our these foundational principles and to put them into effect. This has not been an easy path to travel nor has it always been smooth sailing in the face of fiscal limitations, broken Governmental commitments for a proper building, capped enrolment and inevitable differing views of how best to implement the shared vision. It has overcome skepticism in some quarters of the profession through its legions of stellar graduates that are now judges, senior partners, barristers and enrich- ing society in many other roles. What appeared innovative in a curriculum in 1990, if not too avant garde for some, has now been frequently emulated both here and overseas during the inter- vening years. vi Waikato Law Review Vol 18 Having now been a member of Te Piringa for only one year, I am still a neophyte who has merely learned stories about struggles of the past and gained glimpses as to what the future might hold. I believe my colleagues - both academic and general staff - are recommitting themselves to work even harder in striving to achieve these three principles. We are reaching out to form new partnerships, both within Aotearoa and overseas, through establishing new research centres, signing linkage agreements with other Law Schools so as to increase our global connectedness, expanding connections with the legal profession and the judiciary, and seeking new relationships with iwi and Mäori organisations. The planning for a new building to meet the needs of the Fac- ulty is now underway along with expanding our staff to meet the needs of a growing student body, especially in our LLM and PhD programmes. While tikanga Mäori and the import of the Treaty are interwoven through many papers in a manner found in no other law school in the world, we will be taking a new step in 2011 by beginning to offer one stream in Legal Method in te reo Mäori. Having come from a Law School that itself contained separate common law and civil (Quebec) law sections with their own staff and degrees, I am aware of both benefits and disadvan- tages from such an approach. On the other hand, I have witnessed nothing but success emanating from all efforts over the decades from teaching the law in both languages. The future of Te Piringa, in my opinion, is a very bright one as it goes forward with its new name in te reo and its status as a Faculty rather than a School.