A whopping 68% of the list was composed of female lawyers
The second edition of NZ Lawyer’s Most Influential Lawyers list has revealed the way in which women are dominating the field of law, with 68% of the awardees being female lawyers.
The Changemakers category, which had 10 awardees, boasted a who’s who of women in the New Zealand legal profession, including Martelli McKegg partner and incumbent New Zealand Law Society president Jacque Lethbridge, Chen Palmer senior partner and Superdiversity Institute of Law, Policy and Business chair Mai Chen, Russell McVeagh board chair Allison Arthur-Young, Arti Chand Tax Law founder and NZ Asian Leader Arti Chand, Juno Legal director Helen Mackay, DLA Piper NZ managing partner Laura Scampion, and Meta head of privacy and data protection APAC, director and associate GC Lydia Johnston.
The Young Influencers category was an all-female showcase, with McCaw Lewis executive director Renika Siciliano, Dentons Kensington Swan associate Anna Cho, Russell McVeagh partner Anna Crosbie, PwC Legal director Elena Kim, DLA Piper partner Emma Moran, and University of Auckland research fellow Litia Tuiburelevu taking over the list.
Women also had a strong showing in the Business category, with Bell Gully partner Anna Buchly, Simpson Grierson partner Anne Callinan, Buddle Findlay national chair Jennifer Caldwell, Silver Fern Farms senior corporate counsel Joy Jennifer Liddicoat, and Sharesies GC Natalie Bryant securing spots on the list.
The Royal Commission of Inquiry’s Reina Va'ai and Cooper Legal principal lawyer Sonja Cooper represented the women in the Human Rights, Advocacy, and Criminal Law category.
The 2022 Most Influential Lawyers were announced last week.
