Law professor awarded Borrin Foundation Justice Fellowship

Alexander Gillespie focuses on fire-arms legislation

Law professor awarded Borrin Foundation Justice Fellowship

Law professor Alexander Gillespie has been awarded the 2024 Borrin Foundation Justice Fellowship.

Gillespie has been granted $116,072 to further his research into identifying the ideal model for best practice firearms legislation and determining necessary revisions to the law for the greater protection of New Zealanders against violence related to firearms.

Meanwhile, the Borrin Foundation Women Leaders in Law Fellowship was awarded to Waikato University Te Piringa Faculty of Law senior lecturer Anna Marie Brennan and health and employment law specialist Holly Hedley.

As the current New Zealand chair of the AI and Space Law Society, Brennan received $19,500 to conduct a critical examination of the New Zealand outer space law and to discuss reform proposals. Hedley received $30,000 to conduct research and present a practical introduction to trauma-informed legal practice in the country.

The following were named as the Borrin Foundation Travel and Learning Awardees:

  • Shaymaa Arif – received $10,000 to expand on her expertise in international human rights and criminal law at an international tribunal in Europe
  • Marie Doole – received $8,580 to travel throughout New Zealand and Australia to conduct research on managing the risk of regulatory capture in environmental regulatory systems
  • Farhana Khan – received $10,000 to attend two short summer courses in Italy focusing on how to maintain international human rights obligations in consideration of balance with migration policy
  • Daniel Perkins – received $10,000 to go to Canada on a three-week study trip where he will conduct comparative research of practice and procedure for Charter of Rights and Freedoms litigation as well as offer insights for New Zealand’s Declaration of Inconsistency litigation
  • Emma Powell – received $9,288 to expand her understanding of criminal law at an international tribunal in Europe
  • Amanda Turnbull – received $9,932 to look into AI governance in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland, and “safeguarding a trajectory” specific to New Zealand society

Applications for the Borrin Foundation Justice Fellowship, Community Law Fellowship, and Women Leaders in Law Fellowship open annually in March. Applications for the Travel & Learning Awards are open twice a year.