The top NZ lawyers setting standards and making waves in 2023

Access to justice, emerging tech and cultural awareness are just three of the things this year’s Most Influential Lawyers are engaging with.

“When human rights are curtailed, it is usually the people who got them last who lose them first”, says 2023 Most Influential Lawyer Tudor Clee, a barrister who became known for his work challenging the government’s MIQ system on behalf of stranded pregnant women.

Meanwhile, fellow winner, Lane Neave’s James Cochrane, has opted to highlight the possibilities created by tech.

“We don’t have any specific crypto law in New Zealand, but that doesn’t mean the law won’t apply to people using digital assets. There are various ways digital assets can touch on different areas of the law, and I find that exciting”, he says.

McCaw Lewis executive director Renika Siciliano, who appears on the Most Influential Lawyer list for yet another year, continues to be committed to the incorporation of tikanga into the legal profession.

“There’s this place where, as lawyers, we can be open-minded about how the traditional Māori way of doing things and Western law interacts. It’s important for me to bring that in and be able to look through the lens and say, ‘What’s stopping us from embracing tikanga here’?”, she says.

Joining Clee, Cochrane and Siciliano as Most Influential Lawyers are Public Law Toolbox Chambers barrister Mai Chen and James & Wells partner Ian Finch.

NZ Lawyer’s Most Influential Lawyers of 2023 showcase how lawyers can be a positive force for good not just within the profession, but in their own communities and across the country.

To know who else made the winners’ circle, the full report can be found here.