Wellington’s Law School wins big at recent writing awards
Professor Claudia Geiringer from the Faculty of Law at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington became the first person to be presented with the Sir Ian Barker Published Article Award for the third time, in the recent 2019 Legal Writing Awards.
The JF Northey Memorial Book Award was won by Professor Richard Boast QC and one of the Undergraduate Paper awards was won by alumnus Nathan Tse.
“My heartiest congratulations to Claudia, Richard and Nathan. These accolades are testimony to the high-quality research that staff and students of our faculty consistently achieve,” says Pro Vice-Chancellor and Dean of Law Professor Mark Hickford.
Professor Geiringer’s article ‘When Constitutional Theories Migrate: A Case Study,’ displayed remarkable and comprehensive coverage of an acclaimed American constitutional theory”, the adjudicator of the awards said.
Professor Boast QC won the JF Northey Award for his book The Native / Māori Land Court, Vol 3, 1910–1953: Collectivism Land Development and the Law, the third volume of a study of major significance to the ethno-jurisprudence of Aotearoa New Zealand. It covers the period between the Native Land Act 1909 and the 1953 Māori Affairs Act.
Nathan Tse, a 2019 honours student at the University, won an award for his dissertation ‘Decentralised autonomous organisations and the corporate form.’ The dissertation assesses through a legal lens, the advantages claimed for databases on the internet like Bitcoin, using ‘blockchain’ open access, and self-executing ‘smart contracts’.
The JF Northey Prize carries a cash prize of $2,000, the Sir Ian Barker Published Article Award carries a cash prize of $1,500, and the Unpublished Undergraduate Student Paper Award carries a prize of $1,000, which was split between two winners.