Welcome to V.Alum 2025 from the Dean of Law
Professor Geoff McLay, Dean of Te Kauhanganui Tātai Ture—Faculty of Law, welcomes readers to this edition of V.Alum and reflects on 2025.
Te Kauhanganui Tātai Ture: Finding purpose through a shared community
It’s my pleasure to welcome you to the December edition of V.Alum, our second edition for this year. I hope you enjoyed reading about our research, faculty celebrations, and alumni achievements in the mid-year edition.
Like its predecessors, this edition of V.Alum is an opportunity to reflect on our achievements and to share with you, our community, what we have been doing.
Professor Geoff McLay
Our law school is a vibrant and busy place, and sometimes it is difficult to appreciate just how much we accomplish during the year. As I write these words, we are about to release thousands of exam results. Behind each result lies the dedicated and world-class teaching of my colleagues, matched by the equal commitment of our extraordinary students. Teaching and learning, however, are only part of the story.
Each year, my colleagues—this year being no exception—produce leading research that changes the way people think about the challenges facing our world. Beyond this, they are actively engaged in, and shape, public debate on issues that matter. I’m very pleased that this has been recognised outside of our law school too, as Yvette Tinsley, Nicole Moreham, and Richard Boast were elected as Fellows of the Academy of the Royal Society Te Apārangi. Nicole, Joanna Mossop, and Kelly Mitchell were also recipients of the University’s Ki te Pae Excellence Awards.
We are excited to have a new face at the Faculty—Dr Ignacio Guiffré, an expert in constitutionalism and deliberative democracy. Ria Holmes has also joined us this year as a postdoctoral fellow and is doing significant work to embed tikanga into the teaching and learning of the Bachelor of Laws. We’re excited to work with her and share our progress with the community.
This year, I have been fortunate to experience our community and meet many of you, our alumni, in many ways and places.
Professor Geoff McLay
At the invitation of one of our alumni, Lin Feng—now Dean of the Faculty of Law at City University of Hong Kong—I had the opportunity to visit his law school and spend time with remarkable graduates who have pursued diverse careers in Hong Kong. These include Dan Bradshaw (whose name is on my door as one of the original donors to the law school campaign in 1995), my old university friend Chong Liew, who has built a career in derivatives in Hong Kong and Mainland China, and a group of diverse New Zealand lawyers.
This issue of V.Alum also features two incredible alumni—Margie Beattie and Toilolo Leilani Taula. Both alumnae exemplify the skill, resilience and drive we value at the law school, while still following their own paths. Margie is a champion of arts and culture who transformed her legal training into a successful philanthropic career, and Leilani’s belief in storytelling and advocacy influenced her legal studies here and at Yale Law School.
It’s incredible to see just how far our community reaches.
Around the law school, I was privileged to be invited to the launch of Ngā Rangahautira magazine, to attend the Pacific Moot, and to be present at the launch of a board commemorating all the Faculty Club, and now VUWLSS, Presidents. These organisations give our law school life, but they are not alone—we have active Rainbow, Asian, and Feminist Law Societies.
One event I missed, as I was in Hong Kong, was Bill Atkin’s final family law lecture. Ever since my torts small group in 1988, Bill has been my “without whom, none of this” person. From the many comments I have received, I know he is that person for many others as well.
None of this happens in isolation. Our law school draws its strength from you, our wider community; from your presence at our events, the experiences you bring back to the Old Government Buildings, and the opportunities you give our students through generous donations. We are very grateful for your support.
This year has been one of consolidation in many ways. Next year promises to be exciting. The law school is preparing for its first review in a decade in 2027, and next year we will be working hard on our vision to be a leading law school not just in New Zealand, or Australasia, but further afield. There will, of course, be more challenges, but also many opportunities. These are challenging times, but with community we do not just survive—we thrive, as we have done since 1906.
Now, as summer arrives, when you read this, I will be on the Milford Track and then on our lawn reading books, preparing for te ao hurihuri—our changing world.
Very best wishes for 2026.
Whiti te Rā!