Lecretia Seales Lecture 2026
The 2026 Lecretia Seales Lecture will be delivered by Professor Yvette Tinsley FRSNZ on Thursday 18 June 2026.
Register here.
Lecretia Seales Memorial Lecture in Law Reform
The Lecretia Seales Lecture is given in honour of lawyer and law reform advocate Lecretia Seales.
Lecretia Seales was a New Zealand lawyer who, upon suffering a brain tumour and enduring treatments for it, became an advocate of physician-assisted dying.
In 2015, Lecretia went to the high court to seek a ruling that would allow a doctor to assist her to die with her consent. Her court case initiated a national debate and helped galvanise a parliamentary inquiry into assisted dying.
The End-of-Life Choice Act was passed in November 2019, and a public referendum secured support for the Act which was implemented in 2020.
The lecture is generously supported by Lecretia’s family and friends.
Past lectures have been given by:
- 2025: Māmari Stephens - Neither Dead nor Lost—uncovering critical law stories at a critical time. Reflections on current tikanga Māori research at the Law School
- 2024: Hon. Christopher Finlayson - Reforming New Zealand's Legal Infrastructure
- 2023: Brendan Sydes - A Long and Winding Journey—Development of a National Environmental Law in Australia
- 2022: Chlöe Swarbrick - In the Legal and Political Weeds: The 2020 Cannabis Referendum and Beyond
- 2021: Dr Warren Young - Trials, Tribulations and Occasional Triumphs of Criminal Justice Reform
- 2020: Panel discussion on Seales v Attorney General and subsequent law reform
- 2019: Frances M Kamm - Assisting Someone To End Their Life: For and Against
- 2018: Julian Gardner and Tricia Malowney - Assisted Dying In Practice—Lessons from Australia's Victorian Inquiry
- 2017: Professor J Douglas Sellman - Law, Liquor and Love
- 2016: Sir Geoffrey Palmer - Law and Life