Book launch and international appointments for Associate Professor Petra Butler
In late August, Chief Justice Dame Sian Elias launched the second edition of The New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990: a commentary, co-authored by Victoria’s Associate Professor Dr Petra Butler and Dr Andrew Butler.
The second edition took two years to write and Petra reflects on the “interesting experience” of looking back to see what has changed over the last ten years.
“There have been some really interesting developments. For example, ten years ago the right to freedom of religion was a right which was not in the forefront of anyone's mind, whereas today (and, we predict for the future) the right to freedom of religion will shape human rights jurisprudence and discourse considerably.
“The right to life has also had a lot of attention lately—ten years ago it was a hardly noticed right in New Zealand.”
As well as successfully launching her book, Petra has been honoured with a number of prestigious appointments in recent months.
She has been appointed to the Advisory Board of Arbitrator Intelligence, joining Victoria alumnus Professor Luke Nottage from the University of Sydney and recent New Zealand Centre of International Economic Law Senior Research Visiting Fellow Gary Born.
Arbitrator Intelligence—the brainchild of Catherine Rogers, Professor at PennState and Queen Mary University of London and New Zealand Law Foundation International Dispute Resolution Fellow 2013—aims to promote transparency, fairness, and accountability in the selection of international arbitrators, and to facilitate increased diversity in arbitrator appointments.
Petra has also been named as a Scholar-in-Residence in the London office of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, a US law firm which boasts one of the world’s pre-eminent international arbitration and dispute resolution practices.
The firm’s Scholar-in-Residence programme invites distinguished academics from all jurisdictions to work on both professional matters and academic projects and to participate in the intellectual life of the practice.