Mackenzie Elvin

Law is in the Elvin family. Graeme and Fiona’s daughter Rebecca was an organiser of the “Minds Wide Open” conference for young lawyers.

Lawyers – a force for change
By Darise Ogden

LAW IS more than a profession and a business, it is a vocation, a calling. It was a passionate invocation, and with it, twenty-something lawyer Rebecca Elvin opened the Just Law: Minds Wide Open conference and called on those present to “Take a risk. Open your minds.”

The conference, organised by the Not Just Us Trust – “a group of twenty somethings with law degrees”, was held on what now seems to have been the last gasp of summer – Saturday, 18 April; a day on which young lawyers crowded into the Jubilee Hall in Parnell at 8.30 in the morning. Organised by a group of friends, all young lawyers and law students, intent on following their desire to challenge and expand the conception of law, the conference provided the next generation of New Zealand lawyers with a space in which they could help shape the future of the legal profession. Said Elvin, “[We] found we were asking ourselves similar questions about how we could and should be using our law degrees. We began exploring these ideas together – ideas about what law could and should look like as a profession, how law relates to concepts of justice and social justice, and what the place of community action is in this context. As we talked to more of our peers, we realised that there were quite a few people thinking about similar issues.”

Just Law provided young lawyers with an opportunity to see that law is about more than just the commercial avenues offered by New Zealand’s big law firms. To that end, the organisers invited the gregarious and enthusiastic Professor Mark Henaghan, the dean of the University of Otago’s law faculty, to MC the conference – a job he did to great aplomb, with an ear-splitting wolf whistle calling the attendees to order throughout the day. His message to those present was clear: it is not the clients you act for that is important, but how you act for them.

As senior and well-respected practitioners followed Henaghan onto the stage to tell of their journey through law, yet another truth became evident: some lawyers really love what they do. Said Simon Moore SC, Crown Solicitor for Auckland and Meredith Connell senior litigation partner, “What we do is a privilege.” The day you stop walking through the door of your office with a spring in your step is the day you need to start thinking about doing something else, he said. His words were echoed by Jonathan Moses, a former senior trial attorney with the UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, who said, “It has been a privilege to help people in times of great need and great stress.” An attendee who wanted to express his own passion also took to the stage to endorse the comments of those who had gone before. Be passionate about what you do, said Justice Priestley, and be aware as lawyers of the strength of the law.

Moore had another message for those present: the key to getting the best out of law is to align yourself with the best in the profession, to surround yourself with enthusiasts and to keep away from the whingers, the knockers, and the bullies, and to never forget where you came from. He advised those new to the profession to view everything that confronted them as an opportunity, and to those lawyers a little more long in the tooth, he commented on the great partnership that occurs when they work with young lawyers. Moses agreed, saying that, throughout his career, he had been fortunate enough to be surrounded by, to have worked for, and to have worked with, good people. Like Moore, he encouraged the partnership between senior and junior practitioners, stressing, in particular, the importance of training in the first few years of practice.

Family law was also given a boost, with South Auckland barrister Jeremy Sutton leading the call to arms by encouraging young male lawyers to consider doing family law, and especially youth advocacy. Eighty per cent of young people before the courts are young men, he said. But family law is not a place for the bleeding hearts, warned Mackenzie Elvin partner Fiona Mackenzie. People come to you because they need a lawyer, she said. You must do it dispassionately, and you must know the law. They were joined by Principal Family Court Judge Peter Boshier, who said that while his job was to keep the lawyers honest, the job of the fearless lawyer was to hold the judges accountable.

The message that there is more to life than large law firms was repeated throughout the day, and was most succinctly put by the Attorney-General and former Bell Gully partner, Christopher Finlayson, who said it was fundamentally misconceived to think that large law firms were the only place to work – if you do, he said, you are delusional.

The theme of the conference was to keep your mind open. Auckland academic Treasa Dunworth admitted that her whole legal career had been shaped by doing just that –keeping an open mind and embracing choices that did not make sense and that did not seem career-enhancing at the time. The ‘career path’ metaphor so often raised with young lawyers was derided by Dunworth, who described it as destructive: if you can see a path, she said, you are blocking out other opportunities that may also be there.

Many words of wisdom reverberated throughout that small hall, but the words no one should forget were Dunworth’s: lawyers are a force for change, she said. While the client you are acting for may not change the world, the work you do for that client will change their world. Justice is in the everyday, mundane tasks and clients you have, she said. While some of the speakers were less than enthusiastic about big firm experiences, Dunworth said that what lawyers did there and what they learned there were important, pointing out that NGOs like Greenpeace and Amnesty International also need good commercial lawyers. Finally, she said, “Never apologise for being a lawyer.” Own it, she said, never diss it, and if others diss it, defend it.

The aim of Just Law was to start a conversation. Opportunities will be provided for people to sustain the connections made and the momentum gained at the conference by way of email newsletters, drinks evenings, lectures, and encouraging independent action through involvement in community and pro bono opportunities.

Anyone wanting to join the mailing list, can contact the organisers at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or visit www.mindswideopen.co.nz

NZLawyer, issue 111, 1 May 2009