Auckland lawyer Kathryn Beck has been elected President of the New Zealand Law Society and will take up the role in April 2016.
Ms Beck, a partner at SBMLegal (see firm profile below) will take over from the current President, Chris Moore, who completes his three-year term in April 2016.
Her election means she will be the third woman to be President of the New Zealand Law Society. Since the first President was elected in 1897 the national lawyers’ organisation has had 29 Presidents.
Kathryn Beck has BCom and LLB degrees from Auckland University and she was admitted as a lawyer in May 1991. She specialises in employment law and alternative dispute resolution,.
After working with Auckland law firm Haigh Lyon, she was a founding partner in the specialist employment law firm SBM Legal. She is currently the New Zealand Law Society’s Auckland Vice-President and is a former convenor of the Law Society Employment Law Committee.
Ms Beck and her husband Wayne have two daughters aged six and 10.
Firm profile from SBMLegal:
Kathryn is a partner at Swarbrick Beck Mackinnon and a Vice President of the New Zealand Law Society. She has a BCom (Labour Relations) and LLB from the University of Auckland and has over twenty years of practical legal experience.
Kathryn was previously a partner at Haigh Lyon, a firm with a strong tradition in employment law. Kathryn led the employment law team and was also Head of Litigation. Having acted for both major employers and also leading unions, Kathryn is able to bring a unique insight and objectivity to the issues confronting our clients.
She has acted in many leading cases and is a key adviser and facilitator in a number of ongoing, high level union-employer relationships. In addition to employment law, Kathryn’s practice area has developed to include health and education law.
Kathryn is also experienced in alternative dispute resolution and acts as a mediator, facilitator and has conducted independent investigations for several large companies, charitable institutions, Trust Boards and a government department. She has also acted as Chairperson and member of disciplinary committees in matters of student discipline for a large tertiary institution.
Kathryn has also had a leading role in the evolving legal framework – currently as a Vice President of the New Zealand Law Society and previously as a Convener of the NZLS Employment Law Committee, a submitter for the Law Society to Select Committees on legislative change, educational road shows for the Law Society, and as a regular invited speaker at ADLS, NZLS and private conferences.
The post Kathryn Beck New Zealand Law Society President-Elect appeared first on LawFuel New Zealand.