Te Piringa Faculty of law is delighted to announce the full suite of Law qualifications at the University of Waikato will be available at the Tauranga campus from 2023.

The faculty has been running its Diploma in Law programme in Tauranga for many years, serving many local Legal Executives in pursuing further legal education and transitioning to being a lawyer.

From next year, it will be possible for students to study everything from the full LLB programme through to a PhD in Law at the Tauranga campus.

The announcement was made last week at the central city campus, followed by a sold-out public lecture by Chief Justice Helen Winkelmann on the topic of access to justice.

Dame Winkelmann's address was the second annual law lecture in conjunction with Mackenzie Elvin law, which aims to bring the community and the profession together.

In her address, Dame Winkelmann identified two key strands of access to justice – access to knowledge of the law (people knowing their rights and entitlements), and access to the courts and tribunals where people can enforce those rights – and the imperative to improve both. It was an issue the government as a whole needed to be alive to, she said.

'I believe access to justice is a concern with which all government agencies should engage. Most rights and obligations are sourced from statutes and accessed through government departments. There is a compelling case for making access to justice a structural focus for all government departments.”

University of Waikato Dean of Law, Professor Alpana Roy says the event was also a chance to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the faculty, celebrations for which were postponed by Covid last year.

'For three decades, our Faculty has been a leader in a number of areas of legal research, including Māori and Indigenous legal systems, environmental law, and technology & future law. We have led the way in embedding Tikanga Māori concepts into our curriculum, and we're excited to now offer this full study pathway to the Bay of Plenty.”

Mackenzie Elvin Law Partner Marcus Wilkins says the firm is delighted with the success of the second lecture.

'We feel privileged to have been able to partner with and support the Law Faculty and the University as it has established itself in the City and in their primary role as critic and conscience of the nation.”