Gary Judd KC: A student should not be forced to learn about tikanga to be a lawyer

Yesterday, Parliament's Regulation Review Committee heard oral submissions concerning my complaint to the Committee asking that a member of the committee move a resolution asking the House of Representatives to disallow the regulations promulgated by the New Zealand Council of Legal Education. If the regulations are not disallowed, they will take effect from 1 January 2025. Every first-year law student in New Zealand will be required to take and pass a course in tikanga Māori. In addition, tikanga will be infused into all the other compulsory subjects (contract, tort, property law, et cetera). The Committee allocated 15 minutes for me, 5 minutes for lawyer Thomas Newman (who supported my complaint), and 15 minutes for Justice Neil Campbell, who is now chairman of the NZCLE. For each of us, the allocated time was to include time for questions from Committee members.

DTNZ: Lawyer challenges compulsory Tikanga Māori in Legal Education

Auckland lawyer Thomas Newman has raised a formal complaint to New Zealand’s Regulation Review Committee, challenging the compulsory inclusion of tikanga Māori in legal education.

The submission, which supports a complaint by prominent legal expert Gary Judd KC, contends that the requirement unduly infringes on the personal rights and freedoms of law students, while also questioning the relevance of tikanga to modern legal practice. Newman argues that forcing law students to study tikanga as a core subject represents an overreach of regulatory power and calls for the Regulation to be disallowed by Parliament.