Leaders Of Tomorrow: Young Practitioners Making Their Mark On Aotearoa’s Dispute Resolution Sector

Two up-and-coming leaders in dispute resolution have been named the 2022 recipients of the Arbitrators’ and Mediators’ Institute of New Zealand (AMINZ) Scholarships.

Diana Qiu has received the 2022 AMINZ Determinative Scholarship, an award focussed on arbitration, and Madison Dobie has been named the 2022 AMINZ Consensual Scholarship winner, focussed on mediation.

The scholarship programme was established in 2021 as part of the Institute’s commitment to fostering and growing diversity in Aotearoa New Zealand’s dispute resolution sector. They aim to provide leadership development, mentorship and learning opportunities for the recipients by tapping into the Institute’s network nation-wide. This includes observation days with senior dispute resolution practitioners, speaking slots at an annual collegial AMINZ event, and a senior AMINZ member as a dispute resolution mentor.

The learning goes both ways. The recipients report into AMINZ Council with their recommendations on how the Institute can further ensure its diversity and inclusion goals are met and exceeded. They will play a critical role in assisting Council in its work in promoting growth in the sector and ensuring access to justice is available to all New Zealanders.

Introducing our scholars

Diana Qiu: Determined to grow the future of arbitration

Diana, currently a Judge’s Clerk at the New Zealand Court of Appeal and Teaching Fellow at the Victoria University of Wellington Faculty of Law, gained a solid interest in arbitration early on in her legal journey.

She was involved in two highly successful international arbitration moots throughout her studies, and nowadays is actively involved in encouraging students to also consider arbitration careers, including coaching the 2020/2021 University of Auckland Vis Moot team.

Diana says, “In order to grow the sector and ensure future practitioners reflect the current population make-up of Aotearoa, I believe it’s important for young professionals to gain exposure to arbitration early on in their careers”

She is a passionate arbitration advocate. Her first publication, concerning the determination of the four laws of commercial arbitration, featured in the academic journal of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. Her work has also been included in a General Assembly bibliography on recent writings related to the work of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law. Her second publication, which she recently presented at AMINZ Arbitration Day, discussed the importance of arbitration exposure to junior practitioners. She is looking forward to using her scholarship to enhance her work in this area and promote an environment which fosters curiosity in arbitration within current and future graduate cohorts.

Diana believes the economic advantages of arbitration enable it to facilitate greater access to justice than traditional litigation. “I hope to use the scholarship to raise the profile of arbitration in the minds of students and junior dispute resolution lawyers, and to especially encourage more people of colour to become more involved with Young AMINZ,” says Diana.

READ MORE ABOUT DIANA HERE.

Diana’s Determinative Scholarship is sponsored by Russell McVeagh. “The more diverse and inclusive we are as a legal profession, the better outcomes we are able to deliver for our clients and communities. Russell McVeagh is pleased to support this year's Determinative Scholarship,” says CEO Jo Avenell.

Madison Dobie: Shifting the mindset of mediation

Madison, an Associate in the Major Projects and Construction team at Dentons Kensington Swan, is passionate about the construction industry and its role in building a better life for Aotearoa and its people. She has seen the circuit breaking potential of mediation first-hand and aims to grow the use of mediation at all stages of construction projects.

“Mediation is key to our role as problem solvers and there is no limit to how it can be used,” says Madison.

Prior to joining Dentons Kensington Swan in 2019, she was an in-house lawyer at Engineering New Zealand (formerly IPENZ), the professional body for engineers in New Zealand.

During her time at Engineering New Zealand, Madison was involved in a number of construction industry initiatives. In 2018, she designed and established a dispute resolution service to resolve technical disputes which were frustrating residential insurance claims arising from the Canterbury Earthquake Sequence. Technical experts would be facilitated to resolve problems by other experts in a quasi-mediator role. This non-determinative role was relatively novel for technical experts but was successful in helping to resolve the unresolvable.

Due to the success of the service, Madison was asked to lead the establishment of an equivalent service for the Canterbury Earthquakes Insurance Tribunal and private insurers.

“I am honoured to receive this scholarship and am looking forward to the opportunity to grow and push the boundaries of problem solving by the use of mediation at all stages of construction projects”.

READ MORE ABOUT MADISON HERE.

Madison’s scholarship is sponsored by the Domain Name Commission. Domain Name Commissioner Brent Carey says, “As part of our commitment to leading best practice dispute resolution, we are pleased to sponsor AMINZ’s consensual scholarship. Our sponsorship this year is in celebration of twenty years of self-regulation of the domain name industry. The Commission’s dispute resolution service is one of New Zealand’s earliest examples of an ADR scheme where mediations took place online and by phone without in person meetings.”

Diana and Madison were selected as the two successful scholars by the AMINZ Diversity Committee. Given the calibre of applications and the commitment to the sector evident in the young professionals who applied, AMINZ is delighted to see that the future of dispute resolution in Aotearoa is bright.

AMINZ President Mark Kelly says, “We are absolutely delighted to welcome Diana and Madison as our 2022 AMINZ Scholars. They are extraordinary young practitioners, who have already excelled in dispute resolution. They are clearly future leaders in our world. We look forward to working with, and learning from, them.”

Thrilled to announce Diana and Madison as the 2022 AMINZ Scholars, Acting General Manager Rachael Douglas says, “they are both well-deserving scholars, and their work and passion for advancing the dispute resolution sector is admirable. I am looking forward to working with Diana and Madison this year and seeing the impact that they continue to have on the sector.”

Diana and Madison will hold their respective scholarships for the coming 12 months.

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