Christine Grice - Next President Of The NZ Law Soc

MEDIACOM-RELEASE-NZ-LAW-SOCIETY

CHRISTINE GRICE - NEXT PRESIDENT OF THE NZ LAW SOCIETY

The next president of the NZ Law Society will be Christine Grice, a partner with Harkness Henry and Co in Hamilton.

It is only the second time in the society's 130-year history that a woman will head the country's 8000-strong legal profession.

Judith Potter (now a high court judge) was the first woman president between 1991 and 1994.

Miss Grice, from the Waikato Bay of Plenty District Law Society, was elected today by the NZ Law Society Council at its meeting in Wellington ahead of two other women candidates - Nicola Mathers of Wellington and Judith Collins of Auckland. It is the first time all presidential candidates have been women.

Miss Grice will take up her new position next April when current president Ian Haynes of Auckland completes his three-year term.

She faces leading the law profession through major changes already signalled by the Government, involving a comprehensive review of the way in which lawyers are regulated.

Miss Grice practises in the areas of commercial litigation, public and health law, and trade practices and consumer law. She is also an arbitrator and mediator.

She took her LLB (Hons) at Canterbury University and was admitted as a barrister and solicitor of the High Court in 1981.

Miss Grice has had a long involvement in law society work. She has been a member of the NZLS Council since 1992, its Board since 1993 and has been a vice-president since 1996. Currently she is also convener of the society's Women's Consultative Group, its Professional Standards and Liability Committee and the Continuing Legal Education Committee, and a member of several other committees.

At district level, Miss Grice was president of the Waikato Bay of Plenty District Law Society in 1994 and 1996 and has served with its predecessor, the Hamilton District Law Society, in various capacities.

ENDS....

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