FMB Reynolds Law Scholarship awarded to Alison Chamberlain

23 May 2017

Auckland solicitor Alison Chamberlain has been awarded the 2017 FMB Reynolds Scholarship in Law which will see her carrying our post-graduate study towards a Bachelor of Civil Law at the prestigious University of Oxford.

Alison is a recent graduate of the University of Canterbury, where she completed a Bachelor of Science majoring in Geology with a Bachelor of Laws with First Class Honours.

In the wake of the Canterbury earthquakes, Alison has an interest in natural disaster legal issues. “Studying both Law and Geology in Christchurch during the years of the Canterbury earthquakes allowed me to view these major natural hazards and associated impacts from both a ‘scientific’ and ‘legal’ perspective,” she says.

Alison went on to author a chapter on the impact of the earthquake on certain types of land ownership inLegal Response to Natural Disasters (2015), which is the first New Zealand publication on how the legal profession dealt with a natural disaster.

She says; “I believe that the interplays between commerce, sustainable resource development and society are increasingly complex and challenging across all scales, from local communities to national and international relationships. It is evident that New Zealand looks forward to a progressive need for ever smarter resource management policy and related law, together with ‘fit for purpose’ institutions and practitioners. My ambition is to be personally better equipped to assist in meeting that need.”

Alison is currently a solicitor in the banking and finance group at Russell McVeagh.

The FMB Reynolds Scholarship in Law to Oxford was established to recognise the support that Emeritus Professor Francis Reynolds provided to New Zealand law students at the University of Oxford for over 40 years. Professor Reynolds taught commercial law and authored key legal texts.

The funds for this scholarship have been made available through generous donations from Emeritus Professor Reynolds, Professor Peter Watts and alumni of various law schools. The funds are managed by The University of Auckland Foundation Inc. and the scholarship is administered by Universities New Zealand.

Applications for the FMB Reynolds Scholarship in Law to Oxford close on 28 February 2018. Further information is available at http://www.universitiesnz.ac.nz/scholarships/fmbreynolds

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