Auckland Law School’s ‘Stacked Deck’ Committee

The University of Auckland’s decision to exclude practising lawyers and barristers from the committee reviewing its proposed law and business school merger has raised eyebrows and concerns within the law profession, with critics questioning the committee’s ability to adequately assess the potential impact on the legal profession and the quality of legal education.

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The 16-person committee, set to convene on Wednesday, is chaired by retired science dean Professor John Hosking and includes academics, university administrators, and student representatives with no lawyers and the only private sector member being PwC partner Paul Nickels, who leads the firm’s tertiary sector team.

Leading KC Jim Farmer has written on his blog that he hopes that the University of Auckland abandons “this unmeritorious proposal” which will do harm and no good. His blog article is republished by LawFuel at this link.

It is significant that the two experiments in amalgamating law and business schools – in the Universities of Western Australia and Canterbury – have been failures and emerged. Jim Farmer KC

Prominent figures in the legal profession have voiced their disapproval of the committee’s composition with Raynor Asher KC, the former Court of Appeal judge, expressing disappointment at the absence of practising lawyers or barristers on the committee.

He also noted the lack of representation from the University of Canterbury, where a similar merger was ultimately reversed.

Former District Court judge David Harvey said the committee looked like a “stacked deck” as he warned that the university risks accusations of a predetermined outcome and questioned the relevance of certain committee members’ expertise to legal education.

Law Association’s chief executive Clayton Klimpton questioned the committee’s expertise in addressing broader concerns about legal education, including the need to train well-rounded lawyers and teach concepts such as access to justice and the rule of law.

Implications for Legal Education

The merger proposal, reportedly conceived by business school dean Susan Watson and university vice-chancellor Dawn Freshwater, has faced strong opposition from faculty staff who argue that the merger could negatively impact the law school’s ranking, reputation, and ability to attract top students and academics.

Auckland Law School, established in 1883, currently holds a prestigious position in global rankings. It ranks 174th on SCImago Institute’s 500-point scale of law schools and 55th on the QS University World Rankings of law schools, significantly outperforming other New Zealand institutions.