Borrin Foundation – Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga Postgraduate Scholarship for Jacobi Kohu-Morris
Borrin Foundation - Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga postgraduate scholarship
About Jacobi
Ngāti Awa, Ngāti Ranginui, Ngāi Te Rangi
Jacobi is a junior barrister at Shortland Chambers in Auckland and works on a wide range of civil and commercial disputes. He grew up in Ōtepoti Dunedin and was the first in his family to attend university, earning an LLB (First Class Hons) and a BA in philosophy, politics and economics from the University of Otago | Mō Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka.
Admitted to the Bar in 2021, Jacobi has worked as a judge’s clerk at the Court of Appeal for the Hon Denis Clifford and the Hon Simon France, and has tutored law at Otago and Victoria University of Wellington | Te Herenga Waka.
Jacobi’s research has focussed on te Tiriti o Waitangi and the recognition of mana whenua in New Zealand’s legal system. His honours dissertation, Ko Wai Te Mana Whenua? Identifying Mana Whenua Under Aotearoa New Zealand’s Three Laws, won the Legal Research Foundation’s Undergraduate Student Paper Award in 2021. Recently, he published a chapter in Te Tiriti o Waitangi Relationships: People, Politics and Law, a book by several academics and practitioners exploring contemporary Crown-Māori issues and the complexities of te Tiriti.
What Jacobi is studying
Jacobi plans to use the scholarship to pursue an LLM in the United Kingdom, focusing on subjects like jurisprudence, legal history, constitutional theory and advanced private law. He aims to deepen his understanding of principles of law and justice that underpin New Zealand’s common law.
He is interested in how tikanga Māori and te Tiriti o Waitangi will continue to evolve within our legal system, particularly in the area of private law. Looking ahead, he hopes that his LLM will serve as a platform to further a career at the civil Bar, and aspires to contribute to New Zealand through the law and advocate for both Māori and the wider community.
Scholarship amount
$60,000
“I’m hugely grateful to the Foundation and NPM for their generous support, without which I would not be able to pursue further study. I look forward to repaying their faith in me by contributing to our community in the future”