Travel and Learning Award for Helen Mackay
Supporting Helen Mackay to conduct a study tour of Australia and the UK, to explore leading practice NewLaw developments and to bring these insights back to New Zealand to share them widely with other legal services providers, academia and the wider legal profession.
Borrin Foundation Travel and Learning Award
Helen’s plan
Helen will be using the Borrin Travel and Learning award to share greater knowledge and understanding of NewLaw concepts within the legal profession in Aotearoa New Zealand and how its approaches, processes, and systems can enhance the delivery of legal services. In researching developments in NewLaw in Australia and the UK, she will encourage other firms to explore and adopt the new processes and technology that it supports. The changes brought about by these concepts particularly support women and diverse participant’s advancement in the legal profession as they help break the tyranny of time sheets and billable units that often hold back advancement. They also support the effective and efficient delivery of legal services that meet clients’ changing needs. The product of Helen’s study tour will be a set of learnings and insights that she will share through industry forums and conference speaking, a series of articles and a ‘how to’ guide for firms wanting to adopt NewLaw principles. She intends to make these outputs highly practical and able to be adopted with ease.
About Helen
Helen Mackay, BCA, LLB is the founder and leader of NewLaw firm and in-house legal services provider Juno Legal. She has been an in-house lawyer and in-house legal champion for more than 20 years with previous roles including as General Counsel of New Zealand Oil & Gas and Senior Legal Counsel at Vector Limited. She is a former President and CEO of the In-house Lawyers Association of New Zealand and co-chair of the founding committee of In-House Counsel Worldwide. Her personal interest is in enabling lawyers to navigate their own pathways in the legal profession, and in ensuring the profession is safe, diverse and inclusive as well as better serving client interests. She is a former committee member of the Wellington Women Lawyers’ Association and spearheads an initiative to connect first-in-family law students and graduates with practising lawyers. Helen has been recognised as Managing Partner of the Year <100 lawyers at the 2022 New Zealand Law Awards and by NZ Lawyer as an Influential Lawyer in 2022 and 2023.
Grant Amount
$9,732 in 2023 to support travel
“I am honoured to have been chosen as a Borrin award recipient. I look forward to contributing to the advancement of the Borrin Vision and to helping navigate new pathways to practise law for the benefits of clients in Aotearoa New Zealand.”