Her Honour Justice Helen Winkelmann, Chief High Court Judge of New Zealand, presented the 18th Annual New Zealand Law Foundation Ethel Benjamin Commemorative Address at the Dunedin Centre on 7 November 2014. The Address was entitled “Access to Justice – Who Needs Lawyers?” Justice Winkelmann spoke eloquently about the barriers to accessing justice and what she described as the “justice gap”. There was a focus on the costs of accessing civil litigation and the rise in self-represented litigants.

The topic of the Address was very timely, particularly considering the recent changes to the Family Court justice system and sparked some good discussion following the Address. The Address was extremely well attended and OWLS were pleased to host another successful event with the help of our generous sponsors the New Zealand Law Foundation, the University of Otago Law Faculty, and the Williams Trust.

The Address has been well received within the legal community and will be published in an upcoming issue of the Otago Law Review. The transcript of the Address is now available on this website (under the Ethel Benjamin Address tab) and the DVD recording of the address is available to members upon request.

Thank you very much to Justice Winkelmann for her informative and engaging Address.