Presenters

Renika Siciliano, Executive Director, McCaw Lewis
Renika leads the firm's exceptional and passionate lawyers in the Te Tiriti o Waitangi and workplace law areas. Renika provides legal and strategic advice to clients across Aotearoa and has extensive experience in matters relating to Te Tiriti o Waitangi, Treaty settlement negotiations, Māori governance and iwi disputes. She also has a wealth of knowledge in workplace law, advising on various employment matters for both employers and employees. Renika has experience across various Courts and forums including representing Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki in relation to the Supreme Court’s landmark decision Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki Tribal Trust v Minister of Conservation. She has worked with clients in some of the first substantive matters to be heard under the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act.


Roimata Smail, Barrister, Roimata Sail Ltd
Roimata Smail (Ngāti Maniapoto, Tainui, Ngāti Kotimana, Ngāti Ingarangi) has worked for two decades as a human rights and public law barrister specialising in discrimination against Māori. She has represented iwi, hapū, whānau, urban Māori organisations and Māori owned and governed health and social service providers in the Courts and Waitangi Tribunal. She has also advised on settlement negotiations with the Crown involving the return of ancestral land and acting in litigation and negotiations with the Crown under the Foreshore and Seabed Act 2004 and the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act 2011. Roimata is also a Treaty educator who has developed experiential workshops on Te Tiriti and the Wai Ako educational website for schools. This year she published a best selling book "Understanding Te Tiriti A Handbook of Basic Facts about Te Tiriti o Waitangi".