The legal and compliance decisions facing New Zealand schools are becoming more complex and getting them wrong can carry serious consequences. The Wellington Education Law Conference 2027 is an essential one-day event for school leaders who need practical, reliable guidance on staff absence and medical incapacity, bullying allegations, health and safety, family law and court orders, ERO priorities, school board governance, OAA compliance and data protection. Hear directly from leading education law practitioners and sector experts, gain answers to the issues confronting schools now and leave ready to make difficult decisions with greater clarity and confidence. If you are responsible for governance, compliance or managing risk in a school, this is the conference you cannot afford to miss.

Presenters

Kirsty Wallace, Special Counsel, Duncan Cotterill
Kirsty is a seasoned litigation and dispute resolution lawyer specialising in employment law. She is also experienced in commercial litigation, medico-legal matters and local authority regulation as a prosecutor. Kirsty has represented clients in a wide range of disputes in various courts and tribunals including mediation, the Employment Relations Authority, the District Court, the High Court and a number of specialist tribunals. Kirsty enjoys building strong relationships with clients, understanding their matter and then providing clear and practical solution based advice that delivers results. Kirsty is currently a Presiding Member of her local school board.

Andrea Pazin, Special Counsel, Black Door Law
Andrea is an experienced litigation lawyer specialising in employment law, health and safety and education work. She is a Special Counsel in Bell Gully's industry-leading employment team. She advises on a broad range of employment matters. In the education sector she has advised ECE Centres, Schools, Universities, Polytechs, the Ministry of Education and Te Pūkenga – New Zealand Institute of Skills and Technology.

Tanya Kennedy, Barrister, Lambton Chambers
Tanya Kennedy has over 20 years of experience in employment law. She has worked in private practice and a range of in-house Legal Counsel roles (including with a specific education focus). She has been a Barrister since 2019. She advises and represents clients in the full range of employment law issues and institutions, including mediation, the Employment Relations Authority, and the Employment Court. She also has extensive experience as a workplace investigator and representing clients in employment investigation processes. Tanya has experience advising and representing various parties to an employment relationship – employers, employees and unions. This enables Tanya to look at employment issues from various angles, to provide strategic and practical advice.


Fi McMillan, Special Counsel, Anderson Lloyd
Fi specialises in employment and education law. She is the legal advisor to the NZPF "Principals' Advice and Support Scheme." Prior to becoming a lawyer Fi worked as a primary school teacher in New Zealand and in the UK, and completed a Post Graduate Diploma in Child Advocacy. She has also worked on several Boards. This experience puts her in a strong position to advise on legal issues affecting schools. Fi is committed to working with her clients to find the best possible outcome, whether that can be achieved by constructive discussions and resolution of issues or through more formal processes.

Hanifa Kodirova, Solicitor, Black Door Law
Hanifa is a Solicitor in the team. Hanifa enjoys the broad and dynamic nature of employment law with a particular interest in exploring different methods of dispute resolution. Hanifa holds a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Arts (International Relations) from Victoria University of Wellington which included an exchange abroad in Law at the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom. Hanifa’s prior experience includes working as a staff barrister for an employment law barrister and as a civil litigation solicitor. Outside of work, Hanifa enjoys volunteering in community projects, travelling, trying out knitting and sewing, and cooking for her friends and family.


David Ferguson, Chief Executive and Chief Review Officer, Education Review Office
David joins ERO following a career in education leadership spanning schools, governance and system improvement. Most recently, he served as Chief Executive of the Teachers' Institute and has also held leadership and governance roles as Chair of the Teaching Council and a member of the NZQA Board. Prior to this, David was Headmaster of Westlake Boys High School for 15 years. David brings extensive experience in education, organisational leadership and public service. He is committed to ensuring ERO's work provides high-quality evidence and insights that support better decision-making and improved outcomes for learners across Aotearoa New Zealand. As Chief Executive and Chief Review Officer, David leads ERO’s work to evaluate and improve the education system, providing trusted evidence and insights to government, educators and communities, while also driving continuous improvement across ERO’s own practices and performance.


Deborah Wood, Deputy Chief Executive Review and Improvement Services Māori and Acting Deputy Chief Executive Evaluation and Policy, Education Review Office
Deborah leads ERO’s Education Evaluation Centre | Te Ihuwaka, delivering independent national research and evaluation to strengthen decision-making and improve outcomes across Aotearoa New Zealand’s education system. She also leads ERO’s cross-functional team that focuses on evaluation supporting quality education for learners and their whānau, while growing what the system understands about kaupapa Māori, te reo Māori and te ao Māori to benefit all learners. Deborah joined ERO in 2017 following an extensive career as a teacher and educational leader across both primary and secondary schooling. She began as a Review Officer before becoming Manager of Research and Rangahau Māori, where she led foundational research into te reo Māori and Māori learner success, as well as evaluations of external agencies to support improved decision making across the sector. Her time as Acting Deputy Chief Executive Review and Improvement Services enabled Deborah to focus on ERO’s evaluation approaches to drive improved outcomes for learners in English-medium education. Deborah has a relentless focus on ensuring quality education for all tamariki and mokopuna, so they have equal opportunities to learn and thrive in inclusive environments. She holds a Bachelor of Education and Master of Education with honours.

Mike Mercer, Senior Associate, Simpson Grierson
Mike is an employment and health and safety lawyer advising corporate, public and local government clients on workplace risk and compliance. Mike has extensive experience in serious workplace incidents and investigations. He is highly regarded by his clients for providing strategic and pragmatic advice. Mike advises on all aspects of employment law, including disciplinary and dismissal processes, restructures and redundancies, employment agreements, workplace policies, independent investigations, performance management, holidays and leave issues, union and industrial disputes, personal grievance issues, health and safety, and human rights, and privacy law issues. Mike works with corporate clients, public sector entities, and local government authorities to ensure compliance with the various duties under health and safety legislation. Before moving into private practice, Mike was a Legal Officer in the New Zealand Army where he assisted with the investigation and emergency management of fatalities on operations both domestically and overseas. He also worked for a leading law firm in the United Kingdom on significant health and safety matters. Utilising his experience of incident investigations to inform areas of potential risk, Mike provides strategic safety advice, including corporate governance, due diligence and the development of procedures. This includes looking at both organisational and individual health and safety liability within complex corporate structures. Mike also assist clients in their response to serious incidents management, regulatory investigations and proceedings commenced by enforcing regulator. The sectors in which Mike has advised include defence, construction, manufacturing, energy, transport, waste management, agriculture and forestry. Mike regularly represents clients at mediations and has appeared in the Employment Relations Authority, District Court and High Court. Mike is a member of the NZLS Employment Law Committee, Wellington branch, and regularly speaks at employment law, human resources and health and safety events.

Mark Robinson, Principal, Paraparaumu College
Mark joined Paraparaumu College at the beginning of Term 2, 2024, having previously worked as a Manager Integrated Services at the Ministry of Education and, prior to that as Principal at Waiopehu College in Levin from 2015 to 2022. Mark and his wife, Jo, have two adult children, Matthew and Bee, and whilst they both live in Wellington, Mark and Jo live just behind Paraparaumu College having moved here from Levin in 2022. The daily commute to school is a walk of about 7 minutes! Mark has always been passionate about education having taught in schools both in the UK and New Zealand for over 30 years, and it is now a real privilege to lead Paraparaumu College through its exciting next phase of growth and development. In his leisure time Mark is a keen musician, playing both the piano and saxophone, and he also enjoys cycling on the roads of the beautiful Kāpiti Coast.

Marieke van den Bergh, Barrister, Marieke van den Bergh Barrister
Marieke has more than 15 years representing clients across a range of personal and relationship concerns. Her interest and experience with relationship dynamics, and in particular families and young people, sees her acting as a Court appointed Family lawyer for children and lawyer to assist the Court, care of children matters, relationship property disputes, Oranga Tamariki matters and acting for clients seeking legal guardianship and adoption services among other specialisations. She is knowledgeable and trustworthy, and enjoys helping clients find resolution, no matter how sensitive or complex the issue. Marieke graduated from Canterbury University in 2003 with a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and has worked in a range of small and medium sized firms, local and central government, covering family law, environmental and planning law, criminal and civil law in both the UK and Aotearoa, Wellington, New Zealand. As a Family Lawyer, Marieke has acted in all aspects of family law cases, including negotiation, mediation, hearings in the Family Court and appeals to the High Court. Marieke co-authored the Thomson Reuters publication Family Violence: Act & Analysis in 2020. Marieke is a member of the NZ Bar Association and the Family Law Section of the New Zealand Law Society. Most recently Marieke was a director in Cuba Family Law, before establishing her own practice from a desire to have a stronger work-life balance, particularly with a young family.