+ Donna Hall

Ngāti Rangiteaorere & Ngati Tuwharetoa

Tumuaki | Principal

When Donna was a child her mother resurrected Mataikotare Marae on the eastern shores of Lake Rotorua. Donna and her family worked for many years to successfully not only restore the marae but also re-establish the place of Ngāti Rangiteaorere within the Te Arawa Confederation. At 17 years old Donna enrolled in law at Otago University and completed a conjoint Bachelor or Laws and Arts majoring in history, finishing her studies at Victoria University in 1981. Donna worked as a solicitor at the Department of Social Welfare and was part of the Te-Puao-te-Ata-Tū review rōpū touring Aotearoa in 1985. In 1987 Donna began practicising law with Neville Smith & Co in Lower Hutt and in 1990 she established her own practice Woodward Law.

Donna was immediately engaged as solicitor for a number of seminal Treaty rights cases including urban Māori interests in fisheries, the Māori electoral option, Ngāti Whātua casino project as well as acting for New Zealand Māori Council at the United Nations Forum on Indigenous Peoples. Ms Hall and Dame Sian Elias QC acted for Ngāti Pahauwera assisting the tribe to be the first in the country to receive funds from Crown Forestry Rental Trust.

Alongside her work on the national and tribal matters, Donna has worked for many Māori groups and individuals on a range of legal matters from Sir Charles Bennett and Haani Manahi VC Committee to Dame Te Atairangikaahu and Natural Māori Congress and Māori Artists and Writers.

info@mokoia.co.nz

+ Taihākurei (Sir Eddie) Durie

Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Kauwhata, Ngāti Rangatahi and Rangitāne

Taihākurei completed his law degree at Victoria University in 1965. As a student Taihakurei was often summonsed to attend meetings of the newly formed New Zealand Māori Council by the early chairs, Turi Carroll and Pei Te Hurinui Jones as they began to explore issues affecting all Māori.

Taihākurei practised law in Tauranga and was later appointed a judge of the Māori Land Court in 1974. He became Chief Judge of the Māori Land Court in 1980 which carried with it the role of Chair of the Waitangi Tribunal. Along with original Waitangi Tribunal members, Laurie Southwick QC and Graham Latimer, Taihākurei began investigating claimed Treaty breaches since 1975 including the Motunui, Manukau Harbour and Orakei Claims. When the powers of the Waitangi Tribunal were extended to include claims dating back to 1840, Taihākurei presided on the Tribunals investigating Claims about the Whanganui River, Taranaki and many many more. Taihākurei then served as a High Court Judge and member of the Law Commission from 2000 to 2010. He was knighted in 2009.

In 2012, Taihākurei was elected as co-chair of the New Zealand Maori Council, until appointment as the sole chair from 2016 until 2019.

As an expert adviser to Woodward Law, Taihākurei advises on contemporary Treaty issues and other matters prejudicially affecting Māori. In February 2020 he presented the lead evidence to the Waitangi Tribunal inquiry into the Rangitīkei Manawatū Claims.