Defence Legal Services receives Solicitor-General’s ‘Team Excellence’ award

The team won the Te Tohu Kapa Hiranga ‘Team Excellence’ Award at the Government Legal Network awards earlier this month.

The Government Legal Network awards recognise the contribution of government lawyers and legal teams to New Zealand and the Government Legal Network.

Nominations are judged by a panel that includes very senior government lawyers, with the former Solicitor-General, Una Jagose KC, making the final decision. DLS was one of two teams across the entire government sector to receive this award. The award cites the team’s “extraordinary contribution and commitment to the Government Legal Network and our shared values.”

In presenting the award, Acting Solicitor-General Aaron Martin commended the DLS team for their work on challenging, unique and significant matters of law, as well as initiatives that DLS has led or provided significant support to.

DLS Chief of Staff Commander Prema McIntosh praised their “incredible team” of lawyers. “We were dealing in areas of law we haven’t dealt with before. It attracted a lot of outside interest from our partners, watching how we advised on novel and challenging matters.”

DLS is an enabler for almost everything the Defence Force does, she says. As the strategic environment changes, so does the workload of the legal team.

“There’s obviously a lot of work that comes under the law of armed conflict, and there are emerging areas of warfare and new technology we need to be upskilled on.”

She says the praise from the Solicitor General means a great deal. “It shows an understanding of the kind of work we do and how unique it can be. I’m very proud of the team to have received this recognition.”