Student shortlisted for top youth award

Lizzie Chan, who is finishing an LLB(Hons) dissertation at The University of Auckland, has been selected as one of the three finalists for the Young New Zealander of the Year Award.

She is passionate about empowering youth, improving access to justice, and advancing women’s and refugees’ rights. As National President of UN Youth New Zealand, she leads an organisation educating more than a thousand youth all around New Zealand about the United Nations and human rights. UN Youth is run entirely by youth volunteers.

In addition Lizzie has been a Student Advocate assisting students with legal support; an Editor-in-Chief of the Auckland University Law Review; and is a founding contributor to the NZ Supreme Court blog. She is currently summer clerking at Crown Law and will be a Judge’s Clerk in the Supreme Court for Justices Blanchard and Chambers from February 2012.

Lizzie has also been involved in a project at the Australian National University capturing the narratives of trailblazing women lawyers and also does voluntary work for the Refugee Services. She recently represented New Zealand at the 7th UNESCO Youth Forum held at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris.

Lizzie is also an accomplished young performer, having attained her LTCL in Speech and Drama (Performing) and achieved Advanced 2 in ballet.

She has completed a conjoint BA majoring in French and Political Studies. Her LLB(Hons) dissertation is on sovereign immunity in private international law.

The other two finalists vying to be 2012 Coca Cola Amatil Young New Zealander of the Year are Sam Johnson, founder and leader of the Student Volunteer Army in Christchurch, and Bailey Lovett from Bluff who gained the Prime Minister’s Future Scientist Prize in 2010. The winner will be announced at a public gala event in Auckland on 16 February.