Harvard Scholarship, Will Travel

Harvard Scholarship, Will Travel

A recipient of one of the North Harbour Club's prestigious AIMES Awards, Auckland lawyer Vicki McCall, is looking forward to testing her abilities before some of the world's top legal minds at the prestigious Harvard Law School near Boston, Massachusetts.

She was recently awarded a Frank Knox Memorial Fellowship to Harvard University, for international students showing promise as a future leader in their field, and will leave for the United States in August to undertake a Masters in Law (LL.M). It will mean an intense year of demanding lectures, tutorials and research at one of the world's leading law schools - and the 24-year-old is still pinching herself to make sure it is for real.

"My friends tell me that I always used to say I wanted to go to Harvard … but it was my ideal – never something I believed would actually happen."

Ms McCall recently returned home to the North Shore and joined a general litigation team at Auckland law firm Russell McVeagh after two years as clerk to the Hon. Justice John McGrath in Wellington, first in support of his role as a Court of Appeal judge then at the Supreme Court after his appointment in 2005.

No stranger to scholarships and awards, Ms McCall won a North Harbour Club AIMES Award in 2004 – the Lion Foundation Award for Excellence in Education. The AIMES Award, worth $5000, helped her with her studies and career - as have several scholarships she has been awarded, including the Russell McVeagh scholarship to undertake a combined BA/LL.B (Hons) at Auckland University, a Rotary Youth Leadership Award in 2002, a major prize for administrative law in 2004, and a senior scholarship in law, awarded to the top three graduating students each year, in 2005.

Ms McCall's aptitude for the law meant she could take her pick of scholarships offered to her to undertake post-graduate study at several other Ivy League universities, including Yale and New York University. After much soul-searching, she opted for Harvard because of its strong international reputation and challenging teaching style. She is looking forward to the university's 'Socratic' method of teaching, in which professors put students on the spot to analyse a topic or idea and express an opinion.

"One of the great attractions for me at Harvard is that I will be studying under some really fantastic people, such as Professor Laurence Tribe, who has argued more than 30 cases before the US Supreme Court, and many other leading academics in their field," says Ms McCall.

The Frank Knox scholarship, worth more than $NZ80,000, will cover tuition fees and health insurance plus provide a $US20,000 stipend towards living expenses.

She already has the germ of a topic for her 20,000 word research-based paper; one which would explore the subject of courts overruling previous decisions on the law prospectively, that is, as to future matters. This is a relatively new notion in New Zealand, but has existed in the United States for several decades, for example with respect to tax and environmental matters.

It's not only books and lectures occupying her thoughts at present. She is coming to grips with the complexities of the university 'lottery' system for allocating on-campus accommodation, and building up her stock of winter woollies for Boston's sub-zero temperatures.

North Harbour high-achievers aged 25 years or under now have the opportunity to apply for a 2007 North Harbour Club AIMES Award for Excellence. Applications are now being called for. There are awards for each of the six categories – the arts, information technology and science, music, education and sport, and service to the community - as well as an overall award worth approximately $20,000.

Ms McCall says the AIMES Awards are a great way for young people to gain experience at presenting themselves and their achievements in a professional manner; a crucial skill when applying for further scholarships, sponsorship or employment.

For further information about applications for AIMES 2007, visit www.northharbourclub/awards.co.nz or call Catherine Lidgard on 09 480 8212, or email cl.nhc[at]xtra.co.nz

ENDS

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