Diana Qiu, AMINZ 2022 Determinative Scholar

Diana is a Judge’s Clerk at the New Zealand Court of Appeal and a Teaching Fellow at the Victoria University of Wellington Faculty of Law.  She graduated from the University of Auckland in 2021 with BA and LLB(Hons) conjoint degrees, majoring in French and Economics.  

As a student, Diana was extensively involved with mooting.  She was a member of the 2020 New Zealand team that competed in the Philip C Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition and placed as second runners-up in the European regional rounds, during which Diana was named the Best Oralist.  As well as the Jessup Moot, Diana has competed successfully in both the Willem C Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot and the Frankfurt Investment Arbitration Moot Court competitions. 

Outside of moot courts, Diana is also an advocate for social causes.  She served on the Auckland University Students’ Association as a Women’s Rights Officer when she was a second-year student.  There she organised events dedicated to raising awareness of women’s issues and intersectional experiences, and helped to set up the University of Auckland Thursdays in Black group.  In addition, Diana has served as a Co-Equity Officer at Auckland Law School, a position in which she advised the law students’ society on equity issues and ran student events promoting general health and wellbeing. 

Diana is passionate about arbitration.  Her first publication, concerning the determination of the four laws of commercial arbitration, featured in the academic journal of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.  Her work has also been included in a General Assembly bibliography on recent writings related to the work of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law.  Diana believes the economical advantages of arbitration enable it to facilitate greater access to justice than traditional litigation.  She hopes to use the scholarship to raise the profile of arbitration in the minds of students and junior dispute resolution lawyers, and to especially encourage more people of colour to become more involved with Young AMINZ. 

Diana is the first child of a Chinese immigrant family and was raised in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand.  When not at work she may be at her local archery club shooting arrows or listening to classical music in her flat in Wellington.  Next year, she will be joining Thorndon Chambers as a junior barrister.  

The 2022 AMINZ Determinative Scholarship is sponsored by Russell McVeagh