Victoria University of Wellington Faculty of Law announces new Sir Kenneth Keith Award
The Victoria University of Wellington (Te Herenga Waka) Faculty of Law has opened applications for the new Sir Kenneth Keith Award, which will support a New Zealand law graduate nominated for and successfully selected by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) as a judicial fellow.
According to a news release, the ICJ’s Judicial Fellowship Programme enables those who are early in their legal career to earn practical experience at the international court.
The law school shared that the new award will provide a substantial grant in an effort to maintain and improve the country’s relationship with the ICJ.
“It is exciting that our Faculty can be part of this initiative and help New Zealanders gain unique international law experience,” said Geoff McLay, the law school’s dean, in the news release.
Support for the award came from the family of the late Sir Keith, who was the first New Zealander elected as an ICJ judge, a role he held from 2006–15. He heard proceedings involving issues on whaling, maritime law, and armed conflicts.
Sir Keith was an international lawyer and a law reformer. At the Victoria University of Wellington Faculty of Law, he served as dean from 1977–81, then later as an emeritus professor and as a distinguished fellow.
“We were fortunate to have Sir Ken as part of our Law community here at Victoria University of Wellington for more than 60 years,” McLay said in the news release. “Part of his immense legacy is the many students and academics inspired by his example as a New Zealander in international law.”
Sir Keith passed away on 13 May 2026 at the age of 88.
“Ken had a restlessly curious mind, always prepared to burrow underneath conventional statements of law in order to understand their implications for the future,” said Sir Geoffrey Palmer, former prime minister, in the law school’s news release.
According to Dame Helen Winkelmann, New Zealand’s chief justice, Sir Keith believed his students “had the intellectual capacity to be a future President of the International Court of Justice.”
“Having a New Zealander on the Court allowed me to dream that a career in international law was available to me, despite coming from a country far from the epicentres of international law,” said Amelia Keene, legal adviser to the president of the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal.
“I count him as one of the best bosses I ever had,” added Keene, who had worked for Sir Keith at the ICJ from 2013–15 and who had earned her LLB honours in 2009 from the Victoria University of Wellington Faculty of Law.
On 3 November 2026, the UK government highlighted the appointment of Dapo Akande, an international lawyer and a public international law professor at the University of Oxford, as an ICJ judge – the first in the UK for nearly a decade.
Last September, the Associated Press reported that Germany had urged the ICJ to dismiss Nicaragua’s case asserting that Berlin had breached the Genocide Convention and international humanitarian law by providing Israel with arms and other military support.
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