Honour recognises her decades of efforts devoted to abuse survivors
Sonja Cooper – who has led claims on behalf of thousands of survivors of abuse for over 30 years – received the 2025 Access to Justice Award, sponsored by LexisNexis New Zealand and the New Zealand Bar Association (NZBA).
In its news release, the NZBA (Ngā Ahorangi Motuhake o Te Ture) said the award aims to recognise Cooper’s work for abuse survivors in state and faith-based care.
The NZBA shared that she played an instrumental role in commencing the Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquiry and has acted for over 3,500 clients, nearly all financed through legal aid, alongside Cooper Legal, a firm of which she is the principal lawyer.
Simon Foote, the association’s president-elect and an award panel judge, presented the award on behalf of the NZBA and Lexis Nexis at the annual bar conference.
“The NZBA has made access to justice a central focus of its work,” Foote said, “and part of that effort is to recognise champions whose commitment makes a real difference.”
Foote called Cooper one such champion and a tenacious advocate who has persistently pursued landmark claims in the face of legal and financial hardship.
“Sonja was determined not to be another person who let her clients down,” Foote said. “She has done them proud, and the profession proud.”
Upon accepting the award, Cooper noted that she has prioritised giving a voice to those silenced, unheard, and disbelieved.
“Every day I do not have to question whether my work is meaningful, I know it is,” Cooper said. “The clients we represent are damaged and traumatised, the legal aid system is underfunded and cumbersome, but I love the work that I do.”
Cooper expressed gratitude to the NZBA, LexisNexis, and her former and current colleagues. She encouraged her fellow legal professionals to try their hand at becoming legal aid providers.
“While legal aid is often undervalued, it protects clients from costs that would otherwise keep them from court,” Cooper said. “It is essential to ensure access to justice.”
NZ Lawyer named Sonja Cooper one of its Elite Women for 2024.
In 2018, the NZBA introduced the Access to Justice Award, which seeks to spotlight lawyers who have made extraordinary efforts to advance access to justice in the country.
Foote called access to justice critical to respecting the rule of law, ensuring social cohesion, promoting trust in institutions, and protecting individual freedoms.
“Without equal access to the law, we risk a society divided into haves and have-nots,” Foote said in the NZBA’s news release.
The NZBA noted that awardees get a cash prize from the association and an annual LexisNexis subscription package as one of the prize options valued at $3,600.
