About Us

“We need law centres that give our people, the sort of rangatahi we have here, decent legal advice so they don’t get shunted off by incompetents. But we need them to be there too to help our people fight the Crown on land and Treaty issues, otherwise lawyers and the Crown will set the agenda.” Eva Rickard

Ngāi Tahu Māori Law Centre is the only specialist Māori or iwi law centre in Aotearoa. Many other Community Law Centres (CLCs) around the motu provide Māori lawyers, case workers and liaison officers to make sure their legal services truly meet the needs of Māori individuals, hapū and iwi.

Māori members from these centres come together to form the Māori Caucus of the Community Law Centres o Aotearoa. The Māori Caucus works to ensure that CLCs:

uphold our Treaty obligations
create legal services that reflect the beliefs and meet the needs of urban and rural Māori
are a force for Treaty-based change in Aotearoa
contribute to law change that works against the social exclusion and disadvantage of Māori.

If you would like to contact the Māori Caucus, or to speak with someone about strengthening partnerships between Community Law Centres and iwi throughout Aotearoa, please contact:

Paula Bold-Wilson
Coalition Co-Convenor (Māori Caucus spokesperson)
Email: paula@waitakerelaw.org.nz

Annual Māori Caucus Hui

The purpose of this hui is to strengthen and enhance Community Law’s ability to meet the high unmet legal needs of Māori within our respective communities, to look at how Community Law can better support its kaimahi Māori, and to expand Kaupapa Māori legal services throughout the country.