A chat with 2023 Award Winner, Marie Callander
A chat with 2023 MC Public Sector In-house Lawyer Award Winner, Marie Callander.
How did it feel to win the MC Public 
Sector In-house Lawyer of the Year Award?
It was a huge honour, and very humbling – I didn’t expect to win, but was very delighted!
What was your 2023 Conference highlight?
I really enjoyed Justice Whata’s presentation; it was superb! Last year was the first time I attended conference and I found the speakers more beneficial this time round. To be honest, I enjoyed everyone I listened to! I also really loved the way both Cam and Jehan turned, what could feel like to most people, a negative situation, around to a positive opportunity. It’s such a valuable insight and perspective to have on life. Very empowering.
You joined Tasman District Council in 2022 and have made a significant impact in a short period of time. Could you share a project that stands out as particularly enjoyable or personally rewarding from your experience so far?
Oh, such a lot! I’m involved right across the organisation - from a major IT digital innovation programme initiative to the Waimea Community Dam, which is a huge infrastructure project. In saying that, the Waimea Community Dam would be pretty significant. It’s a project that was well advanced when I came in, so there was a lot of complex work that I had to come up to speed with quickly. Having to work with several law firms, accounting firms and shareholder representatives involved a lot of learning - but I enjoy learning, so that was very interesting!
It's evident that you have a proactive and hands-on approach to your work. What led you to volunteer to be part of training sessions?
An external panel of legal firms provide training for Tasman District Council, and I offered to help deliver training in the contract space, as I wanted to make sure it was relevant to our people. I have a background in teaching (secondary and tertiary education) and I did a lot of training sessions when I was in private practise too. But I guess I’m a teacher by nature, so I enjoy to teach.
So, you have a background in teaching. What led you to law?
I came to law in a back to front way! When I left school, I always wanted to be a lawyer… but that was in the 1970s. My father, who was a farmer, talked to his lawyer (a crusty old bloke) about my interest and he said “She’s a girl, it’s a waste of time! She’ll only ever deal with traffic offences!” so I wasn’t allowed to go to law school.
So off I went to study history and economists. There, I met my husband, and we got married during university. But after having our 3 children my interest in law had always remained. As time went on, opportunities came up for teaching – I then went on to study commercial law and eventually ended up teaching commercial law in the Polytech sector and did more post grad-study. So, it wasn’t until I was almost finished my masters in commercial law, that I went back and did an LLB(Hons) so I could practise.
So, like I said, very back to front. And I’m proud to say I’ve never had anything to do with a traffic offence… except for my own!
What would you say to someone thinking about nominating themselves or a co-worker for an ILANZ Award?
I found out I was nominated when ILANZ notified me by email. For me, to find out my colleagues had gone to the effort to collect references from others and write such nice things, it made it all the more special. So I would encourage people to nominate their colleagues if they recognise some great work being done!
The ILANZ Awards are presented at our Annual Awards Dinner, following the ILANZ Conference. This year's Awards Dinner was sponsored by Niche Recruitment.