Diana Qiu

Junior Barrister

25 Jun

Diana is one of the junior barristers at Thorndon Chambers. She assists barristers at Thorndon Chambers with legal research, drafting pleadings and submissions, reviewing evidence, and court appearances.

Before joining Thorndon Chambers, Diana clerked for two Presidents of the Court of Appeal of New Zealand, Justice Stephen Kós (2021–2022) and Justice Mark Cooper (2022). During her clerkship she worked on a variety of public, private and criminal cases. She was admitted to the bar in 2022.

Diana graduated fourth in her cohort from the University of Auckland in 2021 with a BA and LLB(Hons). She was a Senior Scholar and obtained first in course prizes in evidence, tort law and trial advocacy. While at university Diana competed in numerous national and international mooting competitions. For example, she represented New Zealand in the Philip C Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition, during which she was named best oralist in the European Regional Rounds in 2020. Her team also received an Alona E Evans Award for having one of the best combined written submissions in the international rounds that year.

Diana has a keen interest in public law, human rights law and international law, including commercial and investor-state arbitration. Her publications, including two in international journals, have primarily focused on these areas. She is conversational in French. In her spare time, Diana is an active archer and classical music enthusiast.

- New Zealand representative, Asia-Pacific Forum for International Arbitration
- Affiliate Member, Arbitrators’ and Mediators’ Institute of New Zealand (AMINZ)
- Co-Chair, Young AMINZ
- Associate Member, Australian and New Zealand Society of International Law
- Member, New Zealand Bar Association
- Committee Member, New Zealand Bar Association Junior Barristers’ Committee
- Judge’s Clerk, Court of Appeal of New Zealand (2021–2022)
- Teaching Fellow, Faculty of Law, Victoria University of Wellington (2021–2022)
- Teaching Assistant, Faculty of Law, University of Auckland (2019–2020)
- Research Assistant, Faculty of Law, University of Auckland (2018–2021)
- Summer Clerk, Bankside Chambers (2018–2019)
- Summer Clerk, Russell McVeagh (2017–2018)
- “A Comparative Analysis of the Approaches used to determine the Four Laws of Commercial Arbitration” (2020) 86(1) Arbitration: The International Journal of Arbitration, Mediation and Dispute Management 50.
- “Looking at the Future of Arbitration in New Zealand: What Opportunities are Available for Junior Practitioners?” (2021) 27(2) Auckland U L Rev 82.
- “Human Rights Protection under the ICCPR: When can and should States derogate? A critical analysis in the context of New Zealand’s COVID-19 response” (2022) 27(5) International Journal of Human Rights 844.
- Parallel Universes: The Curious Dearth of Trans-Tasman Citation" (2023) 23(1) NZ L Rev 61 (co-authored with the Hon Justice Sir Stephen Kós).
- LLB(Hons), University of Auckland (Senior Scholar)
- BA (French and Economics), University of Auckland
- Admitted as a barrister and solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand, 2022