Excellence. Experience. Commitment.

Elana Geddis has comprehensive experience in the practice of international and public law, working both inside and outside of government.

Prior to joining the independent bar in 2011, Elana Geddis was Deputy Director of the Legal Division of the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. During her time at MFAT she held a number of roles, including Legal Advisor to the NZ Mission to the United Nations in New York.  Following her graduation with First Class Honours from the University of Otago, Elana began her career as a Judge’s Clerk to the Chief Justice of New Zealand, before taking up a Frank Knox Memorial Fellowship in 1995 to complete an LL.M. at Harvard Law School.  In 2010-2011 she was a Special Advisor to the United Nations, as aide to Sir Geoffrey Palmer, the Chair of the UN Secretary-General’s Panel of Inquiry on the 31 May 2010 Flotilla Incident.

Elana is a member of the New Zealand Law Society’s expert Public and Administrative Law Committee and regularly publishes and presents at conferences in New Zealand and internationally.