Mai Chen: putting a superdiversity lens on business, government and life.

Mai Chen is a super-high achieving, super productive, highly intelligent, go-getting human being with a long list of awards, achievements, publications and accolades. She arrived in New Zealand from Taiwan at an early age, and has experienced racism in many forms – even now after all these years. Her views on race, diversity and equality are strong, clear and something you should hear.

Podcast introduction:

If you’ve not encountered our next interviewee before, I’ll need to provide some context. She is a super-high achieving, super productive, highly intelligent, go-getting powerhouse of a human being. But you need to understand the scale of her achievements so far.

Mai Chen is a New Zealand and Harvard educated lawyer with a career-long focus in constitutional and administrative law, public law tools, judicial review, the Waitangi Tribunal, human rights (especially matters of equality and inclusion), and law reform and public policy. She is now a barrister. For over 15 years she was in partnership with former New Zealand Prime Minister the Rt Hon. Sir Geoffrey Palmer QC in their law firm Chen Palmer and after Sir Geoffrey left to head up the NZ Law Commission, Mai bought out Sir Geoffrey’s share, opening an Auckland office. Under Mai’s leadership, Chen Palmer won Best Boutique Law Firm in 2010, and Best Public Law Firm in the New Zealand Law Awards from 2007 to 2011, and 2013, and was a finalist in the Employment Law Awards in 2011.

Mai was an adjunct professor at the University of Auckland School of Law, and an adjunct professor at the university’s Business School. She was also the Chair of New Zealand Asian Leaders, SUPERdiverse WOMEN and the Superdiversity Institute for Law, Policy and Business, all of which she founded. She is currently the President of NZ Asian Lawyers which she founded. Mai has served on numerous boards and foundations, such as the Bank of New Zealand where she chaired the People and Remuneration Committee, and the NZ Securities Commission as well as being President of the Harvard New Zealand Alumni Association (NZ) for eight years.

Mai chaired a tri-departmental Government Review of the Policy concerning Women in Combat which examined the exemption in section 16(2) of the Human Rights Act 1977 for the preferential treatment based on sex within the armed forces in active combat roles. The Inquiry’s recommendations were adopted which resulted in this exemption being dropped in the updated Human Rights Act in 1993.

Mai Chen has an impressively long list of voluntary work. She has a longer list of honours and prizes, winning multiple scholarships and awards at university: she was awarded Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws from Otago University in December 2023, the university’s 150th anniversary year. Mai’s impressive achievements started in her youth: in 1980 she was the New Zealand Jaycees National Speech Champion (a mere 10 years after arriving in New Zealand with no English), and the following year at Otago Girls High School Mai was recognised as Dux, Head Girl and Best All Round Student. In 2016 Mai was a finalist for New Zealander of the year – just one of many awards she has been shortlisted for or has won. In the same year she was included in the Global Diversity List of 50 Diversity Figures in Public Life, an accolade supported by the Economist.

As a scholar, Mai Chen boasts a list which is many pages long of books, publications, articles and papers which she has authored, edited and published, including one textbook which New Zealand law students study as the definitive authority on public law in NZ – a volume co-written with Sir Geoffrey Palmer.

Mai is married with a son. Her Chinese name is Chen Mingmei.

In this episode you’ll hear about what has driven Mai on her incredible journey. You’ll also hear about a big shift in pace and focus, and how that is impacting the quality of the work she is doing in (as she puts it) the second half of her life.

Welcome to the extraordinary world of Mai Chen.

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