Thursday 28 August 2025
This year, during the July school holidays, Tabitha Snowsill (Year 13, Marion Bruce) and William Glover (Year 13, Peart) were invited to participate in AUT’s Shadow a Leader programme.
This programme offered New Zealand leaders the opportunity to be shadowed for a day by an AUT business or law student and a Year 13 secondary school student. This was a fantastic opportunity for our students to join the programme which helps our tamariki become leaders of tomorrow by learning from industry experts.
Tabitha (pictured above right) spent the day on 17 July at MinterEllisonRuddWatts, she writes:
“After a guided tour of the office, Chief Executive Andrew Poole gave us an energising speech in which he discussed his leadership experiences and career within the law firm.
We then joined junior lawyers at the High Court to observe some live court proceedings. This was my favourite part of the day as we observed the interactions between the judges and litigators. Seeing how lawyers act and think on their feet gave me a new, great appreciation for work in the courtrooms.
After lunch, we got a lot of useful advice on CVs and interviews, followed by a Q&A with solicitors from a great variety of departments including, corporate, litigation, employment, banking, and more. Hearing about their journeys into law and what their roles involve gave me clarity in where I might fit in the field.
We then met Janine Stewart, the firm’s Chair, who spoke about her journey through law and what her leadership role includes. The day ended with a mock case, where we saw how lawyers construct arguments using source material.
The day gave me a massive amount of insight into legal practice and made me even more excited about a potential future in law.”
William reports:
“On Monday 14 July, I was fortunate enough to take part in the AUT ‘Shadow a Leader” programme. This programme gives an opportunity for secondary school students, with an interest in commerce subjects, to spend a day shadowing a leader at a corporate, financial or law firm/company.
The leader that I shadowed for the day was Morgan Meredith, Head of Digital Banking at Westpac NZ. During the day, I was shown what a usual day would look like for a manager/leader at a corporate business like Westpac. I was able to get an insight into the variety of meetings, tasks and projects that a manager was needing to complete daily.
The day included attending meetings with Morgan, which was insightful as there were a total of 8 meetings throughout the day. The meetings covered a variety of topics, ranging from a weekly check in for minor tasks, to meetings about major updates/multi-year projects. This provided an insight into the constant amount of work and maintenance that goes into all projects, as well as skills such as prioritisation and successful ways to manage meetings.
A huge thank you to AUT and Westpac for making this unique day possible, which was filled with lots of insight into a corporate banking environment.”
Sharon Lofroth - HOD Accounting and Business Studies