Paper on Five Eyes, spies, and international ties flies high

The protection of classified information throughout the Five Eyes intelligence network is examined in an award-winning paper by Faculty of Law alumnus Nicholas Goldstein, who won the 2022 Law and Economics Association of New Zealand (LEANZ) essay competition this month.

Nick's paper, titled 'Five-Eyes, Spies and International Ties: A Common Whistleblowing Regime', explores the dynamics between Five Eyes intelligence agency member nations, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

"I came up with the idea for the paper one night while watching the movie Official Secrets which is about the 2003 conflict in Iraq. I had the idea and the paper sort of just came to life from there!"

Nick’s work delves into the protection of classified information throughout the Five Eyes intelligence network and predicts that the states in the network will enact broadly equivalent legal standards to protect their classified information.

The paper argues that the particular nature of information has interesting implications for the law concerning whistle-blowers in Five Eyes states, through an analogy to global intellectual property law.

Nick, who graduated with a conjoint Bachelor of Commerce and a Bachelor of Laws (Hons) this year, and is now working in management consulting in Melbourne, says he was thrilled to win first prize in the essay competition.

“It was a real privilege to be involved in the competition, and I can't thank LEANZ enough for all the work they put into it."

Meanwhile, fellow Faculty of Law alumnus Connor Browne was named commendable runner-up in the LEANZ competition with his paper, 'Life's Not Fair, but Pharmac is: Defending Pharmac from its Critics'.

His award-winning work delves into the country’s sole pharmaceutical purchaser, which is currently under review.

Within the paper, Connor contextualises the current review and Pharmac's history under the public choice model and attempts to address its most common criticisms.

Connor completed his conjoint Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Laws this year and is currently working as a judges' clerk at the Auckland High Court.

Every year LEANZ, an organisation dedicated to advancing the understanding of law and economics within New Zealand, holds an essay competition for undergraduate and postgraduate university students or recent graduates.