Lorenza Emily Preston Henderson is a New Zealand politician and

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

in the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

for the Labour Party.

Biography

Henderson has lived in

Whangārei Whangārei () is the northernmost city in New Zealand and the regional capital of Northland Region. It is part of the Whangarei District, Whangārei District, a local body created in 1989 from the former Whangārei City, Whangārei County and ...

since the age of seven. She attended Kaurihohore Primary, Whangarei Intermediate and Tikipunga High School. She completed a

Master of Jurisprudence Master of Jurisprudence is sometimes used as an alternative name for both Master of Laws and Master of Juridical Science. Offered within United States law schools, students of a Master of Jurisprudence (abbreviated as M.J. and/or M.Jur.), curriculu ...

at the

University of Auckland , mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work , established = 1883; years ago , endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021) , chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant , vice_chancellor = Dawn F ...

in 1997 and a PhD titled ''Cross-examination: a critical examination'' at the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

in 2001. Before becoming a Member of Parliament in 2020, she worked as a consultant at the law firm Henderson Reeves, which was co-founded by her father. Her legal area of specialty is the

Family Court Family courts were originally created to be a Court of Equity convened to decide matters and make orders in relation to family law, including custody of children, and could disregard certain legal requirements as long as the petitioner/plaintif ...

Political career

Henderson was approached to stand in the electorate for the Labour Party in , but declined, because her children were too young. She was selected as Labour's candidate for the election. The preliminary results released after the election night count placed her 164 votes behind the incumbent MP,

National National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

Shane Reti Shane Raymond Reti (born 5 June 1963) is a New Zealand politician and a member of the New Zealand House of Representatives, first elected at the 2014 general election. He is a member of the New Zealand National Party and served as its deputy ...

. The closeness of the initial figures meant that Henderson attended induction events for new MPs. When the final results were released after the counting of special votes, Henderson had overtaken Reti to win the seat by 431 votes, and hence became a Member of Parliament. In her first term, Henderson was appointed as a member of the Justice Committee and the Social Services and Community Committee. Henderson chaired a sub-committee of the Conversion Practices Prohibition Legislation and voted in favour of the bill. On 17 March, Henderson announced that she would retire from Parliament at the 2023 New Zealand general election in order to return to her legal career, focusing on court reform and sexual violence. Henderson also claimed credit for establishing Sexual Violence Courts, lobbying for government funding to rebuild

Whangarei Hospital The Northland District Health Board (Northland DHB or NDHB) is a district health board with the focus on providing healthcare to the Northland Region of New Zealand. In July 2022, the Northland DHB was merged into the national health service Te ...

and state housing projects in Whangarei.

Legal career

Henderson, a former crown prosecutor, was awarded a fellowship from the New Zealand Law Foundation in 2012 to research the reform of cross examination. The resulting paper, "Expert witnesses under examination in the New Zealand criminal and family courts", was published in March 2013.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Henderson, Emily Living people New Zealand Labour Party MPs Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives New Zealand MPs for North Island electorates Women members of the New Zealand House of Representatives University of Auckland alumni Candidates in the 2020 New Zealand general election New Zealand women lawyers Year of birth missing (living people)