Merata Kawharu is a graduate of The University of Auckland (BA in Social Anthropology and Māori Studies and Post-Graduate Diploma in Business (Administration)) and of Oxford University (DPhil in Social Anthropology).

Associate Professor Amokura Kawharu holds a BA/LLB (Hons) degree from the University of Auckland and an LLM with a major in international law from the University of Cambridge. She has worked as a practising lawyer and as an academic and is currently President of the New Zealand Law Commission.