Auckland barrister and solicitor Dani Lee Gardiner has been appointed an Associate Judge of the High Court.

Since 2018 she has been General Counsel, heading Auckland Council’s in-house legal, risk and insurance department. She will sit in Auckland.

Associate Judge Gardiner was admitted as a barrister and solicitor in October 1995 after graduating LLB(Hons) from the University of Otago. She began legal practice with Phillips Fox as a solicitor and worked there until 1997 when she moved to London and practised as a senior solicitor with Herbert Smith Freehills.

Returning to New Zealand at the end of 2001, she worked as a senior solicitor with Chapman Tripp until December 2008. Associate Judge Gardiner completed an LLM with first class honours in Public Law at the University of Auckland in 2012 and worked as a Principal at Chen Palmer from February 2013 to December 2014. She began work in the Auckland Council legal team in 2015 as Manager, Public Law and was appointed General Counsel in November 2018.