Observing a trial in the wake of a near-fatal stabbing attack convinced law student Michele Wilkinson-Smith she should be a prosecutor rather than a defence lawyer.

“I was in the ski club at university and during one working party weekend one of our members was stabbed… I was there… Fortunately he survived and there was a trial...”

Name

Michele Marina (Michele) Wilkinson-Smith

Born

Auckland. 

Age

46. 

Entry to law

Graduated LLB(Hons) from Auckland University in 1993. Admitted in 1993. 

Workplace

Crown Solicitor at Whanganui. 

Speciality area

Criminal law.

“I was in my second or third year at law school and went to watch the trial… I thought, who’s the person who is not the defence lawyer???

“I worked out it was the prosecutor, which made me realise that prosecutors existed…

“Because I looked about 15 at the time and was female, I thought who is going to want me to defend them… But the police will have me if I am a prosecutor… So I always had that in the back of my mind…”

With now more than 20 years experience in criminal defence and prosecution work, Michele took up her new appointment as Crown Solicitor in Whanganui on 1 December 2016.

As a member of the Manawatu Crown prosecution panel, a member of the legal aid review panel, a visiting prison justice and commuting between Whanganui and Auckland where she and her lawyer husband Chris ran a busy defence practice alongside crime barrister Lorraine Smith – and bringing up four children – life has been busy.

[Michele devoted two years of her life working alongside Lorraine Smith to defend Chris Kahui, who was acquitted of the murder of his three-month old twin sons Chris and Cru.]

The family have been living in Whanganui for five years.

“We wanted to move back earlier but our defence practice in Auckland is quite busy so basically we have been commuting for five years… I have also been doing some panel prosecuting in Palmerston North, so my work has been half prosecuting and half defending…

“I’m probably the only lawyer in New Zealand doing both… I have loved it… It doesn’t make any difference to me, lawyers do it in the UK all the time and it is really good for perspective…”

They live close to Chris’s parents' farm where they plan to move next year as they and friends prepare to have a go at growing truffles.

“We set aside five acres on the farm which is being limed and prepared… I don’t know if they will grow here but we are giving it a go… Truffles are growing in New Zealand and we need a whole lot of people growing them so we can have a Fonterra version of truffles and sell them in bulk overseas…

“When I graduated I really wanted to be a litigator but there were not a lot of litigator jobs for women in 1993… Things have changed… Then I wanted to be a Crown prosecutor…”

“I wrote to every Crown Solicitor in the North Island and asked if they needed a junior… I got about 4 replies…

“Meredith Connell said come and see us in 18 months, Ben Vanderkolk in Palmerston North was interested but Crown Solicitor Tim Brewer (now Justice Brewer) in New Plymouth gave me an interview and offered me a job at Auld Brewer Mazengarb and McEwan…

“I started there in 1993 and did my first jury trial eight months later…”

Michele stayed with the firm for 12 years and became a partner. “I thought I would be a prosecutor for ever and never do defence work…”

"We like the provincial lifestyle ... it's a better lifestyle..." 

Chris and Michele returned to Auckland and started up a defence practice but were always keen to move back to Whanganui.

“We have four children, two girls and two boys, aged 13, 12, 9 and 7… We like the provincial lifestyle… it’s a better lifestyle…

“Our oldest daughter is fighting against what looks like her fate at the moment… She’s in the senior debating team, has brilliant marks in history and English and swearing to me she will never be a lawyer… But I could get her office ready now - I think she will be…”

Two of Michele’s great uncles were English solicitors who did law at Cambridge.

“I have a letter one of them wrote when my grandfather was trying to patent a toy.…

“It was July 1940 when the great uncle wrote back to him: “The state of war which existed at the time Mr Geddes called upon me has become worse from the point of view of dealing with a business such as this. Everyone at present is devoting his energies to preparing a warm reception for the Germans when they attempt to invade England, Yours sincerely…

“In other words, b*gger off… I have it framed on the wall…

“The whole family is into skiing… Chris and I did a lot of travelling when we were younger… Last year we hired a massive campervan in Los Angeles and wound our way up to San Francisco and Yosemite National Park…

“Next year we are going on a shortened trip to Europe for about four weeks with the children… Starting in London and then to Nottingham where Dad’s family are from… Then to Paris and a typical European tour for the children… Probably hire a car, might get the fast train to Paris, and do a canal boat cruise…

“I have spent 25 years trying to learn French, from starting young at Baradene College in Auckland, and we have spent a bit of time in France and I have gone to Alliance Francaise to pick it up…

“My 13-year old daughter started reading Louis de Bernieres’ Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, so I read it to see if it was appropriate and liked it…

“I grab orange Penguin classics, they are good reads… Evelyn Waugh is my favourite author and his Brideshead Revisited is my favourite book… We have a massive library at home… I look up what books have come out and see what gets a good write up…

“I’m not musical but we are a musical house - two kids learn the piano and Chris plays the piano, guitar and sings… by ear and quite well…

“I like art and love painting – acrylics and oils – I don’t do much now but it’s one of those things you think you will get back into one day… I have done mainly animals and still life… If I painted now it would be plants and flowers…

“I drive a black 2007 Audi A4, which is a little bit conspicuous around Whanganui because it’s the only one…

“I didn’t like maths at school but they said I was quite clever so do you want to be a lawyer or a doctor???

“If I considered an alternative career it would probably be medicine….

“The thing I like about the job I do is the fact it matters and you are making a difference to people… I don’t think I would like any job that didn’t have that and I like the element of public service…

“There’s a lot at stake in law, people’s lives are being affected… It is important in that regard… It doesn’t matter which side you are on, it is important…

“It gets you out of bed in the morning and keeps you from getting bored… and you need that in any job…

“I was given a good brain by good luck and some things come quite easily to me - law school came quite easily to me… I think I feel an obligation… if you have some talents you should use them…

“I would have the Queen round for dinner… I’ve been watching the TV drama series The Crown… and Roald Dahl - I have always wanted to meet him - Abraham Lincoln and Lord Denning – he is hilarious… And my husband…

“All my guests would be at my age to capture them at that stage of their lives… They would be served eye fillet…

“My two sons are completely cricket mad and often think they would agree with Lord Denning’s 1977 judgment (Miller v Jackson) on a cricket club whose “newcomer” neighbours complained about cricket balls coming over their fence - he found for the 70-year old cricket club…”

[Former Master of the Rolls Lord Alfred Denning’s judgment in Miller v Jackson [1977] QB 966 is regarded as a fine piece of writing about cricket, with the law almost a passing aside. It followed from a 1951 case of Bolton v Stone [1951] UKHL 2 when an action brought by a “timorous” Miss Stone, who was injured by a ball hit from a cricket ground next to her home, foundered.]

Timaru-based Jock Anderson has been writing and commenting on New Zealand lawyers and New Zealand's courts for most of his career in journalism. Read more of his law-related news with a touch of humour on Jock’s website www.caseload.co.nz and on his Facebook page. Contact Jock at jockanderson123@gmail.com.