A member of the New Zealand Law Society’s Rule of Law Committee and distinguished Auckland law professor, Mike Taggart, died on 13 August 2009 after a year-long battle with illness.

He was the second-youngest professor of law appointed at Auckland University when he took up that role in 1988 aged 32. He was dean of law at the university from 1992 to 1995 and the first holder of the Alexander Turner Chair in Law.

Mike Taggart was acknowledged internationally as an expert in administrative law. In 2008, he was named a Fellow of the New Zealand Academy of the Humanities (FNZAH) and he received numerous teaching awards. He was the author of numerous academic works and was honoured by a “Festschrift” – a collection of essays written by several authors to honour a distinguished jurist – published earlier this year, entitled A Simple Common Lawyer.

As well as being a member of the Rule of Law Committee since it was established early in 2008, Mike Taggart also served on the New Zealand Council of Legal Education.

This obituary was first published in LawTalk 736, 31 August 2009, page 4.