Auckland barrister Debra Bell has been appointed a coroner.

Ms Bell fills the vacancy creatred when Judge Deborah Marshall was appointed Chief Coroner earlier in 2015. She joints the four other coroners serving Auckland.

Admitted as a barrister and solicitor in January 1998, Ms Bell has practised as a barrister sole since 2013. Before that she was a partner at Meredith Connell for eight years, also working there as a legal executive. Earlier in her career she was a Deputy Registrar at Henderson District Court.

Ms Bell will be sworn in as a coroner on 6 August 2015.