New Zealand's first Chief Coroner (recently retired), Judge Neil MacLean will deliver this year's Harkness Henry Lecture at the University of Waikato on Tuesday, 8 September 2015.

Entitled "The Vision and the Reality", Judge MacLean's address will include reflections on the origins and development of the office of Coroner, 15 years after the Law Commission report in August 2000 on Coroners.

Judge MacLean grew up, was educated, and practised law in Christchurch until his appointment as a District Court Judge in 1993. He was appointed first Chief Coroner in 2007 and was tasked with implementing the Coroners Act 2006 which came into force on 1 July 2007.

Honoured by Canterbury University with an honorary Doctor of Laws in 2013, Judge MacLean was also made a Companion of the Queen's Service Order in 2015. Following retirement from the role of Chief Coroner in February 2015, he was appointed as a full-time Acting warranted Judge sitting on ACC appeals to the District Courts.