Former Christchurch lawyer and judge in Hong Kong, Ross Penlington, has died in Taupo aged 70.

Born in Christchurch he graduated LLB from the University of Canterbury and practised in his father’s (Cedric Penlington) firm, Harper Pascoe & Co. In 1959 he went to Western Samoa as a legal officer and was acting Attorney-General at its independence in 1962.

Ross Penlington moved to Hong Kong as Crown counsel in 1964 and became a Hong Kong district court judge in 1977, a High Court judge there in 1980, and as a Justice of Appeal from 1986 until he retired to Taupo in 1995. He is survived by his wife and two daughters.

This obituary was first published in LawTalk 565, 16 July 2001, page 4.