Dunedin-based Queen's counsel Dr Royden Somerville QC is one of four ministerial appointees reappointed to the newly reconstituted University of Otago Council.

The appointments are effective from 1 January 2016, the date of the University Council's new constitution.

Dr Somerville was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1998. He has specialised in public and environmental law and has served on boards of inquiry on environmental issues.

He is a trustee of the University of Otago Foundation Trust and a Fellow of Knox College, Dunedin.  His academic qualifications include LLM and PhD (Otago) and he is an Associate of the Arbitrators' and Mediators' Institute of New Zealand.