New Year’s Honours
The following members and former members of the legal profession were awarded honours in the New Year’s Honours List.
Justice Graham Panckhurst QC, of Christchurch, was made a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to the judiciary.
Peter Williams QC, of Auckland, was made a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to the law.
Murray McCully, of Wellington, was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to foreign policy.
Dr Susan Hickey, of Auckland, was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to people with disabilities.
Thomas Pryde, of Queenstown, was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to sport and the community.
Penelope Ridings, of Wellington, was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to the State.
Susannah Staley, of Dunedin, was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to governance.
Judge Anthony Ford, of Wellington, was made a Companion of the Queen’s Service Order for services to Tonga and the judiciary.
Judge Bernard Kendall, of Auckland, was made a Companion of the Queen’s Service Order for services to the judiciary.
Dr Warren Young, of Wellington, was made a Companion of the Queen’s Service Order for services to the law.
Two people were also honoured for services to legal education. Annette Black, of Wellington, was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit and Rosemary Gordon, also of Wellington, was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit.
Emerging woman leader award winner
Auckland barrister Anita Killeen has received a New York City Commission on Human Rights Emerging Woman Leader Award.
The award was presented by the New York City Commissioner of Human Rights Patricia Gatling to Ms Killeen while Ms Killeen was in attendance as a speaker at the International Association of Prosecutors annual conference in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, in November.
The award was given in recognition for Ms Killeen’s work in establishing the Pro Bono Panel of Prosecutors for SPCA Auckland.
Ms Killeen established the Pro Bono Panel in 2009 and has chaired the panel for six years. The Pro Bono Panel comprises senior, experienced lawyers who wish to help fight the high incidence of abuse against animals in New Zealand. Each Panel member conducts prosecution cases at no charge for the SPCA.
Appointments
Auckland Queen’s Counsel Anne Hinton has been appointed a High Court Judge. Justice Hinton completed an LLB at Auckland University in 1975 and became a staff solicitor with Grierson Jackson & Partners in Auckland. In 1982 Justice Hinton joined the partnership of Hesketh Henry, working in civil litigation. She left that firm in 1989 to join the partnership of Simpson Grierson in its Auckland office and headed the civil litigation and matrimonial property team of five lawyers. Justice Hinton went to the independent bar in 1997 and was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2002. The new Judge was due to be sworn in at 4pm today (30 January) in Auckland and will sit in Auckland.
Wellington in-house lawyer Dr Mark Hickford will be Victoria University’s new Dean of Law. The university has also appointed Dr Hickford Pro-Vice Chancellor. He will take up his new position on 11 May. A public and Māori law specialist, Dr Hickford has held a range of senior management and leadership roles in the public and private sectors. This has included being in the Prime Minister’s Policy Advisory Group in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet for the past four years. Before that, he spent eight years as a Crown Counsel at the Crown Law Office, specialising in public law, the Treaty of Waitangi, Crown-Māori relations and natural resources law. Dr Hickford graduated from Auckland University with a BA and LLB (Hons) and has a doctorate from the University of Oxford.
Michael Doogan has been appointed a permanent Judge of the Māori Land Court. Mr Doogan was temporarily appointed to the court last year to help meet the workload of the Māori Land Court and the Waitangi Tribunal. Judge Doogan has worked in both private practice and central government before taking up appointments overseas. In 1998 he joined the Crown Law Office in the Treaty Issues and International Law team. He has extensive experience at both the Waitangi Tribunal and Māori Land Court.
Christchurch lawyer Anna Tutton has been appointed a Coroner. Ms Tutton succeeds retiring Christchurch Coroner, Richard McElrea. Before taking up her new role, Ms Tutton was employed by the New Zealand Police as the manager of the Lower North South legal team and acted as legal adviser to the Police response to the Pike River mine disaster. Ms Tutton has worked primarily in criminal law and legal training roles, in both government and private practice, including as a High Court judges’ clerk, assistant Crown Counsel, Crown prosecutor, senior counsel at the Commerce Commission and Deputy National Director of the Institute of Professional Legal Studies. Ms Tutton was sworn in on 26 January.
Stewart Germann has been made a Life Member of the Franchise Association of New Zealand for his contribution to franchising for over 30 years. Mr Germann is the first lawyer to be honoured with Life Member status. The Life Membership was presented at the New Zealand Franchise Awards 2014/2015 on 14 November.
Auckland University’s Professor Peter Watts has been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand (Te Apārangi). Professor Watts is one of only four RSNZ lawyer fellows in New Zealand and the only one still a full-time academic. The three retirees are Emeritus Professor Brian Coote (Auckland), Emeritus Professor John Burrows (Canterbury); and Emeritus Professor John Smillie (Otago). The late Mike Taggart was also a Fellow. Professor Watts’ election recognises his high international standing in the general area of commercial law, more especially in agency law, company law, and the law of restitution. He is one of the Commonwealth’s most distinguished researchers in agency law, which has connections to most branches of private law. Professor Watts is one of 12 New Zealanders elected as RSNZ Fellows this year and he is the first lawyer to receive the honour since the amalgamation of the New Zealand Academy of the Humanities with the Royal Society in 2010. Honorary Fellowships are aimed at encouraging liaison and collaboration between outstanding scientists and scholars of different nations with established and new initiatives in the New Zealand knowledge community.
Christchurch barrister Nigel Hampton QC has been elected (by all counsel of the International Criminal Court in The Hague) as an alternate member of the Disciplinary Appeals Board for ICC counsel. The appointment is for a term of four years from 7 December 2014.
Chapman Tripp partner Garth Gallaway has been elected chair of the Arts Foundation. A litigation partner in the firm’s Christchurch office, Garth is an avid collector of New Zealand art and it was this interest that led to his appointment as a Foundation trustee two years ago.
Wellington lawyer Joy Liddicoat has been appointed Assistant Commissioner (Policy and Operations) at the Office of the Privacy Commissioner. Joy was a Human Rights Commissioner from 2002 to 2010, having previously worked for 16 years as a lawyer in public and community sectors, specialising in public law. Since leaving the Commission, in addition to maintaining her legal practice, she has been working with the Association for Progressive Communications, a global network of civil society groups advocating for affordable access to a free and open internet and other aspects of technology-related human rights issues. She took up her new appointment on 20 January.