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Judicial Appointments
Our congratulations go to the following ADLS members who were appointed to the judiciary during the 12 months to 30 September 2019.
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Auckland Barrister Tracey Walker was appointed a Judge of the High Court and will sit in Auckland.
Justice Walker graduated with a BA and an LLB from the University of Auckland in 1988 and began her legal career at Simpson Grierson. In 1991 she obtained an LLM from the University of London, and returned to New Zealand, re-joining Simpson Grierson in 1992. Justice Walker became a partner of Simpson Grierson in 1997, spending 16 years as a litigation specialist in general dispute resolution and intellectual property, followed by three years as a consultant Special Counsel with a focus on media and intellectual property litigation. In January 2019 she joined the Auckland Bar, co-founding Sangro Chambers.
Wellington Queen’s Counsel David Goddard was appointed a Judge of the High Court and the Court of Appeal.
Justice Goddard graduated with a BA (Hons) in mathematics from Victoria University of Wellington in 1983, subsequently gaining a BA (Hons) in law in 1986 from Oxford University in England, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar. Having lectured in law at Bristol University, Justice Goddard returned to New Zealand in 1988 to practise as a lawyer at Chapman Tripp. He was a litigation partner at that firm from 1991 to 1998, before beginning practice as a barrister sole in 1999. He was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2003.
Justice Goddard has been a member of the Commonwealth Secretariat Arbitral Tribunal since May 2011, and Acting President of the Tribunal since February 2018. He has had extensive involvement in law reform in New Zealand and overseas, advising ministers and government agencies and representing New Zealand in bilateral and multilateral negotiations.
He is currently chairing a multilateral treaty process under the auspices of the Hague Conference on Private International Law, developing a convention on recognition and enforcement of judgments.
He was a Vice President of the Diplomatic Conference that adopted the Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements in 2003, and a member of the drafting committee for that Treaty.
Justice Goddard has more recently been undertaking research at New York University as a Senior Global Fellow from Practice and Government in the Hauser Global Law School.
Auckland solicitor Melinda Dickey was appointed as an Environment Court Judge and District Court Judge to serve in Auckland.
Judge Dickey has been a partner at Brookfields Lawyers since 1996. She specialises in all aspects of resource management and environmental law. Since 2013 she has acted for Auckland Council providing advice and attending hearings on the Auckland Unitary Plan. This work has included various Environment Court and High Court proceedings. She also has extensive experience in advising on infrastructure projects and planning instruments for a number of local authorities.
La-Verne King of Taemaro, Te Tai Tokerau was appointed as a District Court Judge in Northland, with jurisdiction as a Family Court Judge.
Judge King, whose iwi include Ngatikahu ki Whangaroa and Ngati Paoa, was admitted to the Bar in 1989. In 1994, along with Judge Ida Malosi and Ali’imuamua Sandra Alofivae, she established the first Māori and Pasifika women law firm, KAM Legal. Judge Sharyn Otene commenced her legal career there.
In 2007, Judge King returned to the Far North and went on to establish Doubtless Bay Law Ltd in response to the many and varied legal needs of the local community. She was appointed as Youth Advocate in 1992, Counsel for Child in 1994, District Inspector for Mental Health in 2003 and Visiting Justice in 2009. In August 2018, she was appointed a member of the Independent Panel considering the 2014 Family Justice Reforms.
