New High Court chief judge commences

Attorney-General Judith Collins has announced six key judicial appointments in the Supreme Court, Court of Appeal and the High Court – including a new High Court chief judge.

High Court

Sally Fitzgerald has assumed the role of chief judge of the High Court.

She joined the Wellington office of Russell McVeagh in 1992 before moving to London in 1994, where she was admitted as a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales in 1999. She has worked with Clifford Chance and Debevoise & Plimpton. In 2001, she returned to Russell McVeagh, later becoming a partner. In 2016, she was appointed as a High Court judge.

District Court Judge Karen Grau was also appointed as a High Court judge. She initially worked as a judge’s clerk for Justice Glazebrook in the Court of Appeal. She worked as legal counsel in the Commerce Commission before commencing practice as a barrister in Stout Street Chambers in Wellington. Between 2007 and 2015, Grau worked as a Crown Prosecutor at Wellington Crown Solicitor’s Office, Luke Cunningham and Clere. In 2015, Grau joined Crown Law as a Crown Counsel in the Criminal Group. She became a District Court Judge in 2021.

Supreme Court

Forest Miller was named a judge of the Supreme Court. His legal career began in 1981 when he was admitted to the bar. He worked for Alexandra firm Bodkins Solicitors before he joined Chapman Tripp in Wellington in 1984, eventually becoming a partner in 1987. In 2004, he was appointed to the High Court bench, later assuming the role of executive judge for the Wellington circuit until 2012.

Miller transitioned to the Court of Appeal in 2013, where he spearheaded the development of electronic casebooks for use in criminal and civil jurisdictions. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Miller worked with the Ministry of Justice and the profession, leading initiatives to allow courts to operate remotely and courthouses to operate safely under various alert levels. Recognising his services to the courts, the University of Otago awarded him an honorary doctorate in 2019.

Court of Appeal

In addition, the Court of Appeal welcomed three new judges—Susan Thomas, Rebecca Ellis, and Francis Cooke.

Thomas graduated from Auckland University in 1982 and practised as a solicitor with Holmden Horrocks in Auckland before moving to London, where she was admitted as a solicitor in England and Wales. She returned to New Zealand in 1995 and joined MinterEllisonRuddWatts as a senior associate, becoming a partner the following year. She served as a District Court judge from 2005 to 2014 and was appointed to the High Court in 2014. Thomas became chief High Court judge in 2020 and led the court through the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ellis was a legal advisor with the Law Reform division of the Department of Justice from 1987 until 1992 and a senior litigation solicitor at Chapman Tripp in Wellington from 1992 to 1996. She joined the Crown Law Office as Crown Counsel in 1996 and was appointed director of Legal Services at the Ministry of Economic Development in 2004. Justice Ellis returned to the Crown Law Office in 2005, becoming a team leader of Crown Law’s Tax and Commercial Team and manager of the Crown’s Structured Finance Litigation. She joined the High Court as a judge in 2009.

Cooke worked as a foreign solicitor with Ashurst Morris Crisp in London before returning to New Zealand in 1992, where he worked for Chapman Tripp until 1994. He joined the independent bar in 1994 and acted as junior counsel assisting the Winebox Inquiry between 1994 and 1997. He was subsequently involved in a range of public law and commercial litigation and was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2004. Cooke became a High Court judge in 2018.