Christine French and Neil Campbell appointed Court of Appeal judges

Judith Collins, New Zealand’s attorney-general, has announced the following appointments, effective 21 November: Justice Christine French and Justice Neil Campbell in the Court of Appeal, as well as Justice Dani Gardiner and Associate Judge Paul Cogswell in the High Court. 

French, named president of the Court of Appeal, previously became a High Court judge in 2008 and a Court of Appeal judge in 2012.  

She earned her LLB (Honours) from the University of Otago in 1981 and her BCL from Oxford University on a Rhodes Scholarship. She practised in the areas of general civil litigation and employment law at French Burt Partners, beginning in 1984. She then became a partner at the Invercargill-based law firm in 1988. 

Campbell, who was previously named a High Court judge in 2020, obtained his BCom and LLB (Honours) from the University of Auckland in 1992. For two years, he worked at Bell Gully Buddle Weir in Auckland. 

In the U.K., he earned his LLM (First Class) from the University of Cambridge and lectured at the University of Nottingham. Upon his return to New Zealand in 1995, he became an associate professor at the University of Auckland Faculty of Law. 

He mixed his academic career with his part‑time practice at the bar starting in 1998 and shifted toward full‑time practice in 2008. He was named Queen’s counsel in 2013. 

Appointments to High Court 

Gardiner and Cogswell will sit in Auckland, according to the government’s news release. 

Gardiner, who became an associate judge of the High Court in 2020, graduated from the University of Otago with an LLB (Honours) (First Class) in 1995. She started her career as a solicitor at DLA Piper in New Zealand. 

After moving to London in 1997, she worked at Herbert Smith Freehills and received admission as a solicitor of England and Wales. She practised in commercial litigation. Upon returning to New Zealand, she practised in the areas of insurance and commercial litigation at Chapman Tripp in Auckland, beginning in 2002. 

She obtained an LLM (Honours) from the University of Auckland in 2013 and practised public law from 2013–14. As an independent director of boutique fund and wealth managers from 2014–20, she has held corporate governance roles in the financial services sector. 

She started working for the Auckland Council in 2015. There, she managed the public law team, became general counsel, then headed its in-house legal, risk, and insurance department from 2018–20. 

Cogswell earned his LLB from the University of Auckland in 1992. In 2001, he became a partner in the litigation and dispute resolution team of Hesketh Henry Lawyers, an Auckland-based law firm. 

In 2006, he co-founded the firm cogswell+jaduram, where was a partner until 2013. He then served as principal of Cogswell Law until 2022, a role in which he offered litigation and dispute resolution advice. 

He has held a judicial warrant as an adjudicator for the Weathertight Homes Tribunal since 2010 and has been the tribunal’s chair since 2022. He likewise held a judicial warrant as a foundation member of the Canterbury Earthquakes Insurance Tribunal, which resolves earthquake claims in Canterbury. 

Since 2022, he has been a barrister sole at FortyEight Shortland Barristers, where he has practised in the areas of litigation and dispute resolution and building and construction law.