4 minutes to read . “When you’re running it, you’re thinking about it constantly. The District Court of New Zealand Te Kōti ā Rohe. It’s critical because the work just keeps coming,” he says. It was an interesting start for a newly-appointed judge,” he says. “From the independent bar, occasionally from law firms, the public service, occasionally from academia, bearing in mind of course that they will be spending much of their time doing criminal trial work or general civil or commercial work.”. “I found appeals from those courts very interesting because they were fields in which I had little or no prior experience,” he says. “Whether the lawyer is popular with me or what their political views are is completely irrelevant to me. Do you even have to be a litigation lawyer? That way you’ll remain rounded and balanced. If you are a party to a proceeding, you should only communicate with the judge formally and openly through the court process. You will be presiding over the murder trials, the serious drug trials, fraud trials,” he says. You will receive invitations to attend workshops and seminars to improve your skills and knowledge. A guide to Gymnastics New Zealand’s Coach and Judge Education www.gymnasticsnz.com . After all, they’ll all have similar qualities, yet they can’t all get the position. Marching New Zealand provides training for all Judges and are trained for the section they are adjudicating with qualifying levels at Trainee, Local, Regional, National and International. The cases are very much shorter because you are generally not hearing the evidence. They must be of good character, have a sound knowledge of the law and of its practice, and have a real sense of what justice means and requires in present-day New Zealand. Judges are not civil servants, they are an independent branch of Government and they need to be shown this respect. Law clerks are referred to as judge's clerks in all four levels of the New Zealand court system. Other areas of the Institute’s curriculum include programmes relating to the role of a judge with social context issues such as family violence, judge craft such as delivering judgments (written and oral), courtroom management and communication, and technical knowledge (evidence, bail and risk assessment, sentencing). But a judge has to be impartial when dealing with and weighing up the facts of a case. Women add a significant dimension to the judiciary and I’d encourage women practitioners to put their names forward and seek appointment to the bench.”. Becoming a judge involves extensive education and experience to develop the necessary skills, knowledge and abilities involved with the job. I don’t know the politics of people that I appoint. Before a case, the judge should lead a preview and agree a line of questioning. “It’s essential to the judicial function that the judge acts impartially and in some ways it is straightforward as a judge because you are not representing one side or the other as you are as counsel. The type of judgeship one is pursuing will affect the length of time it takes to become a judge. “As I used to say, it’s a bit like surfing, you have to keep on top of the wave, or you’ll fall off. Neither Justice Jagose nor Justice Van Bohemen were Queen’s Counsel before their appointments. “For a court lawyer, as I was, being a judge was the best job in the world. “It’s lonely only in the sense that at the end of the day, despite the advice from your colleagues, it is your decision that has to count and the responsibility lies with you,” he says. Mr Hastings will leave the role he has held since October 1999 to become a district court judge and chair the new Immigration and Protection Tribunal. To become a JP, Mr Wood needed letters of recommendation from several community groups. 11 years of training usually required. The retired Employment Court Judge Tony Ford was a partner at law firm Bell Gully but left the firm in 2000 and became a Judge of the Supreme Court of the Kingdom of Tonga, along with becoming the Tongan Chief Justice. Chances of becoming a judge are poor due to the small size of the occupation and high competition. It’s on your mind the whole time, such as what might I be required to rule on tomorrow, thinking about summing up, keeping on top of the evidence as it is presented and a host of things can occur during a trial that you have to rule on straight away; it’s very demanding.”. Māori Land Court | Judge’s Corner Judge S Te A Milroy Māori women judges in Aotearoa March 2016 The Treaty of Waitangi, signed in 1840 between Māori and the Crown, is the founding document of Aotearoa New Zealand. Section 94 of the Senior Courts Act 2016 states that a person can be eligible for appointment as judge or associate judge if that person has held a practising certificate in a jurisdiction specified by Order in Council for at least seven years. “Ideally, the composition of the bench should be aiming towards an equal number of both men and women on the bench. Become a member of your local Area Dressage Group (if they have separate membership) Attend one local Judges Clinic when in your area; Practical Stuff. These candidates will be interviewed, normally by the Chief District Court Judge and a couple of officials from the ministry,” the current Attorney-General Christopher Finlayson QC says. New Zealand’s way of appointing judges is no less complicated, nor is the process widely understood. Becoming a legal guardian over someone else involves filling out a number of forms and going through one or more court proceedings. Mr Finlayson says when appointing people to the bench, he looks for rich experience. “There are many who have practised in Canada, the United States, England and Australia and if they approached me with an interest in serving on the bench, and they do from time to time, then I would certainly consider that application,” he says. Justice Randerson says women often have insights that men simply don’t have. Tony Randerson recently retired from the bench. Each selection process is different, including to the various tribunals. I also wanted good commercial law experience on the bench,” Mr Finlayson says. There are further bench specific orientation programmes such as criminal jury trial, family, youth and civil,” she says. And in the civil context it comes down to whether the decision made was factually and legally correct. Sir David Gascoigne KNZM, CBE, LLM served from 3 August 2009 until 30 August 2015. Judge Laurie Newhook was Head of the New Zealand Environment Court from August 2011 until his retirement in July 2020, and a Judge of the Court from 2001.