Our latest Chief Justice sworn in
Dame Helen Winkelmann has been sworn in as the country’s new Chief Justice.
Winkelmann, 56, replaces Dame Sian Elias who retired last Friday after almost 20 years as New Zealand’s top judge.
The senior Supreme Court judge, Sir William Young, swore in Dame Helen who took the judicial oath and the oath of office in English and te reo yesterday.
Sir William said the job of organising the judges was not much formally defined, and was conventionally compared to herding cats.
As Chief Justice, Dame Helen becomes the head of the judiciary – the third branch of Government.
The first Chief Justice, Sir William Martin, in 1841 had only himself to organise but Dame Helen, the 13th Chief Justice and the second woman to hold the role, leads more than 250 people, Attorney-General David Parker said.
New Zealand Law Society president Kathryn Beck said Dame Helen was leading the judiciary in a time of rapid change and that was perfect for her because she had never been afraid to do things differently.
Winkelmann had faced adversity and did not have an easy path to the law. She had empathy and did not hold back from calling a spade a spade, Beck said.
Queens Counsel, Kate Davenport, speaking for the New Zealand Bar Association, said it was a time of great challenge when access to justice was at risk and ordinary people had been priced out of the legal market.
A right to access justice was of no use if you couldn’t afford to exercise it, Davenport said.
The speakers unusually included one from outside the legal profession, with Auckland City Missioner Chris Farrelly speaking on behalf of the community.
A survey had shown the justice system was among the eight key drivers trapping people in hardship, he said. The act of fining or imprisoning someone affected more than just that one person.
Dame Helen said the Supreme Court, which she leads, was one of the ways in which access to justice had already been improved, especially for criminal cases, with greater numbers of cases being heard than was ever possible when the Privy Council in London was the top court.
But significant and troubling obstacles to access justice remained, she said.
Innovation would come, but the effective administration of justice relied on human interactions. Many of them needed to be face-to-face in courthouses where lawyers could meet clients and judges could see and talk with defendants.
Courthouses represented the presence of law in towns throughout New Zealand, she said.