Appointment of Judge of the High Court

Wellington Queen’s Counsel Karen Clark has been appointed a Judge of the High Court, Attorney‑General Christopher Finlayson announced today.

Justice Clark graduated with an LLB from Victoria University in 1986 and joined the Crown Law Office as a Crown Counsel Assistant. She was appointed Crown Counsel in 1988 and spent six years leading the Office’s public commercial team before becoming a Deputy Solicitor-General in 2002.

In 2007 Justice Clark went to the independent bar and was appointed Queen’s Counsel that same year. 

Justice Clark has managed several large scale litigation cases, including the land‑mark 198-day trial of proceedings brought by the Statutory Managers of the Equiticorp Group. She also represented the Director of Security in the long-running Ahmed Zaoui litigation.

She has appeared before inquiries involving significant public interest issues, including the Coronial Inquiry into the circumstances of the deaths of those who died in the CTV Building and the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Pike River Coal Mine Tragedy.

Justice Clark is a member of the New Zealand Council of Legal Education and the New Zealand Council of Law Reporting. She is also recognised as a Special Advocate under the Immigration Act.

The new Judge will sit in Wellington.