Appointment of Judges of the High Court

Environment Court Judge Melanie Harland and Wellington Queen’s Counsel Andru Isac have been appointed Judges of the High Court, sitting in Auckland and Wellington respectively, Attorney‑General David Parker announced today.

Justice Harland graduated with a BA in 1984 and an LLB in 1985 from the University of Auckland, and began her career as a staff solicitor at Meredith Connell in Auckland.  In 1987 Justice Harland moved to take up a staff solicitor role at McCaw Lewis in Hamilton, subsequently becoming an associate and then joining the partnership of that firm.

In 2007 Justice Harland was appointed a District Court Judge sitting in Hamilton with jury and general warrants.  In 2008 she was appointed an alternate Environment Court Judge to assist with Resource Management Act prosecutions in the District Court.  Justice Harland was appointed a full‑time Environment Court Judge in Auckland in 2009.

Justice Isac graduated with a BA and an LLB (Hons) from the University of Canterbury in 1994 and commenced practice as a solicitor with Chapman Tripp in Wellington.  He then spent several years as a Crown Prosecutor with Preston Russell in Invercargill, before travelling to the United Kingdom in 1998, where he completed a Bachelor of Civil Law at the University of Oxford. 

Justice Isac returned to New Zealand in 2001 and spent three years as a Lecturer in Law at the University of Canterbury, before joining Fitzherbert Rowe in Palmerston North as a litigation partner in 2004. 

In 2013 Justice Isac joined the partnership of Gibson Sheat in Wellington, before moving to the bar, where he practised in public, commercial and criminal litigation.  He was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2018.