New District Court Judge

The Minister of Justice, Hon D.A.M. Graham, today announced the appointment of Auckland Barrister Arthur Irwin Manning Tompkins as a District Court Judge.

Judge Tompkins will be sworn in at the Auckland District Court on 30 April and will sit in Auckland.

Judge Tompkins graduated LL.B (Hons) from the University of Canterbury in 1983 and LL.M (Hons) from Cambridge University in 1984. He was admitted to the Bar in 1983.

Judge Tompkins has been in practice as a Barrister Sole, specialising in commercial litigation, since 1987. Prior to that he practised as a Barrister and Solicitor in Otahuhu and Hamilton.

In 1990 and 1991 he was a part-time lecturer at the Faculty of Law, University of Auckland, teaching law of evidence and in 1986 he was a half-time lecturer at the Commerce Faculty teaching introduction to law.

He was appointed a member of the Serious Fraud Office prosecutors panel in 1996.

Judge Tompkins is the co-author of the NZ Law Society booklet Evidentiary Issues and he has published articles on commercial law topics including mediation and international arbitration.