Environment Court Judge appointed

Auckland barrister David Kirkpatrick has been appointed an Environment Court Judge and District Court Judge to sit in Auckland, Attorney-General Christopher Finlayson announced today. 

Mr Kirkpatrick has been a barrister sole since July 2004. He specialises in administrative and public law generally, and resource management law in particular. He appears regularly before consent authorities, the Environment Court, and High Court. He has also appeared before the Court of Appeal, the Privy Council, and the Supreme Court.

From 1994 to 2004 Mr Kirkpatrick was a partner in the Local Government and Environment practice area of Simpson Grierson. In that role he was the primary legal advisor to a number of local authorities in the Auckland region in regard to public administration, the regulation of public utilities and resource management. He has also acted for a wide range of corporate clients, incorporated societies and individuals in those fields. In 2008-09 he acted as counsel assisting the Royal Commission on Auckland Governance. 

He has presented numerous conference and seminar papers relating to resource management and local government law, and is a contributing author of the chapter on “Land Use and Subdivision – Resource Consent Procedures, Designations and Appeals” in Environmental and Resource Management Law, now in its fourth edition.

Judge Kirkpatrick will be sworn in on 3 February 2014 at Auckland.