New District Court Judge appointed

Wellington-based Crown Counsel Stephanie Brigid Edwards has been appointed a District Court Judge with a jury warrant to serve in Palmerston North, Attorney-General Christopher Finlayson announced today.

A graduate of the University of Otago, she started her legal career as a staff solicitor and then associate for two Whanganui firms, where she gained experience in criminal and family law and civil litigation (1993-97). She then managed the Public Prisons Service Legal Services Team at Corrections from 1997-2005, where she was responsible for managing civil litigation and other proceedings involving prisons and for providing legal advice to head office and prison management. Ms Edwards is presently Crown Counsel in the Criminal Team at Crown Law. She has extensive appellate advocacy experience and more recently led the office’s project to implement the Criminal Procedure Act 2011 for Crown and departmental prosecutors.

She was a member of the NZLS Legal Services Committee for two years while in private practice in Whanganui, and was on the committee of the Wellington Women Lawyers Association from 2009-2013.

Judge Edwards will be sworn in on 13 June 2014 in Wellington.