14 September 2005

Family Court and District Court Judge appointed

Attorney-General Michael Cullen has announced the appointment of a Family Court Judge and a District Court Judge.

Ian McHardy of Auckland has been appointed as a Family Court Judge. He will be sworn in on 4 October and will sit in Auckland.

Mr McHardy has practised as a barrister sole in Takapuna since 1993. For the previous 20 years he had been with Cairns Slane, including being the Managing Partner between 1989 and 1992. His practice has been exclusively in family law and he is currently the representative on the New Zealand Law Society Family Law Section for the North Shore Court area.

He served on the Auckland District Law Society Legal Aid Subcommittee for about 20 years, as well as on the Family Law Subcommittee. He has been involved in a pilot scheme in the North Shore Family Court for parental education and is a member of the North Shore Elder Abuse Panel. Outside the law he has had a long association with rugby coaching in Auckland and North Harbour and is currently a Director on the Board of North Harbour Rugby.

The new District Court Judge is Tom Broadmore of Wellington. Mr Broadmore will be sworn in on 14 October and will sit in Wellington.

Mr Broadmore has been practising as a barrister since 1998, after 21 years as a partner in Chapman Tripp. His practice has been primarily in civil litigation. Much of his practice has been in maritime law in particular, and in insurance work. He served as Federal President of the Maritime Law Association of Australia and New Zealand from 1997 – 2000, only the second New Zealander to hold the position in the Association’s 30-year history.

He has had considerable experience in mediations and arbitrations, primarily as counsel. He has been involved in legal aid administration for many years and a long time faculty member, and Director in 2004, of the New Zealand Law Society’s Litigation Skills programme.

ENDS

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