Hon Judith Collins KC
Attorney-General

Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of six lay members of the High Court under the Commerce Act 1986.

Lay members assist the Court in cases involving appeals from decisions of the Commerce Commission and in other matters under the Commerce Act. They also play a key role in ensuring expert evidence on complex competition or regulation issues is properly understood, tested and assessed by the Court.

The new members are:

Professor Martin Richardson

Prof Richardson is Emeritus Professor of Economics at the Australian National University in Canberra, and his research focuses on international trade and applied microeconomics. He previously taught at Georgetown University and the University of Otago, and was a lay member of the High Court from 2001 to 2022.

Dr Darryn Abraham

Dr Abraham is former director of economics consulting firm Acacia CRE Pty Ltd, which he founded in 2005. He is a former lay member of the New Zealand High Court (2017-2022) and former lay member of the Australian Competition Tribunal (2011-2023). While currently retired, his areas of expertise are primarily public utility pricing and regulatory economics.

Dr Richard Meade

Dr Meade is Principal Economist at economic consultancy firm Cognitus Advisory Services Ltd, Adjunct Associate Professor of Economics at Griffiths University and Senior Research Fellow at the Auckland University of Technology. He has nearly 20 years’ experience in both theoretical and empirical analysis of competition and industrial organisation matters, following an earlier career in investment banking. Dr Meade is also the Immediate Past President of the Law and Economics Association of New Zealand and peer reviewer of various industrial organisation and economic journals. He has experience giving expert evidence for litigation/arbitration before courts and tribunals.

Philip Barry

Mr Barry is co-founder and director of TDB Advisory Ltd and has decades of experience providing economic and financial advice in the public and private sectors. He serves on the International Monetary Fund’s panel of Fiscal Experts specialising in state-owned enterprise governance and financial risk management. Mr Barry has experience as an expert witness on economic and financial matters to the High Court and Environment Court, and has advised in and conducted private arbitration processes.

Edward Willett

Mr Willett has considerable knowledge and experience of economics and law relating to competition and utility regulation, including its industry-specific application to the energy, telecommunications, water and transport sectors. Mr Willett is currently working as an economic consultant in Australia, specialising in competition policy and regulation. He is also a parttime Associate Commissioner (non-resident) at the Papua New Guinea Independent Consumer and Competition Commission, having been first appointed in March 2015. Before this he served as Commissioner of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

Professor Hendrik Berkman

Professor Berkman has been Professor of Finance in the Department of Accounting and Finance at the University of Auckland since 2008, where his research interests include market microstructure, asset pricing and corporate governance. He was adjunct director at Arthur Andersen Global Corporate Finance, and he serves on the board of the Guardians of New Zealand Superannuation.

© Scoop Media