• New Hastings-based judge appointed

New Hastings-based judge appointed

Hamilton coroner Gordon Matenga has been appointed as a District Court Judge with jury jurisdiction to be based in Hastings.

Mr Matenga’s iwi affiliations are to Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Rongomaiwahine and Ngāti Porou. He was a partner in Preston Matenga from 1990 to 2000, a sole practitioner from 2000 to 2004 and a partner in Foster Matenga Milroy from 2004 to 2007, focussing on criminal law, civil law and Māori issues.

Mr Matenga worked as a part-time coroner in Hamilton from 1996 to 2007, and from 2007, as a full-time coroner in the Waikato and Bay of Plenty regions.

Judge Matenga will be sworn in on 19 March 2020 in Hamilton.

Meanwhile, Havelock North barrister and solicitor Alison McLeod has been appointed as a District Court Judge with a Family Court warrant, to be based in Invercargill.

Ms McLeod was admitted in 1997 and practiced family and criminal law in Porirua. In 2001 Ms McLeod joined Callinicos Hayward in Napier.  Ms McLeod returned to Porirua in 2003 and commenced work with Catriona Doyle Law Offices.  In 2006 Ms McLeod commenced practice on her own account in Tauranga and in 2010 returned to Hawkes Bay and set up McLeod Hart Law Ltd where, aside from two sojournments with Oranga Tamariki as a Senior Solicitor, she has since practised.

Ms McLeod’s work has included all aspects of family law including care and protection, PPPR, relationship property, and Hague Convention cases.  Ms McLeod is a LEADR trained mediator.  More recently Ms McLeod’s work has focused on complex lawyer for child and counsel to assist matters.

Ms McLeod has been a trustee of Birthright Hawkes Bay, a member of the Hastings Care and Protection Resource Panel and is currently a member of the Standards Committee of the Hawkes Bay branch of NZLS and is the Hawkes Bay representative of the Family Law Section.

Judge McLeod will be sworn in on 20 March 2020 in Hastings.

The two judicial appointments are among 14 new judged named by Attorney-General David Parker today. Seven more judges will be announced later this year, he said.

“The new judges will help manage the increasing workload in the District Court, improve access to justice and reduce the toll that long delays have on those accessing the courts,” Minister Parker said.

“It will also mean victims of crime and their families will be able to have their day in court sooner.”

 

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