David Collins (born 18 March 1954) is a Judge of the Court of Appeal of New Zealand. He was the

Solicitor-General of New Zealand The Solicitor-General (or Solicitor General) is the second law officer of state in New Zealand. The Solicitor-General is also head of the Crown Law Office, that comprises lawyers employed to represent the Attorney-General in court proceedings in ...

from 1 September 2006 to 15 March 2012, before being made a judge of the High Court in 2012.

Education

Collins graduated from

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington ( mi, Te Herenga Waka) is a university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. The university is well know ...

with a LL.B.(Hons) (1st Class) in 1975 and an

LL.M. A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is an advanced postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in a related subject. In mos ...

in 1976. He was awarded an LL.D. by Victoria University in 1993. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Faculty of Law at Victoria University. He also has a LL.M. Judicial Studies from Duke University School of Law in the United States.

Professional qualifications

Collins was admitted to the New Zealand Bar in 1976. He was admitted to the State of Victoria Bar and the High Court of Australia Bar in 1986. He was appointed

Queen's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of ...

in 2000.

Career

Upon graduating from Victoria University in 1975, Collins took up a three-month research position at Rhyne & Rhyne in Washington DC. After this role concluded he returned to New Zealand and completed his LL.M. He commenced a two-year clerkship for the Judges of the High Court and Court of Appeal of New Zealand between 1976 and 1978. In 1979, Collins commenced practicing law in Wellington as a solicitor for

Chapman Tripp Chapman Tripp is New Zealand's largest commercial law firm. It is considered one of the "big three" law firms along with Russell McVeagh and Bell Gully. Established in New Zealand in 1875, it now has around 60 partners and roughly 200 legal staff ...

. In 1982 he was admitted to partnership in a firm that subsequently merged and is today known as Rainey Collins. He remained at the firm until 1995. In 1996 he left practice to become a

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...

. During this period he conducted several appeals before the

Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

in London. He took silk in 2000. Prior to his appointment as Solicitor-General, Collins was Chair of the Accident Compensation Commission, and Chair of the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal. Collins has served terms as President of the Wellington District Law Society, Vice-President of the New Zealand Law Society, and Executive Vice President and member of the Board of Governors, World Association of Law and Medicine. In 2006, Collins was appointed Solicitor-General. He remained in this role until he was appointed a High Court Judge. He appeared as senior counsel in over 30

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

and Privy Council decisions, including:
''North Shore City Council v Attorney-General [The Grange
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/nowiki>''

011 The following is a list of different international call prefixes that need to be dialled when placing an international telephone call from different countries. Countries by international prefix Countries using optional carrier selection cod ...

1 NZLR 296 (SC)
''Chapman v Attorney-General''

NZSC 110
''R v Gwaze''

010 010 may refer to: * 10 (number) * 8 (number) in octal numeral notation * Motorola 68010, a microprocessor released by Motorola in 1982 * 010, the telephone area code of Beijing * 010, the Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the R ...

3 NZLR 734 (SC)
''Saxmere Company Ltd v Wool Board Disestablishment Company Ltd''

1 NZLR 35, 76 (SC) *''Bain v R''

009 009 may refer to: * OO9, gauge model railways * O09, FAA identifier for Round Valley Airport * 0O9, FAA identifier for Ward Field, see List of airports in California * British secret agent 009, see 00 Agent * BA 009, see British Airways Flight 9 * ...

UKPC 4 *''Phipps v RACS''

000 Triple zero, Triple Zero, Zero Zero Zero, Triple 0, Triple-0, 000, or 0-0-0 may refer to: * 000 (emergency telephone number), the Australian emergency telephone number * "Triple Zero", a song by AFI (band), AFI from ''Shut Your Mouth and Open Your ...

2 NZLR 513 (PC) *''R v Ramstead''

999 999 or triple nine most often refers to: * 999 (emergency telephone number), a telephone number for the emergency services in several countries * 999 (number), an integer * AD 999, a year * 999 BC, a year Books * ''999'' (anthology) or ''999: ...

2 AC 92,

1 NZLR 513 (PC) *''Treaty Tribes Coalition and Others v Urban Maori Authority''

997 Year 997 (Roman numerals, CMXCVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Japan * 1 February: Empress Teishi gives birth to Princess Shushi - she is the first ...

1 NZLR 513 (PC) Collins has authored a textbook, and has been a contributory author for three other texts. He has written a number of articles.

Interests

Collins has been actively involved in mountaineering and tramping.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, David High Court of New Zealand judges Victoria University of Wellington alumni 1954 births New Zealand King's Counsel Solicitors-General of New Zealand Living people