Owen Paulsen is a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

jurist, who served as Chief Justice of

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

from 2015 to 2019. Since August 2019 he has been an associate justice of the High Court of New Zealand. Paulsen was educated at

Shirley Boys' High School Shirley Boys' High School (known as SBHS) is a single sex state (public) secondary school in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was originally situated on a 6 hectare site in the suburb of Shirley, but in April 2019 moved, along with Avonside ...

and the

University of Canterbury The University of Canterbury ( mi, Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha; postnominal abbreviation ''Cantuar.'' or ''Cant.'' for ''Cantuariensis'', the Latin name for Canterbury) is a public research university based in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was ...

, and later at the

University of Auckland , mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work , established = 1883; years ago , endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021) , chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant , vice_chancellor = Dawn F ...

. He worked as a solicitor and later a partner for Harman & Co, and then as a member of the Employment Tribunal. He later worked for the law firm Cavell Leitch. In January 2015 he was appointed Chief Justice of Tonga, replacing Michael Dishington Scott. As Chief Justice he quashed the sacking of

Tonga Broadcasting Commission Tonga Broadcasting Commission (TBC) ( to, Komisoni Fakamafolalea Tonga) is the first and largest broadcasting station in Tonga, solely owned by the government of Tonga. It operates two free-to-air TV channels (Television Tonga and Television Ton ...

directors 'Eseta Fusitu'a and Tunakaimanu Fielakepa, and oversaw the corruption trial of government minister

ʻEtuate Lavulavu Etuate Lavulavu (born 1958 or 1959) is a Tongan politician and former member of the Legislative Assembly of Tonga for Vavau. He was stripped of his seat in 2016 after being convicted of bribery, precipitating the 2016 Vavau 16 by-election. He gra ...

. He also oversaw the TONGASAT case, which found that US$50 million paid to Tongasat by the government of China was invalid and unlawful. In July 2019 he resigned as Chief Justice after being appointed as an associate justice of the High Court of New Zealand. He was replaced as Chief Justice by Michael Hargreaves Whitten.

References

Living people People educated at Shirley Boys' High School University of Canterbury alumni University of Auckland alumni New Zealand lawyers High Court of New Zealand judges Chief justices of Tonga Year of birth missing (living people) {{NewZealand-law-bio-stub