Dame Susan Gwynfa Mary Glazebrook (born 8 February 1956) is a judge of the

Supreme Court of New Zealand The Supreme Court of New Zealand ( mi, Te Kōti Mana Nui, lit=Court of Great Mana) is the highest court and the court of last resort of New Zealand. It formally came into being on 1 January 2004 and sat for the first time on 1 July 2004. It re ...

Early life, family and education

Born in Bowdon,

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

, England, on 8 February 1956, Glazebrook emigrated to New Zealand with her family in 1962, and she became a naturalised New Zealand citizen in 1978. She was educated at Tauranga Girls' College, before going on to study 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 ...

, where she gained a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

in 1975, a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

with first-class honours in history in 1978, and an LLB(Hons) in 1980. She later completed a DipBus (Finance) at the same institution in 1994. In 1988, Glazebrook obtained a

DPhil A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

from the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

in French legal history; her doctoral thesis was titled ''Justice in transition: crime, criminals and criminal justice in revolutionary Rouen, 1790–1800''. In 1992, Glazebrook married former New Zealand

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

representative Greg Kane, and the couple went on to have two children together.

Career

Glazebrook worked as a junior lecturer in history at the University of Auckland in 1976, 1978 and 1979. Between 1981 and 1983, she was based in

Rouen Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine in northern France. It is the prefecture of the Regions of France, region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy and the Departments of France, department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one of ...

, France, where she worked with a government-funded body responsible for the resettlement of refugees in France. In 1984, she was a research assistant under Sir Keith Sinclair and a tutor in history at the University of Auckland. She was a part-time lecturer in commercial law at Auckland from 1991 to 1994. Glazebrook joined legal firm

Simpson Grierson Simpson Grierson is a New Zealand commercial law firm founded in 1887; it is ranked in the top legal firms in that country, and the largest by headcount. The firm is a partnership comprising 48 partners and consultants supported by around 160 l ...

in 1986, and became a partner in 1988. She was a member of various commercial boards and government advisory committees, and served as president of the Inter-Pacific Bar Association, in 1998. Glazebrook was appointed a judge of the

High Court of New Zealand The High Court of New Zealand ( mi, Te Kōti Matua o Aotearoa) is the superior court of New Zealand. It has general jurisdiction and responsibility, under the Senior Courts Act 2016, as well as the High Court Rules 2016, for the administration ...

on 14 December 2000, having served until that time as temporary judge of that court. She was appointed to the

Court of Appeal A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of t ...

on 24 May 2002. On 6 August 2012, Glazebrook was appointed to the

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 ...

. Glazebrook is acting as

administrator of the government An administrator (administrator of the government or officer administering the government) in the constitutional practice of some countries in the Commonwealth is a person who fulfils a role similar to that of a governor or a governor-general ...

while the governor-general,

Dame Cindy Kiro Dame Alcyion Cynthia Kiro (; Simpson; born 1958) is a New Zealand public health academic, administrator, and advocate, who has served as the 22nd governor-general of New Zealand since 21 October 2021. Kiro is the first Māori woman, the third ...

, is in Britain attending the

funeral of Queen Elizabeth II On 8 September 2022, at 15:10 BST, Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms, and the longest-reigning British monarch, died of old age at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, at the age of 96. The Queen's death wa ...

Honours

In the 2014 Queen's Birthday Honours, Glazebrook was appointed a

Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have rend ...

, for services to the judiciary.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Glazebrook, Susan 1956 births Living people People from Altrincham English emigrants to New Zealand People educated at Tauranga Girls' College Naturalised citizens of New Zealand University of Auckland alumni Alumni of the University of Oxford University of Auckland faculty 20th-century New Zealand lawyers New Zealand women judges High Court of New Zealand judges Court of Appeal of New Zealand judges Supreme Court of New Zealand judges Constitutional court women judges Dames Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit 21st-century New Zealand judges 21st-century women judges