The Attorney-General has announced the following appointments:
- Justice Francis Cooke as a judge of the Supreme Court;
- Justice Rebecca Edwards as a judge of the Court of Appeal;
- Auckland Barrister and Solicitor Michael Arthur as a judge of the High Court; and
- Auckland Barrister Amokura Kawharu as a judge of the High Court.
Justice Francis Cooke
Francis Cooke KC.
Cooke graduated with a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) from Victoria University of Wellington in 1989, and a Master of Laws from Cambridge University in 1990. He worked as a foreign solicitor with Ashurst Morris Crisp in London before returning to New Zealand in 1992, where he worked for Chapman Tripp until 1994.
He went to the independent bar in 1994 and acted as junior counsel assisting the Winebox Inquiry between 1994 and 1997. He was subsequently involved in a range of public law and commercial litigation and was appointed a Queen’s Counsel in 2004.
Cooke was appointed a judge of the High Court in 2018, and a judge of the Court of Appeal in 2024. His appointment as a judge of the Supreme Court will take effect on February 9, 2026.
Justice Rebecca Edwards
Edwards graduated with a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) from the University of Auckland in 1993 and commenced work as a solicitor with Russell McVeagh in Auckland. In 1996 she graduated with a Master of Laws from the University of Virginia.
In 1997, Edwards took a position with Herbert Smith in London, before returning to Russell McVeagh as a senior solicitor in 1998. She left Russell McVeagh in 2003 to practise as a barrister sole, specialising in commercial civil litigation with a particular focus on contract, shareholder, and insolvency related disputes.
Edwards was admitted to the permanent bar in the Cook Islands in 2010 and subsequently represented the respondents in the first two Cook Islands appeals to the Privy Council.
Edwards was appointed a judge of the High Court in June 2015. Her appointment as a judge of the Court of Appeal will take effect on February 9, 2026.
Justice Michael Arthur
Michael Arthur
Arthur graduated from Victoria University of Wellington in 1989 with a Bachelor of Laws and joined Whanganui law firm Jack Riddett Tripe as a solicitor in 1990.
From 1994 to 1996, he worked at London law firm Cameron Markby Hewitt in the defence of large professional indemnity claims. He was admitted to the English bar in 1995.
Arthur joined Chapman Tripp in 1997 and has been a partner in the Auckland litigation team since 2006, specialising in corporate restructuring and insolvency and maintaining a general commercial litigation practice. In 2009, he graduated from Auckland University with a Master of Laws in Commercial Law.
Arthur will take up his appointment as a judge of the High Court on December 1, 2025, and will sit in Auckland. He will be sworn in on December 17, 2025 at the Auckland High Court.
Justice Amokura Kawharu
Kawharu (Ngāti Whātua and Ngāpuhi) graduated from the University of Auckland in 1996 with a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Laws (Honours). She was a clerk and then a solicitor with Chapman Tripp in Auckland, before joining law firm Gilbert & Tobin in Sydney as a solicitor in 2000.
During 2003 and 2004, she was corporate counsel with Vodafone NZ Ltd. In 2004, she graduated with a Master of Laws (First Class) from the University of Cambridge in England.
From 2005 to 2020, she taught at the University of Auckland, progressing from lecturer to associate professor. During that time, she published extensively in legal journals and books, focusing her research primarily in the areas of commercial and international arbitration and related fields.
Kawharu obtained a Doctor of Philosophy degree from Victoria University of Wellington in 2023 and completed a five-year term as president of the Law Commission in September 2025.
Kawharu will take up her appointment as a judge of the High Court on February 9, 2026, and will sit in Auckland. She will be sworn in on February 16, 2026 at the Auckland High Court.
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