Tribute to Sir Robert Chambers by Simon Moore QC

Tribute to Justice Sir Robert Chambers by the Crown solicitor at Auckland, Simon Moore QC

"We are here together to mourn the loss of an extraordinarily gifted New Zealander.  We all know how frighteningly intelligent he was; what a brilliant lawyer and judge he was; how talented and entertaining a public speaker he was.

But what made Robert Chambers so special and why no venue other than this Town Hall could accommodate the numbers who have come to pay tribute to him is that Rob touched all our lives with his kindness; his humanity and his irrepressible sense of fun.  The last funeral to take place in this chamber was for another, but very different Sir Robert; Sir Robert Muldoon.  I think we can all be certain that the irony of that happenstance would not have been lost on our Rob and he would have had something to say about it.

I have been asked to say a few words about Rob’s school days at King’s College.  By necessity they must be few because we barely knew each other at school during a time which he later enjoyed describing as his South Auckland education. 

However, research on this topic reveals, unsurprisingly, that he won the senior prizes in English Literature, Latin, History and Divinity.  He won the Debating Cup and the public speaking prize and was awarded a University Scholarship.  Given the extraordinary legal career which followed none of these achievements should surprise anyone.

But the research also revealed another much lesser known accomplishment; a dark secret which he hid from his friends no doubt in the well-grounded fear of how it might be used against him in later years.  He played Mrs Hardcastle in the 1970 production of “She Stoops to Conquer”. 

Because Rob has been appellate judge since 2004, it is easy to overlook the five years he sat in this city as a High Court judge.  It is important to remind ourselves that at the Bar he never practised criminal law and yet he was an outstanding criminal judge. 

Why was that?

It is because, in addition to his undoubted academic brilliance and mastery of legal principle, he never lost the knack of connecting with people.  He was gregarious, sociable and fun.  He was popular wherever he went.  And it was no different with juries.  They loved him. 

It was his concern for juries, as well as others caught up in the criminal justice system, which lead him to initiate some much needed reforms in the way trial judges direct juries.

As many in this audience will know, one of the key tasks of a judge in a criminal trial is to explain to the jury the law and how the jury should apply it to the facts.

Rob wasn’t long on the bench before he came to the conclusion that the traditional way we had been doing this was screaming out for reform.  The process had to be simplified so that a jury’s energies were directed towards the issues which actually mattered in the trial, rather than some mechanical, box-ticking exercise designed to make sure nothing was missed out which might lead to an appeal. 

He was one of the first judges to promote written materials going to juries to help them in their deliberations.  More recently, he has been the energy behind the development of fact based question trails for juries; a series of factual questions answerable by a simple yes or no leading the jury to a logical verdict.  Its virtues lie in its simplicity and the transparency of the method.  It has revolutionised the trial process for the better. 

Such has been Rob’s energy and enthusiasm, the method is now being used in the Victorian Supreme Court and is likely to be trialled more widely across Australia.

And all this because Rob saw a need to make the experience for juries not only easier but more principled.

But it is Rob’s sense of fun; his acute nose for the ridiculous and his insatiable appetite for good natured teasing which, I suspect, we will miss the most.

He never let an opportunity pass without a good natured dig.  Very recently he and I caught up at the hairdressers.  Rob left before I did but when I got back to the office I found an email waiting for me from Justice Chambers.

It simply read:

“Just thought I would check on how your comb over is looking.”

Earlier in the year Mike Heron, the Solicitor-General, and I received an email from him about a visit he and Deb were planning to Waiheke.  It read:

“Just to let you know that Deb and I will be coming to Waiheke for the weekend of the 2nd and 3rd of March and staying in Kit Toogood’s and Pip Muir’s holiday home.  We won the weekend at a charity auction; indeed we paid so much for it that I told Toogood I thought he should be giving us the title deeds; but so far no sight of them.  It would be nice to catch up if you are both over there too.

I write because I remember the Crown Solicitor saying in his Christmas greeting that we must see more of each other in 2013.  Then, when I agreed and told him we would be coming to stay with him and Jane for two weeks in early January he promptly found an excuse not to be at Waiheke but said we could bunk down with the tenants he pretended to have installed.

This would be an opportunity to remedy the unfortunate impression his conduct has created within the entire Supreme Court – namely assurances of friendship and help from this particular quarter carry little weight and may help ensure the Crown doesn’t always begin on the back foot in the said Court.”

Over the last few days a lot has been said about what a tragedy it is that Rob has been taken from us when he had so much more to give.  And that is very true.

But it could never be said of Rob that he did anything other than make the most of the nearly 60 years he was given.

It seems that he wasted not a minute. 

He excelled in everything he turned his mind to whether it was school, University, legal practice or the Bench.  And that was only part of his life.

More importantly he loved his family; he cherished his friends and he enjoyed everything and everyone around him.  He basked in company.

Above all, he adored and worshipped his soul mate Deb. 

And so to Deb, David, Chris, Kaitlin and Zelda and all of Rob’s wider family.

Family meant everything to him and he was desperately proud of each of you. 

He was a man deeply loved and admired by so many.  Every one of us wanted a bit of Rob Chambers and there must have been times when you felt you just weren’t getting your fair share of him.  If you did feel that way; you never showed it.

Thank you for sharing your Rob so generously and in such a way that allowed each of us to feel that he was also a part of us."