John Henry (New Zealand Justice)

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The Rt Hon. John Steele Henry DCNZM QC is a New Zealand jurist.

Son of well known New Zealand justice, the Hon. Sir Trevor Henry, John Henry was educated at King's College, Auckland, before attending Law School at the University of Auckland.

He graduated with an LLB in 1954 and was admitted to the New Zealand bar in 1955.

He worked as a barrister and solicitor at the Henry family law firm, Wilson Henry (now Hesketh Henry) that was established by his father, Sir Trevor, and gained a reputation as a robust litigator, building a substantial commercial litigation team at the firm. He was made a Queen's Counsel.

In 1984, he was appointed to the bench of the High Court of New Zealand, later being a Commercial List Judge and then Executive Judge prior to being appointed to the Criminal Appeal Division of the Court of Appeal in 1991 and Justice of the Court of Appeal of New Zealand in 1995.

In 1996 he became a member of the Privy Council and sat on the Board of its Judicial Committee. He was also a justice of the High Court of the Cook Islands.

In 2001, the New Zealand Government acknowledged his contribution to Her Majesty's New Zealand justice system by knighting him as a Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (DCNZM).