| The Honourable Sir William Young KNZM QC |
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|---|---|
| President of the Court of Appeal | |
| In office 2006–2010 |
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| Preceded by | Sir Noel Anderson |
| Succeeded by | Mark O'Regan[1] |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 14 April 1952 |
| Spouse(s) | Susan Mary Young[2] |
Sir William Gillow Gibbes Austen Young, KNZM, QC (born 14 April 1952) is a Supreme Court Judge, and former President of the Court of Appeal of New Zealand. He was appointed to the Supreme Court by Attorney-General Chris Finlayson in June 2010, taking effect from 1 July.[3]
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Young was educated at Christ's College (secondary school) in Christchurch, University of Canterbury (LLB (Hons)) and University of Cambridge (PhD) in the UK. After obtaining his PhD, Young worked in Christchurch for the law firm Young Hunter, before becoming a barrister sole in 1988. Young was made a Queen's Counsel in 1991 and acted in several high profile cases including the Winebox Inquiry of the 1990s.
Young was appointed a High Court Judge in Christchurch in 1997, a Court of Appeal Judge when the Supreme Court was created in 2004, and to the position of President in January 2006.[4] Young was appointed a Judge of the Supreme Court with effect from 1 July 2010.[5]
He was made a Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (DCNZM) in June 2007, and knighted in August 2009 when the new National Government reinstated knighthoods.[6]
While a barrister, Young was involved with the New Zealand Law Society educational programme and, since appointment to the bench, with the Institute of Judicial Studies, being the primary author of its Criminal Jury Trials Bench Book. He wrote "Summing Up to Juries - What Jury Research says about Current Rules and Practice" [2003] Crim LR 665 and co-authored a chapter in Witness Testimony: Psychological, Investigative and Evidential Perspectives (Oxford University Press 26 October 2006).[7]