John Henry (judge)

Sir John Steele Henry, KNZM QC, is a New Zealand jurist and former Court of Appeal judge, and member of the well-known Henry family.

The son of former High Court judge, 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 1980.^[1]

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 its Judicial Committee. He was also a justice of the High Court of the Cook Islands.

In the 2001 Birthday Honours, the New Zealand Government acknowledged his contribution to the New Zealand justice system by making him a Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (DCNZM),^[2] which Henry opted to convert to the equivalent knighthood (KNZM) in 2009.^[3]

References