Mark Cooper | |
|---|---|
 Cooper in 2012 | |
| President of the Court of Appeal | |
| In office 26 April 2022 –20 November 2024 | |
| Preceded by | Stephen Kós |
| Succeeded by | Christine French |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Mark Leslie Smith Cooper |
| Alma mater | University of Auckland |
Mark Leslie Smith Cooper KC is a New Zealand jurist. He was appointed a High Court judge in 2004,and a judge of the Court of Appeal in 2014. He served as president of the Court of Appeal from 2022 to 2024.
Cooper is of Ngāti Māhanga descent,an iwi of Waikato Tainui. [1] [2] He received his tertiary education at the University of Auckland,graduating with Bachelor of Laws (Hons) and Magister Juris (Dist) degrees in 1979. After university,he worked for Butler White &Hanna,where he became a partner in 1983;the law firm merged with Simpson Grierson where he remained a partner. From 1997,he practised as a barrister sole. [3] He was principal legal advisor for three Auckland territorial authorities:Auckland City Council,North Shore City Council,and Rodney District Council. [4] In the 2000 appointment round,he was appointed Queen's Counsel alongside six others. [5]
In 2004,Cooper was appointed a high court judge by the attorney general,Margaret Wilson,and sat in Auckland from August that year. [6] Following the 2011 Christchurch earthquake,Cooper was appointed by the government to chair the Canterbury Earthquakes Royal Commission;the other commissioners were engineers Ron Carter and Richard Fenwick. [7] [8] He was appointed a judge of the Court of Appeal in 2014,and was named to replace Stephen Kós as president of the Court of Appeal from 26 April 2022. [9]
Cooper was on the executive of the Auckland Division of the Cancer Society of New Zealand. He was on the establishment board for Metrowater,which was formed in 1997 and has since been integrated into Watercare Services. Cooper was board member for the Museum of Transport and Technology and the Auckland Observatory and Planetarium Trust. [6]
On 23 October 2024,Cooper was granted retention of the title "The Honourable" for life,in recognition of his service as a judge and president of the Court of Appeal and a judge of the High Court. [10] He was succeeded as president of the Court of Appeal by Christine French on 21 November 2024. [11]
A King's Counsel is a senior lawyer appointed by the monarch of some Commonwealth realms as a "Counsel learned in the law". When the reigning monarch is a woman,the title is Queen's Counsel (QC).
The Supreme Court of New Zealand is the highest court and the court of last resort of New Zealand. It formally came into being on 1 January 2004 and sat for the first time on 1 July 2004. It replaced the right of appeal to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council,based in London. It was created with the passing of the Supreme Court Act 2003,on 15 October 2003. At the time,the creation of the Supreme Court and the abolition of appeals to the Privy Council were controversial constitutional changes in New Zealand. The Supreme Court Act 2003 was repealed on 1 March 2017 and superseded by the Senior Courts Act 2016.
The Court of Appeal of New Zealand is the principal intermediate appellate court of New Zealand. It is also the final appellate court for a number of matters. In practice,most appeals are resolved at this intermediate appellate level,rather than in the Supreme Court. The Court of Appeal has existed as a separate court since 1862 but,until 1957,it was composed of judges of the High Court sitting periodically in panels. In 1957 the Court of Appeal was reconstituted as a permanent court separate from the High Court. It is located in Wellington.
Sir David Stuart Beattie,was an Australian-born New Zealand judge who served as the 14th governor-general of New Zealand,from 1980 to 1985. During the 1984 constitutional crisis,Beattie was nearly forced to dismiss the sitting prime minister,Robert Muldoon.
Sir Mark Andrew O'Regan is a New Zealand lawyer and jurist. He was the President of the Court of Appeal of New Zealand until his elevation to the Supreme Court of New Zealand in 2014.
Sir Kenneth James Keith is a New Zealand judge. He was elected to the International Court of Justice in November 2005,serving a nine-year term during the years 2006 through 2015.
Sir Edmund Walter Thomas,widely known as Ted Thomas,is a New Zealand jurist. He is a retired judge of the Court of Appeal of New Zealand and a former acting judge of the Supreme Court of New Zealand.
Heather Carol Hallett,Baroness Hallett,,is a retired British judge of the Court of Appeal and a crossbench life peer. The first woman to chair the Bar Council and the fifth woman to sit in the Court of Appeal,Hallett led the independent inquest into the 7/7 bombings. In April 2019,she was appointed Chair of the Security Vettings Appeal Panel. In December 2021,she was announced as the chair of the public inquiry into the UK Government's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. On 29 June 2022,the Government accepted Baroness Hallett's proposed terms of reference for the inquiry,with minor changes suggested by the devolved administrations.
Sir John Steele Henry is a New Zealand jurist and former Court of Appeal judge,and member of the well-known Henry family.
Sir John Hugh Williams,generally known as Hugh Williams,is a former president of the New Zealand Electoral Commission and a retired judge of the High Court of New Zealand. From 2016 to 2022,he was Chief Justice of the Cook Islands.
Sir William Gillow Gibbes Austen Young was a Supreme Court Judge,former President of the Court of Appeal of New Zealand,and,briefly,a judge of the Dubai International Financial Centre Courts. He was appointed to the Supreme Court by Attorney-General Chris Finlayson in June 2010,taking effect from 1 July.
Sir Noel Crossley Anderson was a New Zealand judge who was President of the Court of Appeal of New Zealand from 2004 to 2006,before being elevated to the Supreme Court. He left office in 2008.
Sir Terence Arnold is a judge of the Supreme Court of New Zealand. He was the Solicitor-General of New Zealand from 2000,before being made a judge of the Court of Appeal of New Zealand in 2006. He was elevated to the Supreme Court on 11 June 2013.
Sir Peter Blanchard is a former judge of the Supreme Court of New Zealand.
Sir Alfred Kingsley North,also known as Alf North,was a New Zealand lawyer and judge. He was President of the Court of Appeal of New Zealand from 1963 until his retirement in 1972.
Dame Lowell Patria Goddard,is a former New Zealand High Court judge,from 1995 to 2015. She is thought to be the first person of Māori ancestry to have been appointed to the High Court. In 1988,she was one of the first two women to be appointed Queen's Counsel in New Zealand and in 1989 became the first woman to hold a Crown warrant. In 1992,she became Deputy Solicitor-General for New Zealand. Between 2007 and 2012 she chaired New Zealand's Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA). In 2010 she was elected as an independent expert to the United Nations Subcommittee on the Prevention of Torture (SPT) and served in that capacity until 2016. From February 2015 until August 2016,she chaired the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse in England and Wales.
Sir John Stephen Kós is a New Zealand judge on the Supreme Court of New Zealand and the former President of the Court of Appeal of New Zealand.
Sir Alan Clifford Perry was a New Zealand lawyer and judge. He served as a judge of the Supreme Court from 1962 to 1979. However,he is perhaps best remembered for taking the case of Lee v Lee's Air Farming Ltd to the Privy Council in 1960,and successfully arguing for the unanimous decision of the Court of Appeal to be overturned.
John Gerard Fogarty was a New Zealand jurist. He was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1990,and served as a judge at the High Court from 2003 to 2017.