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Christopher Griggs

Christopher Griggs has a very broad range of expertise encompassing fields including criminal law (domestic and international), aviation, maritime, military and international law. However, his primary area of focus is civil litigation. He has been instructed by lawyers throughout New Zealand, as well as in Australia, the United States, Europe and East Asia, to advise and act for clients on a range of matters touching on issues as diverse as public and employment law, indigenous peoples’ rights, defamation, product liability, economic torts, breach of trust, breach of contract and so on. He is admitted in Victoria as well as New Zealand.

Christopher speaks French and German to a professional level, as well as some Italian and intermediate te reo Māori. He is on the legal panels of the Embassies of Germany and Italy and has been instructed on a number of occasions in matters where client contact in a foreign language was required. He is a past President of the Italian Chamber of Commerce in New Zealand and a current Vice President of the German-New Zealand Chamber of Commerce.

Christopher has an international reputation as an expert in military law and is a past director of the International Society for Military Law and the Law of War and current International Fellow of the U.S. National Institute of Military Justice. From 2016 to 2017, he acted pro bono as a peer reviewer of the commentary to the Second Geneva Convention published by the International Committee of the Red Cross. From 2014 to 2015, he held appointment as a State Prosecutor pro tem in the Republic of Vanuatu for the purpose of prosecuting a senior government official. He was a member of the New Zealand Law Society’s Rule of Law committee from 2019 - 2023 and was President of its Wellington Branch from 2021 - 2023. In keeping with the breadth of his interests, Christopher has published articles and presented at conferences on a broad range of topics both in New Zealand and overseas.

LOCATION

Wellington

AREAS OF PRACTICE

Bill of Rights and Human Rights, Civil, Employment and/or Health and Safety, International, Military

I Accept Direct Instructions in the following areas: