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Chief Justice pays tribute to Simon France

The Chief Justice, the Rt Hon Dame Helen Winkelmann GNZM, today paid tribute on behalf of New Zealand’s judiciary to the Honourable Simon France, recently retired Judge of the Court of Appeal, who passed away on Saturday evening after a brief illness.

“On behalf of the New Zealand judiciary, I acknowledge Simon’s lifetime of service to the law and to his community –as a legal practitioner, a teacher, an academic and latterly as a judge.”

“Simon was respected and loved by his former students, by his colleagues from his years in practice, and by his judicial peers. He was a gifted lawyer and a skilled communicator with a style which was unmistakably his own. Throughout his career he was engaging and effective whether teaching law students, arguing cases as counsel, editing Adams on Criminal Law, summing up a case to the jury, or writing a judgment. As a judge he presided over some of New Zealand’s most difficult trials and earned widespread respect for the manner in which he conducted them. Simon combined a deep knowledge of the law with a sure-footed common-sense approach to judging.”

“His colleagues from the profession and the bench remember all of this, and they also remember a kind man and a good friend. His passing is a tremendous loss for his wife Ellen, his whānau, friends and colleagues, for the legal community and for New Zealand.”