Profile of the New NZBA President - Clive Elliott QC

It is with pleasure that the New Zealand Bar Association | Ngā Ahorangi Motuhake o te Ture announces that Clive Elliott QC has taken over as the Association’s President with effect from 12 April 2016. Mr Elliott was President Elect and has agreed to step up early to the role of President, following the appointment of Paul Mabey QC to the District Court Bench.

A barrister at Shortland Chambers, he is a registered patent attorney, barrister and arbitrator. Background information on Mr Elliott can be found at the foot of this article.

Mr Elliott says one of the main areas on which he intends to focus during his term as President is the maintenance, growth and the well-being of the independent Bar, because of its fundamental role in the maintenance of the rule of law. He also wants to ensure that the Bar Association remains a strong representative body which speaks on behalf of the Bar as a whole and to ensure that it provides real tangible benefits to its members.

Mr Elliott has previously served as a Vice-President and has been a Council member from some years. He has been an active member of several NZBA committees. Up until his appointment as President, he was the chair of the Newsletter committee and oversaw the transformation of At the Bar from a pamphlet style publication to a high-quality quarterly magazine. He has also contributed to its content, including in 2014 interviewing the former Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, His Honour Judge Alex Kozinski, on the future of the rule of law.

In addition, Mr Elliott has served on the Law Reform Committee, and has been instrumental in the formulation of a number of the Association’s responses to Government proposals and legislative initiatives that impacted on or otherwise were of interest to members of the Bar.

Mr Elliott’s commitment to the concept of the rule of law is demonstrated by his involvement as chair in the Access to Justice Committee. This committee was formed in 2015 by the Association in response to growing concerns about the accessibility and affordability of justice and the strains on the system to deliver quality solutions. Mr Elliott continues to lead its initiatives.

Another of Mr Elliott’s interests is in developing links between the New Zealand Bar and the Independent Bars in other jurisdictions. He is the Association’s international liaison and the NZBA representative with the International Bar Association and the Australian Institute of Judicial Administration (AIJA).

The Association welcomes Mr Elliott to his position as President.

David O’Neill
(Vice President, Chair – Newsletter Editorial Committee)

Background Information

Clive Elliott QC is a barrister and member of the New Zealand and New South Wales bars. He is an arbitrator. Before going to the Bar, he was a partner at Baldwin Shelston Waters (Baldwins) and headed their litigation team He was with the firm for 17 years.

Clive graduated LLB from the University of Natal, Durban before completing an LLM (Hons) at Victoria University of Wellington. He moved to New Zealand in 1983 and joined Baldwins in 1984. He left the firm in 2000 to join the independent bar. Mr Elliott was called to the inner Bar in 2013, in the first year that the QC title was reinstated following a hiatus of several years.

In addition to having served on the council of the NZ Bar Association for several years (most recently as a Vice President and the President Elect) Mr Elliott is on the council of the Auckland Branch of the NZ Law Society. He is a past council member of the Legal Practice Division of the International Bar Association (IBA) and past co-chair of the Intellectual Property and Entertainment Law Committee of the IBA. He is a past president of the Intellectual Property Society of Australia and New Zealand (IPSANZ).

Mr Elliott has acted over the years as counsel in a large number of reported IP cases. He has handled diverse technologies and all aspects of IP, including patents, trademarks, trade secrets and copyright in the High Court, Court of Appeal and Privy Council/Supreme Court. He has acted as counsel in the number of arbitrations and is a fellow of the Arbitrator's Institute. He has decided a number of international domain name disputes. He is also a member of the WIPO and National Arbitration Forum and an Expert in the New Zealand Domain Name Resolution Service.

In addition to having authored numerous articles, Mr Elliott is also a co-author of the LexisNexis loose-leaf texts Copyright and Design; and Patents and Trade Marks

In his “spare” time, Mr Elliott is also a well-known artist who regularly exhibits his work. Examples can be seen here.