Christine Ruth French (born 1958) is a New Zealand lawyer and judge, serving as the president of the

Court of Appeal An appellate court, commonly called a court of appeal(s), appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to Hearing (law), hear a Legal case, case upon appeal from a trial court or other ...

since 21 November 2024. She has been a judge of the Court of Appeal since 2012, having been a judge of the High Court since 2008. French has degrees from the

University of Otago The University of Otago () is a public university, public research university, research collegiate university based in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand. Founded in 1869, Otago is New Zealand's oldest university and one of the oldest universities in ...

(1981) and the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

(1983), studying at the latter as a

Rhodes scholar The Rhodes Scholarship is an international Postgraduate education, postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford in Oxford, United Kingdom. The scholarship is open to people from all backgrounds around the world. Esta ...

. In 2014, she received an

honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...

from the University of Otago. On 23 October 2024, French was named as the president of the Court of Appeal, effective from 21 November 2024.

References

1958 births Living people University of Otago alumni Alumni of the University of Oxford New Zealand Rhodes Scholars New Zealand women judges Court of Appeal of New Zealand judges {{NewZealand-law-bio-stub