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Dame Helen Diana Winkelmann (born 1962) is the 13th and current
chief justice of New Zealand The chief justice of New Zealand () is the head of the New Zealand judiciary, and presides over the Supreme Court of New Zealand. The chief justice of New Zealand is also the chief justice of Tokelau. Before the establishment of the Supreme C ...
– head of the New Zealand judiciary – having been sworn in on 14 March 2019. She is the second woman to hold the position, following her immediate predecessor,
Sian Elias Dame Sian Seerpoohi Elias (born 13 March 1949) was the 12th chief justice of New Zealand, and was therefore the most senior member of the country's judiciary. She was the presiding judge of the Supreme Court of New Zealand and on several occas ...
.


Early life and family

Winkelmann was born in 1962 to Kathleen Winkelmann (née Papich), of Croatian descent, and her husband Douglas Winkelmann. She was raised in the
Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...
suburb of Blockhouse Bay, and educated at
Lynfield College Lynfield College is a secondary education provider in Lynfield, Auckland, New Zealand. It celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2008. The Principal of Lynfield College is Ms Cath Knell. The school practices NCEA for assessments and examinations, ...
. She went on to study history and law at the
University of Auckland The University of Auckland (; Māori: ''Waipapa Taumata Rau'') is a public research university based in Auckland, New Zealand. The institution was established in 1883 as a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. Initially loc ...
, with a focus on commercial law, and graduated with a
Bachelor of Laws A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...
and
Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...
in history. She was awarded the Auckland District Law Society Centenary Prize for best undergraduate degree, and was admitted to the bar in 1985. Winkelmann's sister is the New Zealand fashion designer Adrienne Winkelmann.


Early judicial career

Winkelmann began work as a law clerk with Auckland firm Nicholson Gribbin (later Phillips Fox, now
DLA Piper DLA Piper is a law firm with offices in over 40 countries across the Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. It was founded in 2005 through the merger between three law firms: San Diego–based ''Gray Cary Ware & Freiden ...
). In 1988, at age 25, Winkelmann became the first female partner and one of the youngest partners ever in the firm's then 117-year history. She remained at that firm until May 2001 when she began practice as a barrister sole specialising in
insolvency In accounting, insolvency is the state of being unable to pay the debts, by a person or company ( debtor), at maturity; those in a state of insolvency are said to be ''insolvent''. There are two forms: cash-flow insolvency and balance-sheet i ...
, commercial litigation and medical disciplinary litigation. Winkelmann was appointed a High Court judge in July 2004 and she was appointed as Chief High Court Judge with effect from 1 February 2010. She remained in that position until her appointment to the Court of Appeal in 2015. As Chief High Court judge, Winkelmann introduced reforms aimed at improving accessibility to the High Court's processes in its civil jurisdiction, improving the timeliness with which the Court dealt with both civil and criminal matters, and improving public understanding of the work of the Courts. These initiatives included the reintroduction of the publication of annual reports for the High Court, which included the Court reporting against judgment timeliness standards, and the introduction of the Higher Courts (now Senior Courts)
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account to improve communications with the public. She has spoken regularly on issues concerning the just and efficient operation of the Courts, and access to justice. This was the topic of her 2014 Ethel Benjamin address, ‘Access to justice, who needs lawyers?’ In 2011, following the devastating Canterbury earthquakes, Winkelmann worked with Justice Miller to set up the Earthquake List in Christchurch. The objective of that List was to enable proceedings flowing out of the Christchurch earthquake to be dealt with promptly and in a time frame that met the needs of the community. Winkelmann was jointly awarded the Australasian Institute of Judicial Administration Award for Excellence in 2013, for her work in judicial administration flowing out of the Christchurch earthquake. Winkelmann also worked with other Heads of Bench to establish Court procedures, including opening and closing of the Court day, so that the Court's processes better reflect the two founding cultures of New Zealand,
Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...
and
Pākehā ''Pākehā'' (or ''Pakeha''; ; ) is a Māori language, Māori-language word used in English, particularly in New Zealand. It generally means a non-Polynesians, Polynesian New Zealanders, New Zealander or more specifically a European New Zeala ...
. Winkelmann joined the Court of Appeal Bench on 1 June 2015. She held roles as the chief justice's representative on the Council of Law Reporting, and the Chair of the Institute of Judicial Studies. The institute (now Te Kura Kaiwhakawā) provides continued education to judges.


Rulings

In the high-profile case where US authorities were seeking to have
Kim Dotcom Kim Dotcom (né Schmitz; born 21 January 1974), also known as Kimble and Kim Tim Jim Vestor, is a Finnish-German Internet entrepreneur and political activist who lives in Glenorchy, New Zealand. He rose to fame in Germany in the 1990s as a ha ...
arrested and extradited, Winkelmann ruled on 28 June 2012 that the warrants used to seize Dotcom's property were illegal because they were too broad. "These categories of items were defined in such a way that they would inevitably capture within them both relevant and irrelevant material. The police acted on this authorization. The warrants could not authorize seizure of irrelevant material, and are therefore invalid." Winkelmann also ruled that the handing of hard drives seized by New Zealand police in the raid to the FBI was in breach of extradition legislation, and the FBI's removal from New Zealand of cloned data from them was unlawful.


Chief Justice

On 17 December 2018, it was announced that Winkelmann would succeed Dame Sian Elias as Chief Justice, and she was sworn in on 14 March 2019, becoming the second woman to hold the office. In the 2019 Special Honours, in preparation for her taking up the role of Chief Justice, Winkelmann was appointed a Dame Grand Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit.


Administrator of the Government

An important role of the Chief Justice is
Administrator of the Government An administrator (administrator of the government or officer administering the government) in the constitutional practice of some countries in the Commonwealth is a person who fulfils a role similar to that of a governor or a governor-general. ...
, when the
Governor-General Governor-general (plural governors-general), or governor general (plural governors general), is the title of an official, most prominently associated with the British Empire. In the context of the governors-general and former British colonies, ...
is unable to perform their duties (due to a vacancy in the position, illness, absence from New Zealand or some other cause). Winkelmann has filled this position six times: when the governors-general
Patsy Reddy Dame Patricia Lee Reddy (born 17 May 1954) is a New Zealand lawyer and businesswoman who served as the 21st governor-general of New Zealand from 2016 to 2021. Before becoming governor-general, Reddy was a partner of a law firm, headed a majo ...
and
Cindy Kiro Dame Alcyion Cynthia Kiro () ( Simpson; born 1958) is a New Zealand public-health academic, administrator, and advocate, who has been serving as the 22nd governor-general of New Zealand since 21 October 2021. Kiro is the first Māori people, M ...
were overseas and during the
interregnum An interregnum (plural interregna or interregnums) is a period of revolutionary breach of legal continuity, discontinuity or "gap" in a government, organization, or social order. Archetypally, it was the period of time between the reign of one m ...
between the two governors-general.


References


External links


Courts of New Zealand
– The Current Chief Justice {{DEFAULTSORT:Winkelmann, Helen 1962 births Living people Chief justices of New Zealand High Court of New Zealand judges 20th-century New Zealand lawyers New Zealand women judges Supreme Court of New Zealand judges University of Auckland alumni New Zealand King's Counsel Women chief justices 21st-century New Zealand judges Constitutional court women judges Lawyers from Auckland People educated at Lynfield College Dames Grand Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit 21st-century women judges Lawyers awarded damehoods