David Collins (born 18 March 1954) is a retired judge of the

Court of Appeal of New Zealand The Court of Appeal of New Zealand () is the principal intermediate appellate court of New Zealand. It is also the final appellate court for a number of matters. In practice, most appeals are resolved at this intermediate appellate level, rathe ...

. He is an acting judge of the Court of Appeal until 18 March 2026. He was the

Solicitor-General of New Zealand The Solicitor-General is the second law officer of state in New Zealand. The Solicitor-General is also the chief executive of the Crown Law Office, that comprises lawyers employed to represent the Attorney-General in court proceedings in New Ze ...

from 1 September 2006 to 15 March 2012, before being made a judge of the High Court in 2012.

Education

Collins graduated from

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington (), also known by its shorter names "VUW" or "Vic", is a public university, public research university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of New Zealand Parliament, Parliament, and w ...

with a

LL.B. 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 ...

(Hons) (1st Class) in 1975 and an

LL.M. A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is a postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in another subject. In many jurisdi ...

in 1976. He was awarded an

LL.D. A Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) is a doctoral degree in legal studies. The abbreviation LL.D. stands for ''Legum Doctor'', with the double “L” in the abbreviation referring to the early practice in the University of Cambridge to teach both canon law ...

by Victoria University in 1993. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Faculty of Law at Victoria University. He also has a LL.M. Judicial Studies from

Duke University School of Law The Duke University School of Law is the law school of Duke University, a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. One of Duke's 10 schools and colleges, the School of Law is a constituent academic unit that began in 1868 as the ...

in the United States.

Professional qualifications

Collins was admitted to the New Zealand Bar in 1976. He was admitted to the State of Victoria Bar and the High Court of Australia Bar in 1986. He was appointed

Queen's Counsel A King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) is a senior lawyer appointed by the monarch (or their Viceroy, viceregal representative) of some Commonwealth realms as a "Counsel learned in the law". When the reigning monarc ...

in 2000.

Career

Upon graduating from Victoria University in 1975, Collins took up a three-month research position at Rhyne & Rhyne in Washington DC. After this role concluded he returned to New Zealand and completed his LL.M. He commenced a two-year clerkship for the Judges of the High Court and

between 1976 and 1978. In 1979, Collins commenced practicing law in Wellington as a solicitor for

Chapman Tripp Chapman Tripp is New Zealand's largest commercial law firm. It is considered one of the "big three" law firms along with Russell McVeagh and Bell Gully. Established in New Zealand in 1875, it now has around 52 partners and roughly 240 legal staff ...

. In 1982 he was admitted to partnership in a firm that subsequently merged and is today known as Rainey Collins. He remained at the firm until 1995. In 1996 he left practice to become a

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...

. During this period he conducted several appeals before the Privy Council in London. He took silk in 2000. Prior to his appointment as Solicitor-General, Collins was Chair of the Accident Compensation Commission, and Chair of the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal. Collins has served terms as President of the Wellington District Law Society, vice-president of the

New Zealand Law Society The New Zealand Law Society () is the parent body for barristers and solicitors in New Zealand. It was established in 1869, and regulates all lawyers practising in New Zealand. Membership of the society is voluntary, although any person wishing ...

, and Executive Vice President and member of the Board of Governors, World Association of Law and Medicine. In 2006, Collins was appointed Solicitor-General. He remained in this role until he was appointed a High Court Judge. He appeared as senior counsel in over 30

Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

and Privy Council decisions, including:
''North Shore City Council v Attorney-General [The Grange
/nowiki>''">he Grange">''North Shore City Council v Attorney-General [The Grange
/nowiki>'' 0111 NZLR 296 (SC)
''Chapman v Attorney-General''
011NZSC 110
''R v Gwaze''

010 010 may refer to: * 10 (number) * 8 (number) in octal numeral notation * Motorola 68010, a microprocessor released by Motorola in 1982 * 010, the telephone area code of Beijing * 010, the Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest ...

3 NZLR 734 (SC)
''Saxmere Company Ltd v Wool Board Disestablishment Company Ltd''

1 NZLR 35, 76 (SC) *''Bain v R''

009 009 may refer to: * OO9, gauge model railways * O09, FAA identifier for Round Valley Airport * 0O9, FAA identifier for Ward Field, see List of airports in California * British secret agent 009, see 00 Agent * BA 009, see British Airways Flight ...

UKPC 4 *''Phipps v RACS''

000 Triple zero, Zero Zero Zero, 0-0-0 or variants may refer to: * 000 (emergency telephone number), the Australian emergency telephone number * 000, the size of several small List of screw drives, screw drives * 0-0-0, a Droid (Star Wars)#0-0-0, dro ...

2 NZLR 513 (PC) *''R v Ramstead''

999 999 or triple nine most often refers to: * 999 (emergency telephone number), a telephone number for the emergency services in several countries * 999 (number), an integer * AD 999, a year * 999 BC, a year Media Books * 999 (anthology), ''99 ...

2 AC 92,

1 NZLR 513 (PC) *''Treaty Tribes Coalition and Others v Urban Maori Authority''

997 Year 997 ( CMXCVII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Japan * 1 February: Empress Teishi gives birth to Princess Shushi - she is the first child of the emperor, but because of the power stru ...

1 NZLR 513 (PC) Collins has authored a textbook, and has been a contributory author for three other texts. He has written a number of articles.

Interests

Collins has been actively involved in mountaineering and tramping.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, David High Court of New Zealand judges Victoria University of Wellington alumni 1954 births New Zealand King's Counsel Solicitors-general of New Zealand Living people