Dame Susan Gwynfa Mary Glazebrook (born 8 February 1956) is a judge of the

Supreme Court of New Zealand The Supreme Court of New Zealand ( mi, Te Kōti Mana Nui, lit=Court of Great Mana) is the highest court and the court of last resort of New Zealand. It formally came into being on 1 January 2004 and sat for the first time on 1 July 2004. It re ...

Early life, family and education

Born in Bowdon,

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's coun ...

, England, on 8 February 1956, Glazebrook emigrated to New Zealand with her family in 1962, and she became a naturalised New Zealand citizen in 1978. She was educated at Tauranga Girls' College, before going on to study at the

University of Auckland , mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work , established = 1883; years ago , endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021) , chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant , vice_chancellor = Dawn ...

, where she gained a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

in 1975, a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. ...

with first-class honours in history in 1978, and an LLB(Hons) in 1980. She later completed a DipBus (Finance) at the same institution in 1994. In 1988, Glazebrook obtained a

DPhil A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

from the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a 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 world's second-oldest university in contin ...

in French legal history; her doctoral thesis was titled ''Justice in transition: crime, criminals and criminal justice in revolutionary Rouen, 1790–1800''. In 1992, Glazebrook married former New Zealand

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two codes of ru ...

representative Greg Kane, and the couple went on to have two children together.

Career

Glazebrook worked as a junior lecturer in history at the University of Auckland in 1976, 1978 and 1979. Between 1981 and 1983, she was based in

Rouen Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine in northern France. It is the prefecture of the region of Normandy and the department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe, the population ...

, France, where she worked with a government-funded body responsible for the resettlement of refugees in France. In 1984, she was a research assistant under Sir

Keith Sinclair Sir Keith Sinclair (5 December 1922 – 20 June 1993) was a New Zealand poet and historian. Academic career Sinclair was the oldest child of Ernest Duncan Sinclair and Florence Pyrenes Kennedy. Born and raised in Auckland, Sinclair was a stu ...

and a tutor in history at the University of Auckland. She was a part-time lecturer in commercial law at Auckland from 1991 to 1994. Glazebrook joined legal firm Simpson Grierson in 1986, and became a partner in 1988. She was a member of various commercial boards and government advisory committees, and served as president of the

Inter-Pacific Bar Association The Inter-Pacific Bar Association or IPBA is an international association of business and commercial lawyers, founded in 1991. Its members consist of residents of the Asia-Pacific region, or lawyers with a strong interest in that region. It brings ...

, in 1998. Glazebrook was appointed a judge of the

High Court of New Zealand The High Court of New Zealand ( mi, Te Kōti Matua o Aotearoa) is the superior court of New Zealand. It has general jurisdiction and responsibility, under the Senior Courts Act 2016, as well as the High Court Rules 2016, for the administration ...

on 14 December 2000, having served until that time as temporary judge of that court. She was appointed to the Court of Appeal on 24 May 2002. On 6 August 2012, Glazebrook was appointed to the

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

. Glazebrook is acting as

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. ...

while the governor-general,

Dame Cindy Kiro Dame Alcyion Cynthia Kiro (; Simpson; born 1958) is a New Zealand public health academic, administrator, and advocate, who has served as the 22nd governor-general of New Zealand since 21 October 2021. Kiro is the first Māori woman, the third ...

, is in Britain attending the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II.

Honours

In the

2014 Queen's Birthday Honours The 2014 Birthday Honours were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as part of ...

, Glazebrook was appointed a

Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have ren ...

, for services to the judiciary.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Glazebrook, Susan 1956 births Living people People from Altrincham English emigrants to New Zealand People educated at Tauranga Girls' College Naturalised citizens of New Zealand University of Auckland alumni Alumni of the University of Oxford University of Auckland faculty 20th-century New Zealand lawyers New Zealand women judges High Court of New Zealand judges Court of Appeal of New Zealand judges Supreme Court of New Zealand judges Constitutional court women judges Dames Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit 21st-century New Zealand judges 21st-century women judges