Joe Williams (judge)

Sir Joseph Victor Williams KNZM (born 1961) is a judge and the first Māori person appointed to the Supreme Court of New Zealand.[1] He is of Ngāti Pūkenga, and Te Arawa descent.

The Honourable

Sir Joe Williams

KNZM
Williams in 2019
Justice of the Supreme Court
Assumed office
2 May 2019
Judge of the Court of Appeal
In office
20 December 2017 – 1 May 2019
Personal details
Born
Joseph Victor Williams

1961 (age 59–60)
Alma materVictoria University of Wellington
University of British Columbia

Biography

Williams was born in 1961. He was brought up in without much money in Hastings by a great uncle and a great aunt alongside his cousins. He won a scholarship and was educated at Lindisfarne College. At first, he studied Māori language and then law.[2] In 1986, he graduated from Victoria University of Wellington with an LLB, and later with a LLM first class honours from University of British Columbia in Indigenous Rights Law.

In 1999, at the age of 38, he became the youngest person to be appointed Chief Judge of the Māori Land Court. In 2004, Williams was appointed the Chairperson of the Waitangi Tribunal.

In 2008, he was appointed a Justice of the High Court of New Zealand.[3] In 2017, he became the first Te Reo Māori speaker appointed to the Court of Appeal.[4]

Williams is a former Vice-President of the Māori Law Society, and a fellow of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers.[5] He has written about tikanga Māori and New Zealand law and has stated a future vision "when tikanga Māori fuses with New Zealand’s common law tradition to form a hybrid law of Aotearoa that could be developed by judges, case by base."[6][7]

In the 2020 New Year Honours, he was appointed a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to the judiciary.[8][9]

References
  1. "Judges — Courts of New Zealand". www.courtsofnz.govt.nz. Retrieved 31 July 2019.
  2. Maxwell, Joel (19 September 2020). "Justice Joe Williams on te reo Māori, and synthesising Aotearoa law". Stuff. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
  3. "Appointment of High Court Judge". The Beehive. Retrieved 31 July 2019.
  4. "Appointment of Judge of the Court of Appeal". The Beehive. Retrieved 31 July 2019.
  5. "Judges — Courts of New Zealand". Courtsofnz.govt.nz. Retrieved 30 December 2019.
  6. Van Beynen, Martin (8 July 2020). "The Peter Ellis case and Māori customary law". Stuff. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
  7. Maxwell, Joel (18 September 2020). "Justice Joe Williams on te reo Māori, and synthesising Aotearoa law". Stuff. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
  8. "New Year Honours 2020: The full list". The New Zealand Herald. 31 December 2019. Retrieved 31 December 2019.
  9. "Justice Joseph Williams – first Māori appointed to the Supreme Court bench – awarded knighthood". Stuff.co.nz. 31 December 2019. Retrieved 31 December 2019.
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