Appointment of Crown Solicitor for Whangarei

The Attorney-General, the Hon Dr Michael Cullen, announced today the appointment of Michael Bevan Smith as Crown Solicitor at Whangarei.

Mr Smith graduated from Otago Law School in 1990 with an Honours Degree in Law. He began his career as a staff solicitor with the Auckland law firm of McElroy Milne before joining the office of the Rotorua Crown Solicitor, Davys Burton in 1992.

During this time Mr Smith gained extensive experience in a range of prosecution work and civil litigation primarily involving insolvency, bankruptcy and liquidation. In 1994 he joined Marsden Woods Inskip & Smith, becoming a senior prosecutor in January 1998.

Mr Smith has been involved in the prosecution of indictable crime at a senior level and represented government departments in a range of litigation involving summary prosecutions in addition to maintaining the firm’s insolvency practice.

His experience as a Crown prosecutor involved the full gambit of indictable crime including homicides, Class A drug trafficking, and serious sexual offending.

Mr Smith takes over from Mr Philip Smith who retires from the office of Crown Solicitor after 37 years of service.