District Court Judge appointed

Professor of Law Dr Peter Spiller has been appointed a District Court Judge, Attorney-General Christopher Finlayson announced today.

He has been a lecturer and researcher of the law for over 33 years, including 12 years in South Africa. After a period as a Senior Lecturer at the University of Canterbury, he was appointed Associate Professor at Waikato University in 1991 and Professor in 1994. He has been a Teaching Fellow at Victoria University since 2005 and has published extensively in the legal field. `

In 1991 Dr Spiller was appointed a Disputes Tribunal Referee and has been the Principal Referee of the Dispute Tribunal since 2005. He will continue as Principal Referee for the remainder of his term.

Dr Spiller is a law graduate of the universities of Natal, Cambridge and Canterbury. He was admitted as a Barrister (advocate) of the Supreme Court of South Africa in 1977 and admitted in New Zealand in 1996.

Dr Spiller will be sworn in at Hamilton on Friday 7 August 2009.