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Dunedin District Court Judge appointed

Saturday 25 April 2009, 8:56AM

By Christopher Finlayson

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DUNEDIN

Stephen John Coyle has been appointed a District Court Judge with a Family Court warrant, Attorney-General Christopher Finlayson announced today.

Mr Coyle, a Tauranga barrister, was admitted in 1990.

He was with Osborne Gray and Partners, Whakatane from 1989 to 1993 and then with Keam & Associates, Tauranga from 1994 to 1997. From 1997 to 2003 he was with Sharp Tudhope, Tauranga, becoming one of two litigation partners and the sole Family Law Partner in 2000. He has been a Barrister Sole since March 2003 his practice being exclusively in Family Law. He is a Senior Counsel for the Child and regularly appointed as Counsel to Assist the Court and also as Counsel for the Subject Person under the Protection of Personal and Property Rights Act. His areas of practice include Relationship Property, Care of Children matters, Domestic Violence Act proceedings and Estate Litigation. He is one of three Hague approved lawyers in the Tauranga/Eastern Bay of Plenty Region. He is a LEADR trained mediator and was a speaker at the LexisNexis Child Law Conferences in 2006 and 2008.

Mr Coyle's involvement in the local community has included voluntary work with Marriage Guidance and an appointment to the Bay of Plenty Conservation Board. He has also been involved both locally and nationally with Law Society committees.

Mr Coyle will be sworn in at Tauranga on Friday 15 May 2009 and will sit in Dunedin.